BUDDING musicians from throughout East Lothian have come together for a special weekend-long event.

More than 100 youngsters took part in the East Lothian Council instrumental music service’s secondary ensemble event, held for the first time in three years.

The event took place at Haddington’s Knox Academy last month and involved an intensive weekend of rehearsals, culminating in a concert to parents and carers.

Jonathan Gawn, council instrumental music service team manager, was delighted to welcome the schools’ piping corp, wind band, string orchestra and guitar ensemble.

He said: “It was an amazing opportunity to bring these ensembles together under the tutelage of the full instrumental instruction team.

“Having not had authority ensembles in almost three years, we weren’t sure how the young musicians would respond to six hours of rehearsal and a concert in a day and half, but every single ensemble ended up playing an additional piece as the young people coped so well with the repertoire.

“What the young people achieved was quite simply incredible.”

Anwen McInnes was among the young people taking part.

The S1 pupil at Knox Academy said: “I really enjoyed playing with other people who are more experienced than me. I went into the weekend not knowing any of the music and came out having learnt three new pieces.

“I love having my music lessons in school with my violin teacher, who helps me progress and learn.”

Ewing Lauder, upper strings instructor in the Prestonpans and Haddington clusters, added: “The most amazing thing for the instruction team to see was the enthusiasm and professionalism from the young people.

“They really excelled themselves and were superb ambassadors for their respective schools. It was particularly inspiring for us on the first day to see the young people all sat down, on time, with their music and instruments ready to go.”

All of the concerts are available to view online via the instrumental music service’s YouTube channel.