The first steps towards forming a symphony orchestra by the children of Govanhill in Glasgow have been taken this week as the second Big Noise project begins.
Eight music teachers have begun to teach children, starting with the five and six-year-olds in the P1 and P2 classes at four Govanhill primary schools, in the project which will be formally launched at a concert by the young musicians this summer. More than 200 instruments have been ordered to teach more than 400 children in regular music lessons during school time, before and after school. Nursery and toddler classes begin in August.
By 2015/16, more than 700 children in the south side of the city could be playing in a full symphonic orchestra.
The Big Noise Govanhill project follows the overwhelming success of the first scheme in the Raploch estate of Stirling, which has been running since 2008. The Scottish Government has backed the Glasgow scheme, which is based on the El Sistema teaching system operated in Venezuela.
One of the Govanhill musicians is Manuel Perez, who has trained with El Sistema in Maracaibo in the south American country.
The other teachers are Guido De Groote, Jennifer Nicholson, Simon Rawson, Emily Scott Moncrieff, Lorna Geller, Alison Gornall and Abigail Hayward.
Sistema Scotland, the charity that runs Big Noise, has been awarded a total of £1.325 million for 2012 to 2016.
Backed by patron Nicola Benedetti, the Big Noise was given nationwide attention when it performed with Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the cultural Olympic celebrations.
The extension of the Big Noise technique has been backed by local bodies in Govanhill, the Govanhill Housing Association and the Govanhill Community Development Trust.
A recent survey of tenements in Govanhill identified 52 ethnicities.
Ten children taught at the Big Noise scheme have won places at the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland.
The Big Concert, an event held in Raploch before the London 2012 Olympic Festival, was last month short-listed for a Royal Philharmonic Society award.
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