We were delighted to welcome 44 students and staff from the prestigious Tsinghua University High School in Beijing to join us at Cargilfield for a day of music and culture. The group of Chinese pupils are travelling through the UK and spent the day with us working on composition, music theory and rehearsals for a concert of Scottish and Chinese music. We delivered lessons on Scottish Culture to our visitors and gathered at the end of the day for a concert involving children aged 9 – 17 years of age.

It was a fabulous day – encouraging children to make new friendships and to work alongside students from a very different educational background. From stand-out individual and small group performances to mass choral and recorder numbers that gave our visitors a taste of some traditional Scottish music, there was a lot of variety and some beautiful music. While we could admire their individual instrumental virtuosity, it was interesting that their musical education does not include the opportunities for composition or the level of music theory that are enjoyed by our children. There was something for everyone to learn today and nothing brings people together like singing.

I would like to thank May Huang for reaching out to suggest the day and Joanna Allsop, Jane Alder and Colin Begg for making it happen. I was extremely proud of everyone involved.