Wednesday 5th November, 2004

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DISTIL

Last week 11 musicians from Scotland and England, from the worlds of traditional music, classical and baroque, contemporary music and jazz gathered together for the third event of a unique development project.

The project, called Distil, a PRS Foundation and Scottish Arts Council initiative delivered by the Scottish Traditional Music Trust, is a creative development course which offers opportunities to explore composition and improvisation for musicians whose ground is primarily in traditional music, but who wish to expand their musical horizons.

Distil 3 brought together, in the Clyde Valley conservation village of New Lanark, leading composer Judith Weir, Tim Garland the innovative band-leader and saxophonist, and John Purser, musicologist, playwright and composer. The three highly experienced composers worked along with top English folk musicians Karen Tweed, Chris Wood and his fellow English Acoustic Collective members, John Dipper and Rob Harbron, Scots folk musicians Sandy Brechin, Lori Watson and Simon Bradley, and Ursula Leveaux, principal bassoonist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and a leading baroque specialist.

Distil involves group sessions, and crucially one to one sessions where each participant can discuss and demonstrate ideas with each of the workshop leaders. There is no requirement to produce work by the end of the four day event, which all participants find liberating. Judith Weir described Distil as one of the very best courses of this kind that she has attended, while Tim Garland spoke of his pleasure in spending time with so many musicians passionate about expanding their music and their focus. SAC's Nod Knowles acknowledged the strength of the project and its possibilities for creating new foundations for contemporary music of all kinds in the future. For the participants themselves the experience can be profound. Simon Bradley pronounced it 'potentially life-changing' for him, while a previous participant, the celebrated Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell described it as a 'creative caffeine injection'.

Evaluation suggests that the Distil experience feeds into musicians' work at all levels. The directors of Distil, Scottish musicians Simon Thoumire and David Francis, are now interested in following up the success of the first three events by introducing the project into England. Feedback from the English visitors to Distil 3 suggests that there would be strong interest among musicians in England for such a project, and it is hoped that an inaugural event can be programmed in late 2004.

ENDS

For further information contact:

Check out the Distil web site: http://www.distil.org.uk Email: info@distil.org.uk
Contact: Simon Thoumire: 01899 850329/ 07775 854572
David Francis: 0131 669 8824/ 07973 389444

Notes to the Editor

* Please forward this to music officers.

The Sheiling, Lamington, South Lanarkshire ML12 6HW, UK.
Tel. 01899 850 658 Fax. 0131 441 3189 Email info@distil.org.uk Web www.distil.org.uk