How 20 violins transformed life on a Scottish island
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As the winds howled on the west coast of Scotland, Arianna Ranieri nervously ate a sandwich. She was aboard a ferry en route from the seaside town of Largs to the island of Cumbrae. Waves crashed around her and salt water sprayed over her car. ‘It was so windy the boat was literally swaying from side to side, I could feel it in my stomach,’ she recalls. I was thinking “oh my god”, but just ate my sandwich and kept telling myself everything would be fine.’.
![[How a handful of violins transformed life on a rural Scottish island]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_234351150-8c49-e1735408647712.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
Arianna, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, was determined to make it to Cumbrae. For it was there that the PhD student had launched a pioneering project to bring free music lessons to the island. Each Saturday, Arianna would drive her Honda Jazz from Glasgow to Largs, board a ferry and sail to Cumbrae to teach 20 complete strangers how to play the violin.
‘The idea came after I went on tour with an ensemble called Women in Chamber Music in Rural Scotland,’ the professional violist tells Metro over Zoom. ‘We would talk to the audience after our concerts and they would say things like, “oh, I wish I could have learned an instrument” or “the nearest tutor is two hours away”. It became clear that music wasn’t really accessible to everyone.’.
![[How a handful of violins transformed life on a rural Scottish island]](https://metro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/SEI_234351151-db14.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=646)
So, Arianna got to work. She wanted to create a project which would go directly into rural communities and, supervised by Professor Zack Moir, Bryden Stillie and Dr. Elsa Bouet, she began her PhD research project at Edinburgh Napier University. While heavily pregnant in 2023, Arianna travelled to Millport, the only town on Cumbrae, and hiked across the island ‘with a stomach the size of a bowling ball’ to ask people about their relationship with music.
