Our aim at CCC is to introduce young people and their families to orchestral music, to inspire them and share our passion. We love to create concerts that explore traditional classical repertoire, but we also love to showcase and promote new talent. We are fortunate enough to be performing the Scottish premiere of a movement from the young award-winning composer, Aileen Sweeney’s, Percussion Concerto as part of our ‘Out of this World’ concert.

Aileen is a Scottish composer, accordionist and arranger based in Glasgow and enjoys a varied career as a freelance musician. Her music is cross-genre, infused with the ornamentation, energy and colours of the Scottish folk music she grew up playing learning the accordion. Her music is often influenced by nature and folklore, as well as finding inspiration in current social and political affairs she is passionate about such as climate change, equality and politics.

We were lucky enough to catch up with Aileen and chat to her about her work…

What made you want to compose a concerto for percussion? I had never written for percussion before so I thought it would be an interesting way to challenge myself by putting the percussion to the forefront of the music. 

What was your inspiration for this work? For this movement, I wanted to write something that felt groovy but also a bit wonky at the same time! 

What different types of percussion did you include in this? This part of the concerto only includes marimba which is a huge instrument made of lots of wooden blocks, laid out like a piano. It has a lovely warm sound which drew me to it. 

Your main instrument is the accordion, was it challenging writing for a completely different solo instrument? It was challenging but that’s part of the job! I spent many weeks on YouTube watching videos of percussionists talking about a whole load of different instruments and how to play them so I had to do a lot of research! The hardest part was deciding what instruments to actually write for because there are so many to choose from! 

How long did it take you to write the Percussion Concerto? This is part of a longer, 15 minute piece which took around 2 months! 

How did you become interested in composing and what did you start with? I started composing at school as part of my 4th year Standard Grade (NAT 5) music course. The first thing I wrote was a jig (a type of Scottish tune) which my music teachers played with me in a school concert! 

Was there any particular composers or musicians who inspired you? One of my biggest inspirations is Scottish composer, Anna Meredith. She’s super cool! 

What advice would you give budding composers? Just give it a go and write whatever makes you happy!