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CAREERS SCOTLAND - LIMELIGHT EVENT
Young people from Thurso and the North Coast of Sutherland took part in Careers Scotland's "Limelight Event" on Saturday 12th March in North Highland College.

The event consisted of traditional / folk and rock music workshops and was aimed at 14 - 18 year olds with a growing interest in the world of music and in need of some direction, guidance and input to encourage their talent.

Denise Holden -Careers Scotland's Locality Manager-said," This was an example of one of the many experiences for young people which help them to plan their careers more effectively. The majority of the students who took part had never performed in a band or group before, but by the end of the day had the confidence and ability to perform on stage in front of a live audience. It was a very valuable experience for all concerned and most importantly - a lot of fun!"

The workshops highlighted the range of careers available to potential musicians / performers and showed that skills developed through music can be used in many diverse ways throughout life, including valuable employability skills such as self-confidence, communication, teamworking, enterprise and so on.
The students had inputs on performance, music technology, stage management etc. from visiting celebrities and other experts in the field.

John Sinclair, former keyboard player with Ozzy Osbourne for 17 years said of the event, "I feel very privileged to be able to use my experience of the music business within a great team of workers and with a great bunch of youngsters. Music is a great strategy for building motivation and self-confidence"
Cameron Stout - winner of Big Brother 2003 and a very talented musician who has appeared in panto in Aberdeen said, "We began the day aiming to have fun - and we did! The increase in confidence and the "improvement" in playing was evident. I'm delighted to have been part of it - what a great day!"

The remaining workshop facilitators were Terry Small (a lecturer at Inverness College, guitar teacher and record producer), Robbie Dunsmore (a talented guitarist who has recently started up his own sound recording business), Michael Harcus (an accomplished musician who plays accoustic guitar, sings and writes folk/country and rock music) and last but not least, local fiddle expert George Pain (who works at Vulcan and heads up the Thurso Strathspey and Reel Society).

Feedback from the students was also very positive and as the day was such a huge success, Careers Scotland hopes to run similar events in the future.