And so we set off on Monday morning, still dizzy from the ceilidh, from Dunblane onto Perth for our 5th concert. After a lovely Italian lunch we rehearsed in our venue ahead of the evening concert, tweaking corners and checking acoustics. The programme included Danzi, Piazolla, Ligeti and Nielsen which have become firm favourites of the quintet after performing them many times this week! We have especially loved the opportunity to keep developing our interpretation of these pieces by playing them slightly differently each time, taking risks and knowing that everyone else in the group is right there listening and responding in the moment!

The following morning we headed to Oakbank primary school for two workshops, inviting the pupils to conduct us improvising for part of the morning (really just so we could take it easy…). Next we set off to our last concert location Dundee. We were all welcomed by our last set of fantastic hosts for dinner before our last concert of the tour. We will very much miss the home cooking post tour and Mary has even vowed to become a goddess in the kitchen back in London. Our reeds were on their last legs before the final concert so we gave them a good talking to and powered on. The programme was well received in Dundee and we headed to sleep for an early night before our final workshop in Dundee primary school. We ended the workshop with a rendition of ‘Let it Go’ from the Disney film Frozen with an assembly hall of children singing along!

We’ve had an amazing time this week in Scotland and so enjoyed the opportunity to tour as an ensemble performing six concerts back to back. Our reputation as a group who can’t stop giggling is still in tact; I think we will all be resting our stomach muscles for the next week from all the laughing! Thanks to the Tunnell Trust for this fantastic opportunity.