Big Noise: Benny Higgins on an extraordinary charity

Musicians from Big Noise and YOLA rehearse in Dundee (Image: James Murison.)

It found that for every £1 invested, Big Noise generates £3.25 of societal benefit in Glasgow, £3.94 across the Glasgow City Region and £5.99 at the Scotland-wide level. Over a participant's lifetime, the programme is projected to contribute around £111 million in wider economic value nationally.

The programme, delivered by the charity Sistema Scotland, gives children in disadvantaged communities a free instrument and regular lessons, starting some as young as a few months old through parent-and-baby music sessions.

Most take part during the school day, but the more intensive strand happens after school, where children rehearse in groups several times a week.

The GCPH evaluation said the programme works because of the relationships between children and staff that build trust over time, the calm and welcoming spaces, and the discipline of making music together as a group.

Every week it reaches roughly 3,600 children and young people, with 83% of them living in the 30% most disadvantaged areas in Scotland.

Benny Higgins speaking at the Scottish Parliament (Image: Stewart Attwood)

Mr Higgins has been Sistema Scotland's unpaid, part-time chairman for eight years.

"I actually grew up about a hundred yards from the Govanhill centre," he says. "If you look out the window, my first home is directly across the road. So it's an additional emotional string for me."

"There's a clear kind of congruence between what we're trying to do and where we are," Mr Higgins says. "I think what we've got to do is find ways to reach more kids, and we've got to look at different ways to do that."

That could include, he adds, finding another centre.

Musicians from Big Noise and YOLA rehearse in Dundee (Image: James Murison.)

Big Noise began in Raploch, Stirling, in 2008. It now operates in six communities: Raploch and Fallin, both in Stirling; Govanhill, in Glasgow; Torry, in Aberdeen; Douglas, in Dundee; and Wester Hailes, in Edinburgh.

Mr Higgins say the next centre could go "somewhere where there is equal need, but maybe a different kind of community"

"So I don't want to promise we're going anywhere in particular, but it could be more rural," he suggests.

"We've got a very tried and tested method, and you can't lose the essence of that as you start to try and do other things. But equally we've got a responsibility to try and reach more kids, and that will involve potentially more centres, and maybe some different approaches as well."

He points to differences between the communities Big Noise serves. "Every area that we're in has got challenges. But the challenges aren't identical challenges. In Govanhill, there's quite a big refugee community in terms of scale, and that brings with it housing challenges, even language challenges.

"The interesting thing is kids that are in our programme learn English faster than kids that are not. I think part of that might be engaging with our people, but it's also just wiring the brain through music."

"We give the kids the opportunity to get on with their lives with a degree of confidence and curiosity and courage that every kid deserves to have, frankly," Mr Higgins says.

"Music is the vehicle, and one of the outputs of music being a vehicle is we create very talented musicians. But it's not the essential purpose. The essential purpose is to create better outcomes for the kids."

He points to a study, first conducted in 2015 and repeated in 2018, 2022 and again this year, showing that 98% of young people who stayed engaged with Big Noise over the long term went on to get a job or move into further education.

"That's quite a result."

Ahead of the 2024 general election, writing in The Herald, Mr Higgins said that Labour and Sir Keir Starmer were "the only credible option" for voters.

He said Scotland had "suffered from the political malaise created by the Tories in Westminster and the SNP in Holyrood."

Asked if he stands by the comments, Mr Higgins says he does. "I was right to say it was the only credible option," he says. "So I don't regret saying that at all."

Nevertheless, he describes Sir Keir's time in No 10 as "a disappointment".

"I don't think really Starmer was a natural leader. I don't know him, I've met him a couple of times, but I think there's no reason to not believe he's a thoroughly decent man.

"But leadership requires character and competency and communication skills. And in politics, you need to be able to read the room. And I think some of those things, he wasn't natural.

"Andy Burnham, by contrast, actually has a lot of those skills. But I guess it's quite early to know exactly what he will have, what he's willing to sacrifice in order to do the things he needs to do."

Sistema Scotland at the Scottish Parliament with Benny Higgins and First Minister John Swinney (Image: Stewart Attwood)

Pressed on whether he feels the SNP is now doing more to support business, Mr Higgins singles out First Minister John Swinney for praise.

"I must say I've got the highest respect for John Swinney. And I do think he's very authentic in saying that he wants to support business. I think he genuinely understands the importance of business.

"And it's driving a strong economy that enables us to fund so many other things that we need, including culture, but also fighting the battles that need to be fought against poverty."

He adds a note of concern. "I do fear for our education sector," he says.

"During my career hiring people from other parts of the world, even simply from London, people came to Scotland because, in part, if they had kids, they were confident about the education system.

"I think we've got to make sure that we can't leave that in jeopardy."

Big Noise join YOLA and conductor Gustavo Dudamel for the Family Concert at 1pm on Sunday 16 August, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.