These are the organisations currently participating in theTraditional Music Forum. (* = representative on the TMF Board) To contact an organisation click on its name, which will take you through to its own web-site. Membership of the Forum is open to traditional music organisations in Scotland. Contact info@traditionalmusicforum.org for an application form and further information. If you are a member click here for our members only section.
Academic
The Institute is an initiative on the part of the University of Aberdeen to introduce the study of human traditions into its research portfolio, especially the traditions of the North and the North-East of Scotland.
Lews Castle College Benbecula Traditional Music
Lews Castle College, Benbecula has been teaching full-time courses in traditional music and Gaelic language since 2000. It has made a commitment to the teaching of traditional and especially Gaelic music, but has also invested in giving its students hands-on experience using the latest music technology, including Pro Tools, the industry standard recording system.
National Centre for Excellence in Traditional Music/ Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd
Situated in Plockton on the West Coast of Scotland within the village’s High School, NCETM offers top class tuition and an all-round, in-depth experience in traditional music for young people of secondary school age from all over Scotland.
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Scottish Music *
The department of Scottish Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow offers the only honours degree in Scottish traditional music in the world. It also offers a piping degree run in collaboration with the National Piping Centre, which is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in Highland Bagpipe teaching.
The School of Scottish Studies is part of Edinburgh University’s School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures. Since 1951 material has been collected for the School of Scottish Studies Archives, which contain over 9000 recordings of songs, music, tales, verse, customs, beliefs and oral history.
Agents
Established in 1990, and based in Paisley, Active Events has since grown to become Scotland’s largest international music agency. Artists of all musical genres are represented including Mike McGoldrick, Breabach, Session A9 and Karen Matheson.
Set up by Davie Gardner in 2006 in Lerwick, Shetland, AEMS is the UK’s most northerly booking, management and promotions agency, featuring artists such as Chris Stout and Catriona McKay, Bodega and Saltfishforty.
Stoneyport is one of Scotland’s longest established music agencies, representing artists such as Dick Gaughan, Michael Marra, the Poozies and Alasdair Fraser. The agency is also linked to Aegis Promotions and the Acoustic Music Centre, the major trad music promoter at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Clubs
Meets the last Tuesday of every month, presenting guest artists. Situated on the western edge of Edinburgh.
Meets weekly on Thursdays at the Tolbooth Tavern, Tolbooth St, Falkirk, FK1 1NL. Also promotes the ‘Feast of Folk’ at the annual Falkirk Tryst Festival in May.
National Association of Accordion and Fiddle Clubs
The NAAFC’s member clubs are found throughout Scotland promoting accordion and fiddle music played in the Scottish style. It publishes a monthly magazine, Box and Fiddle, and runs festivals and competitions throughout the year.
Community Music
Blazin’ in Beauly was started by the band Blazin’ Fiddles in the historic village of Beauly, 15 miles west of Inverness. With the aim of being “much more than a fiddle school” the intention of the week in Beauly is to immerse people in the music of the Highlands and Islands. Instruction is only a part of the week – there are also sessions, talks, concerts and good craic.
Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann n hAlbain
Comhaltas is the organisation that promotes the learning and performance of Irish music, and Glasgow was the first place outside Ireland to form a branch, as far back as 1957. There are now four branches which provide free tuition at weekly classes across the Glasgow area. St Roch’s Ceili Band is one of its well known successes.
EYG was set up in 1995 by a group of parents who wanted to provide an opportunity for young people from across Edinburgh to come together and learn skills in traditional Scottish music. Over the past 15 years it has grown and, in addition to the hugely popular annual Easter event, EYG has a year-round programme of workshops and performance opportunities for young people aged 9 – 25. These opportunities range from the weekly Craigmillar Ceilidh Club and Wester Hailes Music Mondays where young people can learn skills in singing, song writing, guitar, fiddle and keyboard to performance opportunities at international festivals abroad.
‘Fèis’ has come to mean a tuition festival, usually for children and young people, which celebrates the music and song culture connected with the Gaelic language. Rois is the Gaelic word for Ross-shire, the home area in which Fèis Rois is based. Fèis Rois organises popular weekend tuition events for young people (and adults) and is also a major agency for other traditional music work in the Highlands and beyond.
Fèisean nan Gàidheal was established in 1991 as the independent umbrella association of the Fèis movement. It is a membership organisation that offers a range of services to its members including grant-aid, training, insurance, and instrument loans.
In the 19th century, the Dundee merchant Andrew J Wighton amassed a great collection of early printed Scottish music books. The collection is now housed in a purpose-built study centre and performance space in Dundee City Library. The Friends exists to help make the collection and the centre more accessible to the people of Dundee, Fife and Angus.
Tutored and organised by Jenny Gardner and Gica Loening, Fun Fiddle is based in Portobello, Edinburgh and offers weekly childrens and adults traditional fiddle classes for all levels. Fun Fiddle often takes part in local community events and we encourage all levels of players to perform together in public as well as at our own termly fiddle stramashes.
Garnock Valley Traditional Music Group
The group is about playing and promoting traditional music in the Garnock Valley area of Ayrshire. It meets every Wednesday in Kilbirnie to share tunes and socialise.
GFW is an organisation that runs classes in Traditional musical instruments and Song at Stow College, Glasgow.
Inverness Traditional Music Project
Inverness Traditional Music Project, established in 2001, provides regular group classes to over 200 students weekly in 20 classes, runs 6-week projects in urban and rural communities and the annual 4 week-long, award-winning Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail. It is a Highland Council project, coordinated by Margo Maclennan, who also hosts the Inverness Traditional Music Partnership.
LMN is the largest provider of live music to the UK’s welfare, educational, justice and health sectors, with a unique resource of specially trained, young, professional musicians, including traditional musicians.
The Riverside Music Project supports family and community learning of traditional music in the Stirling area.
Sangstream is an Edinburgh-based Scots folk choir. It is open to all and meets once a week on Thursday evenings.
The Scots Music Group is an Edinburgh-based charity which builds communities through active involvement in traditional music. It teaches Scottish traditional music, song and dance, runs a wide variety of events, and supports its members to build their confidence and skills so they can take music out into the wider community. “Our members are building links, spreading goodwill, and involving people round about in the joy of traditional music, song and dance.”
Scottish Culture and Traditions *
SCaT’s aim is to promote awareness and growth of Scottish traditional culture, and to do so in a way which brings enjoyment, encouragement, enthusiasm and a sense of community. It organises weekly classes in music, song and dance in Aberdeen.
Edinburgh-based group producing Scottish Folk Directory and promoting events.
Scottish Traditional Boat Festival
In addition to its annual festival in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, the festival has a well established outreach programme, involving young people from the surrounding area in the rich musical traditions of this part of Scotland.
Organises a monthly session and competitions.
Development Organisations
Hands Up for Trad is an organisation dedicated to increasing the profile and visibility of Scottish traditional music through information, education and advocacy. It organises the annual Scots Trad Music Awards, the Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition in association with BBC Radio Scotland, the Tinto Summer School for young musicians in the 12-16 year old age range, and administers the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. HufT has worked with the Scottish Government on promoting Scottish traditional music abroad. It also administers and co-produces Distil, the creative development project for professional traditional musicians working in the field of contemporary composition.
The Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland *
The TMSA advocates for our shared Scottish inheritance and unspoken need for everyone and anyone to engage with and participate in our own diverse Scottish cultures. The TMSA believes that grass roots participation in traditional music and song is fundamental to the culture of Scotland. It organises festivals, sessions, concerts and workshops throughout the country, and campaigns for and promotes traditional music and song.
Festivals
Aberdeen International Youth Festival
Festival of the performing arts for young people up to the age of 26. AIYF has a strong traditional music programme centred on its summer school, The Splore, and the innovative trad music big band, Ceol Mor.
‘HebCelt’ has become established as one of Scotland’s major festivals, presenting traditional and contemporary music from around the world. It takes place in July, in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis.
Innerleithen, Scottish Borders, third weekend of August.
Moniaive, Dumfriesshire. First weekend in May.
Mull of Kintyre Music and Arts Festival
Based in Campbelltown, Argyll. Runs last weekend of August.
Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, 2nd weekend of July.