SCOTS violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti has long been an ambassador for encouraging children from disadvantaged families to be given greater access to musical instruments.
Now the 25-year-old has spoken out to encourage children from privileged households to stick to a single instrument and practise hard.
She said: "A lot of the most privileged children face far too many choices.
"It is almost paralysing for children. It can disorient them like a constantly faulty light, flicking on and off."
Having taken up the violin at the age of five at her home in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, Miss Benedetti went on to train at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey.
She said: "I was encouraged to be consistent with something and I was not allowed to change instruments. There is a balance to be struck, of course, but to me the most crucial thing is consistency if you ever want a child to have that feeling of satisfaction in their stomach when they have made something work because they stuck at it."
The violinist, who will join the RSNO at Edinburgh's Usher Hall on May 31 and at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall on June 1, was named an MBE in the 2013 New Year Honours list for her services to music and charity.
She is the figurehead of the Scottish Big Noise initiative, which works with children in Stirling's Raploch estate and is based on Venezuela's highly praised El Sistema movement. She commented that the children she meets during her masterclasses are often amazed that she has to practise for four to six hours a day.
She said: "I am not trying to create a generation of virtuosos, although I am absolutely sure there are millions out there who have the talent but lack the financial means. But it is the orchestral experience that can be so great.
"It was a life-changing moment for me when I got to play with other musicians. There are very few things that give you that quality of experience. It is one of mankind's greatest achievements. Kids accept that when they feel it and the best tool I have is my own conviction."
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