Please scroll down to find out about some of the organisations in the ELjam network.
*DISCLAIMER- Please note that ELjam is not directly involved in the routine management or delivery of these initiatives. If you are a young person interested in (or directing young people towards) any of the following opportunities, we recommend that you ensure you are satisfied that relevant health and safety, child protection and insurance standards/procedures are being met.
ELC Instrumental Music Service
East Lothian Council’s Instrumental Music Service employs 19 highly qualified Instrumental Instructors and provides Instrumental tuition to pupils in both primary and secondary schools across the local authority. Pupils are offered the opportunity to learn brass, woodwind, strings, percussion, piano, guitar and pipes with our experienced and inspiring Instructors. The clip below is of our first ever digital concert and is a collaboration with the Royal Air Force.
Please visit our website or YouTube channel for more information.
Haddstock is an arts and music festival that normally takes place in Haddington, in our cafes, bars and venues. Bands, local musicians and performance groups of various genres and experience levels play in a friendly environment.
Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, Haddstock has been rescheduled for September, and in May they ran a lockdown festival online instead. For more information please see their website www.haddstock.co.uk. Here you will find many videos from the May event, a taster of which is included below.
Scottish Music Centre
The Scottish Music Centre is at the heart of the national music industry in all its forms. From preserving our musical heritage with the ever-expanding archive, to representing contemporary composers and musicians, the SMC stands at the forefront. Their aim is to champion the wealth of talent that abounds in Scotland’s musical community by actively promoting music locally, nationally and internationally.
As well as this, the SMC performs an array of essential services such as:
– Sheet music: Our online shop is the first port of call and a one-stop shop for anyone who wants to use Scottish music in performance, say in an orchestra, choir, film or TV programme.
– Membership: Helping composers and singer songwriters be heard among the crowd.
– Youth Projects – see below.
A FREE mentoring scheme run by the Scottish Music Centre and supported by Creative Scotland’s Youth Music Initiative, The Robertson Trust, The PRSF Talent Development Fund and the Scottish Children’s Lottery.
The aim of the project is to offer young people one to one experience with music industry professionals who will offer guidance, encouragement, skills and knowledge across a range of industry roles from performance to business. We help with choices about further education and career development supplemented by helpful group sessions, workshops and seminars.
MUSICARES is the first national music project for care experienced young people in Scotland. Run by the Scottish Music Centre, we provide free music tuition, workshops, mentoring and advice for care experienced young people all across the country.
We can offer any type of music tuition, from DJ and sound production, to guitar, singing/songwriting, drums, keyboard, or anything else that you might want to learn.
McMillan Young Musicians
McMillan Young Musicians is a music school based in Pencaitland. It offers music and movement classes for babies and pre-school children (see Hullabaloo) and musicianship and instrumental lessons for young people and adults (see Nightingales Music School).
FREE ONLINE CLASSES & SINGING GAMES
Hullabaloo
At Hullabaloo (Haddington) the focus is on having fun with lots of colourful and (of course) musical things to see, hear and play with. It is a gentle introduction to music through the use of nursery rhymes and action songs with live music delivered at every session from trained musicians. As the children grow, some friendly puppets join in to help begin learning about the basics of musicianship, or music theory. Click here for more info.
Hullabaloo@Home is a new, free online resource and includes over 100 song videos that can be enjoyed at home. There are pre-planned playlists and also a mix and match option so you can build your own.
Nightingales Music School
The music school (Pencaitland) offers group and 1:1 lessons in a variety of instruments including violin, viola, ukulele, guitar, bass, drums, flute, clarinet, sax and piano. There are Kodaly based musicianship classes for young school children and also instrument taster sessions, where pupils get to try out different instruments in 10 week blocks. Click here for more information
There are also many musicianship tutorials and games available online, below is an example of a moderately tricky challenge.
Nordoff Robbins
Nordoff Robbins is the largest independent music therapy charity in the UK, dedicated to enriching the lives of people affected by life limiting illness, isolation or disability.
Our music therapists are expertly trained to tune into each movement, reaction and expression of the individuals they work with to discover how music can enrich their lives. This could be to unlock memories, to communicate where words have failed, to socially connect with family and friends, and to build confidence and self-esteem.
We provide a range of different sessions for children and adults of all ages in our centres in London, Manchester, Newcastle and Scotland – from specialised one-to-one music therapy to shared sessions for groups of different sizes and formats.We also work in partnership with over 200 organisations to bring music therapy to as many vulnerable people who could benefit from it as possible. These include schools, care homes, hospices, hospitals, mental health services, and brain injury units.
Please click here to view their At Home Resources
Lamp House Music – Music School & Rehearsal Studio
Set in a cool, quirky railway building – Lamp House Music (Haddington) – offer fantastic music lessons for children and adults, plus rehearsal rooms for bands. A music school that strives to build confidence, instil self-belief and enable individuals to thrive through their music lessons.
Lamp House Music offer individual and group classes, face to face and online, in a huge variety of instruments – including guitar, ukulele, piano, drums, vocals, woodwind, violin plus many more!
Bandjam is a weekly music project that emboldens young musicians to explore their music-playing aspirations in a band setting. This weekly music project, with a tutor on hand to facilitate, explores the creative process of playing and writing songs together with like-minded peers.
Easy to get to, ample parking and open 7 days – with patient and enthusiastic music tutors who inspire pupils to be curious and undaunted on their musical journeys. There is a range of music accessories on sale – including strings, reeds and sticks – saving you a trip into the city.
For more information or to book a lesson or rehearsal space see lamphousemusic.co.uk or call 01620 825630.
Spanning across the 3 towns of Prestonpans Cockenzie & Port Seton in East Lothian, 3 Harbours Arts Festival offers a variety of exhibitions, workshops, talks, heritage and children’s events and performances.
Over 9 days the festival is as diverse as the ever present sea, with traditional crafts, fine art, exhibitions in local homes and venues, sculpture, and family events. There’s music; traditional, classical and contemporary, as well as heritage events, interactive workshops and live art demonstrations …just to scratch the surface. It’s all here! And then, when you need a break from all that, you can wiggle your toes in the sand of our beautiful beaches.
Throughout the year we also have a series of fundraising events ranging from bespoke art exhibitions to music nights and craft fairs.
East Coast Community Events
East Coast Community Events is based in Dunbar, East Lothian. It has been set-up to assist with the management and facilitation of local community events. No event is too large or too small. We can assist with venue management, accessibility, booking of stall traders, live music and much more. We will arrange all the required licenses for your event as required.
Dunbar Battery
A spectacular and freely accessible historic public space in the heart of Dunbar Harbour, the Dunbar Battery is an open air venue that is well worth a visit for the views, the public art or to enjoy a unique performance in East Lothian.
In 2017, the Dunbar Harbour Trust created a special location at the ruined Battery in Victoria Harbour. It is available for the public to visit, explore and enjoy throughout the year. It also provides a unique venue for groups wishing to engage with the performing arts or education within East Lothian. The Battery is part of Dunbar’s historic harbours, and is owned and managed by Dunbar Harbour Trust for the benefit of the local community and visitors to the town and it’s harbour.
Vibrant Musselburgh
A voluntary group which seeks to unearth, nurture, support and celebrate creativity in all its forms within our community and provide it with a platform
Heavy Sound makes learning work for groups who face barriers to learning & inclusion. We primarily work with young people who have experienced trauma or barriers, helping to reengage through innovative projects using hip-hop, rapping, song writing, DJ’ing, music production, band work & more. Our practitioners are youth workers, lived experience mentors & music professionals. We focus on prevention and early intervention, offering a range of bespoke services which can be tailored to suit individual and group needs. Our help develop new skills whilst addressing issues around confidence, self-esteem and wellbeing by exploring self expression in a fully supported environment.
Click the links to find out more about the following:
The Heavy Sound Community Action Bus is a Partnership between Heavy Sound, The Scottish Prison Service and the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, supported by STV Children’s Appeal and Edinburgh Kilt Walk to turn an out-of-service single decker into a mobile community outreach unit.
In the first collaboration of its kind, Heavy Sound is working with Police Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) and the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). Since January, volunteer prisoners at Saughton jail have stripped out the bus interior, and transformed it, installing hi-tech recording equipment.
Castle Rock Edinvar is one of Scotland’s leading housing associations and a Scottish Charity. It owns and manages 8,000 homes across nine local authority areas. Based in Craigmillar, one of Edinburgh’s main urban regeneration areas, it is a modern, progressive organisation, committed to the long-term success of its neighbourhoods.
Queen Margaret University has a wide range of expertise in arts and creative industry subjects and a strong commitment to serving the community through its work. Its undergraduate and postgraduate courses in this field encompass acting, costume design and production, drama, art psychotherapy, music therapy, arts management, stage management, and applied arts & social practice. The University has a relevant and dynamic research and knowledge exchange portfolio focused on creativity and culture, and engages with young people in East Lothian and beyond through its Outreach team. To find out more about work at QMU, visit www.qmu.ac.uk
The EC Sessions
The EC Sessions is a music project based at Edinburgh College’s Milton Road Campus for young people S1-S6 who want to play, write, perform and record music. Running on Wednesdays between 5-7pm (pre-COVID-19), It costs £1 per week to attend, but no one will be turned away even if you don’t have the £1 (all the £1’s go back into the project!).
