FOR three years the children of the Raploch estate of Stirling have been learning to play musical instruments in a scheme based on a revolutionary South American project.

Now 40 children from the estate are to perform with a major orchestra and Scotland’s top classical violinist, Nicola Benedetti.

The children from the Big Noise project are to play with the BBC’s Scottish Symphony Orchestra on March 3 at the Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow.

Under the baton of conductor Donald Runnicles, the children will offer their first public exhibition of their musical talents.

The concert comes only a few months before they play with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela on June 21 in The Big Concert as the opening of the London 2012 Festival.

The Glasgow event, entitled Music Nation: A Sporting Fanfare, is one of the first events in Scotland which form the official countdown to the 2012 Festival for the Games in London.

Since the summer of 2008, children in the Raploch estate have been learning to play orchestral music in a music tuition scheme based on the successful El Sistema project of Venezuela.

Now the majority of children in the area, more than 400, from nursery age through to Primary 7, are in the programme, which provides free instruments alongside sustained music tuition.

The Big Noise, as the project is known, has performed small concerts for parents and to invited audiences but has not played a full concert for paying customers before.

Nicola Killean, the chief executive of Sistema Scotland, said: “These two concerts will be by far the biggest performances we have ever done, and with the Venezuelans spending four days working with us in Raploch too, the children are so excited.”

The National Youth Choir of Scotland, members of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland will also perform in the concert.

A valuation report commissioned by the Scottish Government has shown that the Big Noise has also had a social impact in Raploch, with positive influence on behaviour, confidence and self-esteem.

The charity, which has enough funds to work in Stirling until 2013, wants to encourage other councils and communities to take on the scheme, which involves children with the world of music and the demands and rewards of playing in mini and full-scale orchestras.