Every member of EUMS loves the thrill and excitement of performing challenging music live, and every one of us has at one stage been a youngster looking on at a performance and wanting to know more. Through our work in education we try to reach those who haven’t had the opportunity to discover if music is something that can really excite them.
Our ensembles are primarily classical ensembles so a big part of our work in education is encouraging the promotion of classical music, but we also try to spread the message that music is thrilling and versatile, and that any genre of music leads on easily to others.
A lot of our work so far has been with children, but one of our aims for the future is to work more closely with teenagers; in particular working to inspire them to continue with music after they leave school. Music-making is a fantastic thing to do at any age!
Take a look at the upcoming projects part of our website to find out about the ways you can get involved.
Every year we hold our annual Education Project; we collaborate with several local primary schools to show P5s – P7s what we do. We de-construct an orchestra and choir, providing a chance for them to learn about classical music.
We’ve had a great response from the children in recent years, and as the project develops we try to tailor it more and more to what cannot be provided in the classroom. It’s a fantastic introduction to classical music, and we hope to inspire children to take up or continue their own music-making.
“Be it through being inspired by watching a concert or learning something new by speaking to one of our performers, the Edinburgh University Music Society provides the perfect environment to enthuse young talent to get involved with classical music”
A great way to introduce your children to classical music is to bring them along to one of our concerts. Children are always welcome, and we are more than happy to have a chat with our audience at the interval or after the performance.
If you’re not sure who to speak to, ask for the Community Outreach Manager (community@eums.org.uk) and they’ll be more than happy to introduce you to some of our musicians and singers. We are always enthusiastic to speak to interested aspiring musicians, young or old.
Who knows? The young musicians of today are undoubtedly the Edinburgh University Music Society of tomorrow.
EUMS’s most recent collaboration has been with the charity Drake Music Scotland, which concentrates on creating opportunities for children and adults to learn, compose and perform music independently. We are eager to learn from them about how we can make our ensembles, projects and concerts more easily accessible to disabled children and adults, and to promote the excellent work they do.
We very much look forward to working with them in the near future; to find out more about Drake Music Scotland follow this link.
At the university level our society tries to provide the best possible musical opportunities for students as well as non-students through our ensembles, and we recognise that a high standard of music-making can only be maintained if the initial inspiration is in place.
EUMS would just like to use this space to say a massive thank you to all our music teachers who have inspired us to pursue our music-making, and we hope to keep learning from their good work by giving back to the community what we’ve found is something worth encouraging.
Edinburgh University Music Society
The University of Edinburgh
Alison House
12 Nicolson Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9DF