Behind the Portrait: Lizy Stirrat
We had a chat wit musician Lizy Stirrat, a Royal Conservatoire alumna and the upper brass teaching musician at Big Noise – a music education and social change programme delivered by Sistema Scotland. Lizy shares how her love for music shaped her life and her passion for helping young people discover their musical talents.
As told to Samar Jamal | Photo by Simon Murphy
Earlier this year, National Galleries of Scotland outreach team partnered with Big Noise Govanhill to run a series of urban street photography workshops, delivered by Simon Murphy. These workshops were inspired by works in the national collection by historic photographer Thomas Annan who captured famous images of old closes and streets of Glasgow and Edinburgh in the 1800s. The young people made their own images inspired by Annan’s work, capturing the streets of Govanhill today, literally through their own lens. This portrait was taken during those workshops.
I was able to read music before I knew my ABCs. I played the violin, the accordion, and the trumpet, all before the age of 10.
My mum was quite protective and hesitant to let me out of her sight because I grew up in Glenburn, a scheme, and she wanted to keep me safe. She channelled her energy into getting me to play music. She was incredibly patient and determined to change the course of my life from a young age.
The musical opportunities I had were either funded or supported by my grandparents because I was brought up in a low-income household. They weren’t wealthy, but they saw that I had a talent. Without their help, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do any of it.
I wanted to be a musician, but I wanted to self-sabotage my whole life at the same time. I was getting into trouble with the police and ended up with a criminal record at 18, surrounded by people using hard drugs, it was a very chaotic and challenging time in my life.
I was 17 or 18 and I'd left the conservatoire junior department and I just didn't want to look at music anymore. But I got a diagnosis for ADHD last year, so that makes sense as well. Although it wasn't the whole picture, ADHD was part of the story it was something that was making it harder for me to recognise things that were dangerous for me.
I went to Napier University, but I hated it, so I ran away with the circus to France for two months. I didn’t want to even look at music anymore. But when I came back, I decided to try the Conservatoire again.
When I got the interview for Big Noise, I was delighted – I have never worked harder in my whole life to try and get a job. I feel I have something to offer the kids because I can relate to them in many ways which I couldn’t with my colleagues from the freelance world or when I was studying.
I tell the kids, "I love you guys, you’re brilliant," and you can see their wee faces light up. Big Noise has given them a place to go after school and opportunities I could only have dreamed of at that age. I’m buzzing for it because it gives them an equal playing field.
Simon just captures something that not everyone else does, that's his thing, that's his gift. I love his work, so I asked, "If I do my hair and everything, will you take my picture?"
I think that if I hadn't had music in the past I wouldn’t be here anymore. I owe a huge amount of my general existence to having that experience. Even when I didn't want it, it was still there to bring me back to the miraculous thing: living, being here and enjoying life.
My whole life, I’ve seen talented people from backgrounds where music is seen as a luxury. They have charisma and talent, but the environment around them doesn’t allow them to explore it. The culture in conservatoires is changing, but it’s taken a long time to catch up.
I feel like people have had an eye out for me since I was an adolescent. A lot of people did enjoy the fact that I was a bit different from everyone and saw a lot of goodness in me.
Most of what I do now is commercial work, along with musical theatre and some orchestral stuff. But I’ve found my niche – loud, aggressive playing and lead work. Ironically, I now teach at the Conservatoire, the very place where I once thought I wasn’t tolerated.