YOUNG people from a community music and social change programme have taken part in a special concert celebrating another year of tackling inequalities in Dundee.
More than 100 young musicians from Big Noise Douglas, aged between seven and 14, performed on Saturday at Claypotts Castle Primary School.
The event featured performances from a number of Big Noise groups and ensembles, including the Camerata and Emperor Penguin Orchestras, as well as Big Noise Douglas’ Community Trad Band and Community Chorus.
The performers were joined by community members, Big Noise staff and volunteers, who also enjoyed face painting, seeing a visiting fire engine, and ice cream.
Concertgoers were treated to an impressive and varied programme of all types of music, ranging from pieces from the movies ‘Pocahontas’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, traditional folk tunes ‘The Irish Rover’ and ‘The Skye Boat Song’, and popular songs by Bob Marley and George Ezra.
Big Noise Douglas launched in 2017 and now works with more than 600 children, young people, and their families every week, supporting them to reach their full potential.
Big Noise is a high-quality music education and social change programme, which launched in Raploch in 2008. It sees children and young people learn music after school, creating a community symphony orchestra which supports them in gaining vital life skills such as confidence, resilience, creativity, and aspiration.
There are now six centres supporting almost 4,000 children and young people across Scotland, including Raploch and Fallin in Stirling, Govanhill in Glasgow, Douglas in Dundee, Torry in Aberdeen, and Wester Hailes in Edinburgh.
Big Noise is designed to strengthen the communities where it is based, developing relationships with participants and their families based on mutual respect, trust and a commitment to working together and tackling inequalities for the long term.
Through music and nurturing relationships, from infancy to adulthood, Big Noise supports participants’ wellbeing and helps them reach their full potential.
A long-term evaluation of the model by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health was published in 2022. It found that 98 per cent of Big Noise participants in Raploch went on to a positive post-school destination.
Andy Thorn, head of centre at Big Noise Douglas, said:
“We’re so proud of all of our children, young people, and adult members of our Trad Band and Community Choir – not just for their fantastic performances at our summer concert, but also for all of the hard work and dedication they have showed over the past year.
“Our summer festival this week has been a fantastic opportunity for our children and young people, their friends and family, and other members of the Douglas community to come together to celebrate the end of another school year and another fantastic year of Big Noise in Dundee.
“The week happened to be Volunteers’ Week, so this concert was also the perfect occasion to celebrate the hard work of all of our amazing volunteers here at Big Noise Douglas.”
Amy, 14, who played the cello with Big Noise Douglas’s Camerata Orchestra, said:
“The concert was really fun – I think it went really well. I especially liked playing the music from ‘How To Train Your Dragon’, because as soon as we started playing we could see the audience’s faces all light up.
“It felt like a real accomplishment playing something that the audience all knew. It took a lot of work to get it to the standard that it is, so it felt really good when it paid off today.
“I love events like this. It’s so nice to get all the different Big Noise groups and people from all over the community together to have the chance to listen to music and have fun together.
“I think I might want to go into a career in music when I’m older, and Big Noise has really helped me realise that that’s an option for me. It’s also really helped me build up my confidence, because I used to be quite shy, but I’ve really grown up through Big Noise.”
