Violinist Arianna Ranieri: Igniting Rural Scotland Through Music

Arianna, a music phd student and professional violinist, plays her instrument

Sparking interest from island to island

Arianna Ranieri, professional violinist and PhD researcher at Edinburgh Napier University, noticed a powerful desire for musical learning while touring rural Scotland—people frequently told her, “I wish I’d had the chance to learn". She heard from many audience members that lacked resources to learn an instrument as part of smaller communities.

Turning sentiment into action, Arianna launched CIMSRS—the Community Instrumental Music Service for Rural Scotland— as part of her PhD, offering free violin and viola lessons to adults in underserved rural areas. Arianna is examining the effect that playing music is having on participants and assessing whether this could become a model for growing self-sustaining music communities in rural Scotland. She states, “I hope that our discussions can help find a way to continue this momentum and offer the opportunity of playing an instrument to more communities across Scotland”.

phd student arianna teaches adult music class in rural community church

Quote from Arianna, PHD music student, that reads, "The benefits of playing music are well documented, so I would be delighted if we can make it more accessible"

A group of adult students are taught by phd student arianna at Craiglockhart campus

Quote from Arianna, PhD music student, that states, "It has been rewarding and humbling to see music have such a profound effect on people who never previously had the chance to learn."

Empowering Rural Lives Through Music

Arianna believes geography shouldn’t limit opportunity. Through CIMSRS she’s not only teaching instruments—she’s cultivating self‑confidence, social bonds, and a belief that it’s never too late to begin. She states, “It’s really important that living in a rural area doesn’t equate to a lack of opportunities, and seeing this project ensure that people can still enjoy access to music education, regardless of where they live, is really great”.

Many of the participants in Millport and Auchtermuchty had no previous experience of playing music. Following 12 weeks of teaching violin and viola in both towns, each was left with a small community of enthusiastic upper strings players - who dubbed themselves the Bothy Bowers and the Fife Fiddlers respectively. Her warmth, structure, and relationship-driven teaching turned tentative beginners into a self-sustaining music group.

Arianna is now five weeks into another set of lessons, this time in Glencoe.

Anyone interested in Arianna’s work can find out more on the CIMSRS social media channels.

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