Aiden Macdonald was just seven years old when Big Noise first visited his school. The organisation, which aims to bring about social change through intensive musical education, had made a name for itself in 2012 when the children attending its Raploch project took part in a televised Cultural Olympiad concert under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel. A year later Big Noise arrived in Glasgow’s Govanhill, and Macdonald, then in P2 at Cuthbertson Primary School, was one of the first pupils to take part.
“They showed off the stringed instruments, let us look at some of them and try them,” he recalls. “I was fascinated by the instruments – I loved the double bass but was given a viola, which I now realise is the best instrument. They kept coming into the school. I’m very grateful.”