Music student sounds plea
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A YOUNG musician from Moray has won a place at one of the country’s top music schools – only for his spot in the classroom to be left hanging in the balance.
Martin Thomson (14) hopes to start the new academic year at St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh – one of just nine music and dance excellence schools across the UK.
The euphonium player was told he had won a place after completing three days of gruelling auditions and interviews.
However, his instrument is borrowed from Moray Council and buying a replacement of a suitable standard comes with a price tag of between £4,000 and £5,000.
With no hope of buying a replacement by the end of the summer, his mum Margaret said she is running out of ideas.
The Elgin High School pupil wrote off in secret in the hope he might win a spot after hearing about the school from a friend. Mrs Thomson said she thought he was joking when he told her he had an audition in Edinburgh.
“I thought he was having a laugh.”
But Mrs Thomson said buying her son a replacement in time for the start of the 2012 academic year was just not possible. “The clock is ticking away. The stage Martin is at is Grade 7, so he can’t just start on a student instrument.
“We had hoped we could source a local band down there who might lend an instrument, but that is looking like pie in the sky.”
Anyone who can help in any way can contact the family through ‘The Northern Scot’, Tel 01343 548777, or email s.rollo@northern-scot.co.uk
See full story in this week’s Scot.
