Freyberg student has musical touch
Bright Young Things
Palmerston North teen Scott Orange has been playing music since his fingers were too small for the instruments, so it’s no wonder he’s so skilled now.
The 15-year-old Freyberg High School student can play the bagpipes, violin, piano and clarinet, and is starting to teach himself guitar.
Scott started when he was young and his older sister was playing the piano. He used to go in and want to play, but his hands were too small.
After that he was given a violin when he was 4. It was one eighth of the regular size.
He said he was better at violin than the other instruments, because he started earlier, but he probably preferred the bagpipes, which were also the hardest.
Scott is in the school concert band and in a startup project, a rock band that doesn’t play rock music.
He practises at least twice a week on every instrument.
He also enjoys writing songs and doing music production. He is often up late in his room making music.
Scott likes experimenting and makes poppy, indie-style music and has had one of his songs played on Radio Control.
‘‘I started making songs and stuff. I got in the shower one day and thought that would be a cool song, I’m going to go write it now.
‘‘I thought it would be cool to make my own studio, so I started saving up my own money for bit of a keyboard-interface microphone and started creating my own music. This year, I’ve been kicking into gear.’’
Having a future in music is something Scott is interested in, but he knows it will be hard.
‘‘From my knowledge, there are not many music career paths unless you get really lucky and strike it big in some field somewhere. It would be a dream job to do.’’
Scott wrote a bagpiping tune and it was awarded third place at a workshop in Christchurch in January, which was run by the top tutors in Australia and New Zealand.
Then at the Piping Idol competition in Glasgow, Hamish Reade played Scott’s tune and he won the competition.
Scott has a school trip to Hong Kong and Beijing next year.