Going That Extra Mile – The NHS Online Band Performance

NHS players go extra mile in online band performance

Brass-playing Scottish NHS workers have formed a virtual band to raise spirits during the coronavirus outbreak.

The online rendition of The Proclaimers’ song I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) was the brainchild of Eilidh Houston who was inspired after seeing a similar web-based performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang by the Welsh Cory Band.

Eilidh, who is a student nurse in Ayrshire & Arran and plays trombone with Johnstone Band, said: “We wanted to show our banding colleagues that the NHS is loud and proud during these trying times. We are all missing playing with our respective bands and, for many of us, going to rehearsals was a release from the pressure jobs we do on a daily basis.”

After receiving their music and a recording of the tune, the volunteer players video’d themselves playing their parts and then sent them back to Eilidh who used her technical know-how to ‘knit’ a multi-image screen picture together.

Colleagues from NHS Ayrshire & Arran, Greater Glasgow & Clyde and Dumfries & Galloway took part in the online performance.

“We chose 500 Miles because it represented the lengths everyone in the NHS is going to to beat this evil virus,” added Eilidh.

You can see and hear the online NHS band on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1zZUtu_2lc