Mhairi is in with a real shot of trad title
This Sunday night the 2020 finalists of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year competition will be live on air as the winner is decided.
Perth born and bred Mhairi Mackinnon will be one of the select group hoping her fiddle and her nerve will not let her down.
Fiddle player and teacher Mhairi (27) is originally from Perthshire, but now lives in the Highlands.
Both her parents - Nicol and Cathleen - still live in Perth and they will be at her side as she takes to the BBC stage to play her set to the judges between 5pm and 8pm when the live finals programme, part of Celtic Connections 2020, is broadcast on the radio.
“I went to Pitcairn Primary School and then Perth Grammar School,” recalled Mhairi, now a peripatetic teacher visiting schools around Inverness.
“I first began learning fiddle in P3 and continued playing at school until my fourth year at high school. It was wonderful then, I had a string instructor in school. Miss Beaton (as she was then) took me in third year to see what she did for her job and that helped me to decide, right back then, that I would like to be a peripatetic teacher like her.
“I was part of the Central Music Groups run by the Instrumental Music Service, but I left to do my final two years at Plockton College.
“It meant I never got the chance to audition for Perth Youth Orchestra, but I did something similar when I moved north, a playing group called Highland Youth Music.”
Mhairi then went on to study at the Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow and went touring with The Scott Woods Band.
This and other projects took her to festivals all over the world.
“I loved performing at Lorient Interceltic Festival in France.
“I have the people of Perthshire to thank for my enthusiasm for my instrument. I was taught by Pete Clark and I spent a lot of time playing sessions at the Taybank in Dunkeld.
“As well as my lessons with Pete I joined the Dunkeld Strathspey and Reel Society - there were many superb characters I learned a lot from.
“This BBC Young Trad competition will be interesting as I have rarely played alone, I’m more used to playing alongside other musicians. I have never entered before and it will be both daunting and exciting. This is the absolute last chance I had to apply as I am 27 now, but scraped in as 26 at the time I entered, right at the top end of the age group they allow.
“This is a nice point of my life to be at. It’s great to have a new focus, a reason to push myself. Many previous winners use their title as a springboard to great success in the music industry.
“I have been working for five years. Entering the BBC Young Trad contest has been great, I was surprised to get through. I found I was in the final with Alexander Levack - I was at Plockton College with him.
“I have used the final as an incentive to get my young pupils extra keen this week, as I have said I might give them a sneak update from the competition on Sunday if they promise to practice extra hard!”
BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2020 can be heard on BBC Radio Scotland, Sunday February 2 between 5.05pm and 8pm presented by Bruce MacGregor and Joy Dunlop and parts can be seen on BBC ALBA that day, 5.05pm-6.45pm and again from 7.15pm, for the moment of truth just before 8pm.