Biography

Originally from Raploch, Stirling, Symone started playing trombone at the age of 10 with the programme ‘Big Noise Raploch’ in 2011. Big Noise is part of the larger charity, Sistema Scotland, who works with challenged communities throughout Scotland to give children opportunities they wouldn’t gotten the chance to have.

In 2015, Symone gained a place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Junior Department where she studied with Nigel Cox and gained additional musical experience as part of the Symphony Orchestra, Wind Orchestra and Brass Ensembles. She also performed as part of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland, and the Clackmannan District Brass Band as Solo Trombonist.

Symone has a great passion for performing as well as teaching younger musicians. She wants to ‘give back’ to others, believing that all young people should have the chance to learn a musical instrument and gain the life skills that come along with it.

In 2019, Symone gained a place at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland under the tutelage of Lance Green. This enabled her to develop her technique on the trombone as well as alto trombone as her second study. Symone’s future ambitions are to graduate from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and teach at an organisation like Big Noise while also working freelance.

How the Award Helped