Amy Laurenson talks about the rise of the trad pianist in Scotland

In a packed recital room at the City of Edinburgh Music School earlier today, pianist Amy Laurenson told pupils how she had transferred from classical piano to the traditional course whilst studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow.

Amy, who was classically trained while growing up in Shetland, got her first taste of piano in traditional music when she learned from Violet Tulloch, first lady of Shetland keys. However, it was not until she moved to Glasgow for study that she understood the freedom that comes with playing traditional tunes on the piano.

Thanks to the rise of solo traditional players such as Mary McCarthy and Alistair Paterson to name by two, Amy is looking forward to a long career as a piano player in traditional music that goes beyond just being an accompanist.

Amy was able to give music school pupils some great advice about studying at RCS or wherever they choose to go after school, recommended that they work on learning tunes by ear if they usually relied on reading music, and vice versa. There were many questions from the floor. One of the most interesting was based around the arrangements that Amy has devised for the traditional melodies she loves so much, and she gave a potted demonstration of how she would add harmony and structure to a tune.

If you’d like to hear more from Amy Laurenson she will be playing in Traverse Two on Friday 5 May at 6:30 with her own trio, and giving a workshop on Shetland Tunes on Sunday 7 May at 11am (also at the Traverse). Click on the buttons to book …