Magic often happens at the Mòd, and the ‘clàrsach intermediate 2 for grades 3-4′ was one of those moments.
It did not begin well. For one reason or another, eight out of the 11 entrants did not appear at the start of the competition in Paisley’s Wynd Centre, nor after the organisers’ assiduous phone calls to locate them.
This left only three players to compete: Heidi Dunwoody from the Edinburgh Steiner School, Shreya Saul from Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, and Aisling Coyle from Arran High School, all of whom had been practicing their pieces for a very long time.
What the audience got was a treat. All three played beautifully. “Thank you very much,” began the judge, Ciorstaidh Beaton. “Well done.
“In this enviroment, it is not an easy task in front of strangers. But the more you do it, the more comfortable you will feel.
“I got to see some real personalities coming through the playing.”
The results were very close, but Shreya finished first, followed by Aisling, and then Heidi. The prize was the Lawrence MacDuff Cup – and to the room’s surprise and delight, the man himself, vehicle enthusiast Lawrence MacDuff, happened to be sitting listening.
The contest ending sooner than expected, the compère Moira Dunlop from Connel came up with an inspired idea: ask the judge, Ciorstaidh Beaton, to play a few songs.
Ciorstaidh, a concert harpist, selected one of the clàrsachs and a few of her own compositions, including a Welsh Wedding Waltz, written for her friends.
After an inauspicious start, the event ended on a very high note.
Later, 11-year-old Aisling from Whiting Bay would be rewarded with a trip to the cinema, her mum Frances said – a consolation given their ferry back to Arran was cancelled.
Aisling began learning the clàrsach over Zoom during the Covid pandemic, not meeting her teacher, Emma Durkan of the Isle of Arran Music School, for 10 months. Recently she played in the Ayrshire Music Festival, and got her own harp made of three woods.
“She composed her first piece,” her proud grandfather George Ferguson said. “A spooky piece. You could feel yourself wandering through the halls of a castle.”
After Halloween, perhaps Arran can look forward to further seasonal compositions from Aisling.
Meanwhile 13-year-old Heidi has plans to play at this year’s Harps of Gold Christmas Concert in The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, presented by the Edinburgh branch of The Clarsach Society.
One day, her family hopes to move to Lorn, closer to her dad George’s job at SAMS in Dunbeg. Her mum Antonia also knows the area very well, having acted – and sung – as an extra in the Star Wars series Andor, filmed at Ben Cruachan near Oban. Stardom must run in the family.