Hands Up For Trad

HANDS UP FOR TRAD was formed in 2002 and exists to increase the profile and visibility of Scottish Traditional Music through Information, Education and Advocacy. We would be nothing without our supporters and you can view them here. Hands Up for Trad’s primary aim is to promote excellence and support developing talent within Scottish traditional music through our six key projects:

SCOTS TRAD MUSIC AWARDS
The Scots Trad Music Awards is an annual event that takes place every December. Held at different venues around the country, the aim of these Awards is to highlight Scotland’s wonderful traditional music in all its forms and to create a high profile opportunity which will bring the music and music industry into the spotlight of media & public attention. There are 18 Awards presented that are voted by the public. Each year we have approximately 100,000 votes. The event has been televised for the last few years on BBC Alba.

Read more >>> http://www.scotstradmusicawards.com

BBC RADIO SCOTLAND YOUNG TRADITIONAL MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
The BBC Radio Scotland Young Trad Musician of the Year offers 12 young (16-25) musicians a unique, high profile opportunity to launch their professional careers. All the young musicians benefit from an intensive residential weekend where they attend a series of workshops, providing them with a toolkit which will give them with the skills necessary to pursue a career in traditional music. The winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2012 will be awarded a recording session with BBC Scotland, performance at the Scots Trad Music Awards, one year’s membership of Musicians Union, and all finalists get one year’s membership of Traditional Music and Song Association along with the opportunity to take part in the TMSA’s annual Young Trad Tour.

The Final of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award takes place in Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival.

Read more >>> http://www.youngtrad.co.uk

SCOTLAND SINGS
Scotland Sings exists to encourage mass participation in singing activities across Scotland. Launched in October 2012 ahead of St Andrew’s Day celebrations, Hands Up for Trad is coordinating a series of singing events from Shetland to Stranraer as part of Scotland’s Winter Festivals programme.

In 2013, further singing events are planned throughout the year, as well as specialised Choir Leader training opportunities.

Read more >>> www.scotlandsings.co.uk

FOLK WAVES
Folk Waves is a new project to promote Scottish music to all kinds of radio stations across the world. We send out a monthly newsletter with all the latest single releases from Scottish music and DJs from radio stations, podcasts, internet radio stations etc can download it to play on their shows. These downloads are not available to the public and our users have to sign up for the service. It’s FREE to all DJs. All they have to do is to give each downloadable single some feedback e.g. where will it be played and when and the it will be there to downloaded.

We want this service to reach the whole world so if you are in a network of DJs etc please tell them to get in touch with us and sign up for the service. We look forward to hearing from you.
www.folkwaves.co.uk

DISTIL
Distil provides a series of residential courses and events for professional traditional musicians to come together with artists who have proven track records at the highest professional level, from other musical genres (e.g. classical, jazz, world music etc). Each benefits from practical sessions, composition and improvisation opportunities, resulting in having their work recorded and showcased.

Distil is divided into two parts – residential weekend and a new music showcase. The residential gives an opportunity to 8 musicians to attend a weekend in New Lanark Mill Hotel and work with 3 professional musicians from different genres – improver, composer and traditional music from another culture. We always let it be known that there are no differences between workshop leader and participant and everyone is attending Distil to learn from one another.

The Distil showcase takes place in Stirling Tolbooth and gives the opportunity to Distil participants to write music for Mr McFall’s Chamber – an Edinburgh string quartet. To date we have commissioned over 60 new pieces of music!

Read more >>> http://projects.scottishcultureonline.com/distil/

TINTO SUMMER SCHOOLS
Tinto Summer Schools are a hugely popular residential week of traditional music for young people (12-18) where up to 50 participants spend the week at Wiston Lodge, set in rural South Lanarkshire. Tinto Summer School provides young people of all abilities, the opportunity to immerse themselves in Scotland’s rich traditional music culture. Participants can learn fiddle, flute, guitar, bagpipes, piano, song, accordion, harp etc from some of the industry’s leading musicians and go on to form lasting friendships which are underpinned by a shared interest in traditional music. The week ends with a public concert which is held at nearby Coulter Village Hall, where the young people can showcase their achievements. Recent Tutors at Tinto Summer School have included: Charlie McKerron: Fiddle, Shona Mooney: Fiddle, Adam Sutherland: Fiddle Karine Polwart: Song, Patsy Reid: Fiddle etc.

In 2012 we received funding from Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative to expand Tinto to two residential weeks (in July) and a senior weekend in August.

Read more >>> http://www.tintosummerschool.com

MENTORING
A large part of our work is in mentoring musicians and helping them make decisions to take their careers forward. Hands Up for Trad has a lot of musical and industry experience and we understand that if Scotland’s musicians are to take traditional music forward to the next generation then we need to share all our knowledge with them. We meet up on a regular basis with musicians of all ages and talk about planning and the skills needed to develop. If you would like more information on this service or would like us to talk to a group of musicians please contact us.