A juist happened ti sei mention o'd in the paper so A went alang ti sei thum. A'd aye fancied sei'in a live orchestra and A wasni disappointed. There was ower 70 o' thum. Howts they tane up the whole o' the toon hall stage juist for the percussion and half o' the flair doonstairs for the players in the orchestra. A'v niver seen es mony playin' the gither except on the telly. Mei what a wonderful soond they made.

A hev ti admit a was wonderin' aboot the name "Somerset County Youth Orchestra" cos when the first musicians came oot they could've got inti the ower 50 walkin' group nae bother. Bit then the young yins came oot an' a could sei the aulder yins must hev been their mentors or teachers. There was a fair turnout bit a guid few empty seats so if ee werenae there ee missed yersel, for it's no often ee git the chance ti sei a real orchestra live. Well, a say sei, bit eer there ti hear thum of course.

For mei, live music is even mair than that. Ee can sei and hear thum bit there's something aboot live music that ee can feel ana. That was certainly the case at the toon hall last Tuesday night. The combination o' ower 70 instruments, nane on thum amplified, juist pure acoustic soonds, well, the vibrations juist went right throw ee. It was right guid.

The conductor was Andrew Sherwood whae was billed es a world renowned "Lilliesleaf" conductor. (nae jokes now, ee ken fine the buses dinnae rin throw Lilliesleaf). He was right freendly and hei telt oo that the orchestra hed only recently hed a quick rehearsal for their Scottish tour, jumped on a bus throw the night, a the way frae Somerset to Edinburgh, hed a wee tour o' Edinburgh then came doon ti Hawick for a rehearsal in the efternuin and the concert at night. Howts a'm amazed they stei'd awake.

Efter a variety o' different pieces the conductor introduced a new piece ca'd Heart O' Hawick and it featured twae pipers, yin o' whae was local Pipe Major Cammie Renwick. A fair enjoyed this piece and judging frae the response so did the rest o' the audience.

Bit there was something no right aboot his uniform that night. Oh, hei was smertly turned oot es usual bit there was somethin' extra on his uniform. Threi claiths pegs hingin' frae his jaicket and anither few pegged onti the back o' his kilt. A heard a rather well-ti-dae wummin pull um aside at the half-time break and politely say ti um. "Excuse me, but you do realise you have three clothes pegs attached to your uniform, don't you?" Hei niver blinked and replied "What, only threi?" A'm no share if hei thought she was jokin' bit it turned oot that the young musicians in the orchestra hed played a wee joke on um and pegged thum oan when hei wasni lookin'. It was juist a bit o' fun. Goad luv thum.