The launching of the Borders Pipes CD has been one of the first duties carried out by Shona Mooney, rising young fiddle star, in her new role as Traditional and World Music Development Worker for Scottish Borders Council. (She also boasts some impeccable credentials as daughter of LBPS co- founder Gordon Mooney, who plays on the album)

A fiddler calling the Tunes

AT THE beginning of October 2007, I was appointed the new Traditional and World Music Development Worker for the Scottish Borders Council, based within the arts development team at Library Headquarters, St. Mary's Mill in Selkirk.

The post is funded by the Youth Music Initiative (YMI), with a mandate that we ensure every child

Shona Mooney development worker

will receive one year's free music tuition by the time s/he reaches P6.

In 2003, the Scottish Government (then the Scottish Executive) established the YMI, making a commitment of £37.5million over five years. Since then, the YMI has made a substantial difference to young peoples' experiences of music-making, both in and out of school. The former post holders, Iain Fraser and Jon Bews, contributed enormously with developments and achievements ranging from: a taster session in “son” music (Cuban traditional dance music); a sing-along workshop from Newfoundland duo Jim Payne and Fergus O'Byrne; and an introduction to Ghanaian music. These workshops have helped the children to develop an understanding of the various musical cultures around the world and how they differ from our own traditions here in Scotland. Helping schools to maintain weekly workshops in traditional and world music is an area to which I'd like to pay great attention. No matter how exciting or inspiring a one-off workshop can be, I believe it is also important to sustain motivation, widen understanding and continue exploration in a particular musical activity. Therefore, we propose to layout long-term workshops to run in addition with taster experiences - enabling the children and community to mature and flourish.

In 2005, I completed a BMus in folk and traditional music at the University of Newcastle. After gaining my degree, I became a freelance fiddle teacher and musician, working part-time at the Sage in Gateshead, and within bands such as the Unusual Suspects, Borders Fiddles, the Shee, and leading my “solo” project, the Shona Mooney Band. Winning the 2006 BBC Radio Scotland Young Tradition Award really encouraged me and helped to raise my profile as a fiddler. Part of the award enabled me to release a debut album and perform internationally.

Much of the material that I recorded on my CD Heartsease came from Borders manuscripts and archive Borders fiddle recordings. This music has a very special place in my life - it resonates within me. So as you can imagine, I was incredibly excited to be informed of an employment opportunity to promote and develop the music that I love so dearly. I will continue to perform within my bands and hope to be able to bring my experience as a musician into my job involving the community in performance situations.

The arts development team I work with offers an exciting programme that provides opportunities for young people to learn, play and perform, offers facilities such as a new traditional music and song education pack, promotes the Borders Traditions website, primarily for archive collections (check www.borderstraditions.com), developing a concert programme for the Borders, supporting the CD label Borders, and encouraging the inclusion and appreciation of diverse music cultures within the school and community.

Currently I'm teaching 19 fiddle pupils in four different schools: Caddonfoot Primary, Yetholm Primary, Morebattle Primary and Jedburgh Grammar, and will be helping Chimside Primary School, who have just had a “Determined to Succeed” award, to offer after-school workshops in capoiera and samba. Plans for a taiko drumming day are under- way and I hope to work in partnership with my own trio and three instructors (Fantoosh!), who teach in the Borders. The project is entitled “Two Traditional Trios: playing together in a band”. I hope to explore the process of traditional band arrangements with secondary school students culminating in a performance in a local venue. And in the New Year, we envisage taking a bus trip to see the Unusual Suspects perform in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, giving young musicians from the Borders the opportunity to hear world-class musicians at the Celtic Connections festival.

Another strand of my work has been to promote the newly released fifth volume in the Borders Tradition CD label, Borders Pipes (see previous article). Dr. Fred Freeman researched and produced the recording project by working in dialogue with the musicians on the recording - Gordon Mooney, Chris Ormston, Chris Waite and Calum Galleitch, accompanied by Marc Duff, Ian Anderson, Angus Lyon, Brian Maynard and myself.

The Scottish Borders have their own traditional music centre, based in Selkirk High School, that offers after-school tuition in voice (Hilary Bell), pipes (Andrew Bunyan), accordion (Ian Lowthian), clarsach (Elspeth Smellie) and fiddle (Barbara Mythen). There are no charges for the lessons, instruments are provided, but sheet music/accessories must be provided by the student. This centre has been running since 2000 and the pupils perform regularly at festivals in and around Selkirk.

My aspirations for the future include combining musical talents from all over the Borders region, mirroring the Folkestra project in the North-East of England. The possibility of a regional folk ensemble that could perform collaboratively with its English counterpart could produce a potentially awesome noise! I also write for the local What's On magazine which is printed seasonally, documenting the region's traditional music and keeping everyone up to date with   concert   performances,   folk   club   gigs   and   community   workshops. You can contact Shona Mooney on 01750 724901, or e-mail her on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. uk