TVYO and the wider community.
In TVYO we hope to encourage students to be aware that they can use their musical talents to help others. In 2015 we launched new fund-raising work linked to Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has just one music academy - the Ballanta Academy of Music in Freetown. This was founded in 1995 to teach Music to a high professional standard and to provide opportunities for teachers and learners of Music to enjoy the arts, and to research into the musical heritage of Sierra Leone.
In the Michaelmas term of 2013 an ex-member of TVYO went out to the Ballanta Academy of Music as a volunteer, working alongside the staff there as a teaching and learning adviser. She observed lessons and worked with the teachers to help improve the quality of their teaching. She gave singing lessons, trained and conducted their choir (the Ballanta Music Makers), organised recitals and offered administrative support. Whilst she was there she was also asked to teach violin to two of the teaching team, so that they, in turn, would be able to launch a new initiative to teach violin for the first time at Ballanta. It was fascinating for her to realise that the violin and viola tuition she had received in the UK (including the three years she had spent playing in TVYO) would help her to enrich the musical lives of young people thousands of miles away from home. However, she was saddened when she found out that the Academy struggled to buy strings for the violins, or to find the money for a spare bow when one got broken.
During the Ebola outbreak the Ballanta Academy of Music had to close its doors, and members of the teaching staff sustained family tragedies. This was a great setback for the Academy, so, when Sierra Leone was declared Ebola free, TVYO was delighted to be able to help the Academy as it opened its doors once more, and started new programmes of work with the keen musicians who had missed the weekly contact with their teachers.
TVYO fund raising:
In 2015 our Spring concert raised £300 to send out to Ballanta; at our Christmas concert our retiring collection was divided between our international charity and a local charity, and we were delighted to send another £200 to Ballanta. In 2016 following the Spring concert we were able to send a further £250 to Ballanta. In November 2016 we have been delighted to hear news that music students (from Wells Cathedral School) went out to Ballanta in the Autumn half term* for the first time since the end of the Ebola outbreak. We have had a lovely email thanking TVYO for our generosity in continuing to support Ballanta. Our money has been used to help support local children attending the academy for music lessons (it costs just £110 to support a scholar for a year). Funds have also been used to help buy music for those wanting to take ABRSM examinations, as well as to offer one-off music bursaries to those who need particular support. We are fortunate in the musical opportunities that are available to us in this country, and indeed in this area - perhaps TVYO is a particular example of how privileged we are. It is good to know that, by using our musical gifts to raise money, we can help to offer opportunities to enthusiastic young students on the other side of the world, who might otherwise not be able to afford music tuition.
*If you are interested, you can read more about the visits to Ballanta via this blog.
In the Michaelmas term of 2013 an ex-member of TVYO went out to the Ballanta Academy of Music as a volunteer, working alongside the staff there as a teaching and learning adviser. She observed lessons and worked with the teachers to help improve the quality of their teaching. She gave singing lessons, trained and conducted their choir (the Ballanta Music Makers), organised recitals and offered administrative support. Whilst she was there she was also asked to teach violin to two of the teaching team, so that they, in turn, would be able to launch a new initiative to teach violin for the first time at Ballanta. It was fascinating for her to realise that the violin and viola tuition she had received in the UK (including the three years she had spent playing in TVYO) would help her to enrich the musical lives of young people thousands of miles away from home. However, she was saddened when she found out that the Academy struggled to buy strings for the violins, or to find the money for a spare bow when one got broken.
During the Ebola outbreak the Ballanta Academy of Music had to close its doors, and members of the teaching staff sustained family tragedies. This was a great setback for the Academy, so, when Sierra Leone was declared Ebola free, TVYO was delighted to be able to help the Academy as it opened its doors once more, and started new programmes of work with the keen musicians who had missed the weekly contact with their teachers.
TVYO fund raising:
In 2015 our Spring concert raised £300 to send out to Ballanta; at our Christmas concert our retiring collection was divided between our international charity and a local charity, and we were delighted to send another £200 to Ballanta. In 2016 following the Spring concert we were able to send a further £250 to Ballanta. In November 2016 we have been delighted to hear news that music students (from Wells Cathedral School) went out to Ballanta in the Autumn half term* for the first time since the end of the Ebola outbreak. We have had a lovely email thanking TVYO for our generosity in continuing to support Ballanta. Our money has been used to help support local children attending the academy for music lessons (it costs just £110 to support a scholar for a year). Funds have also been used to help buy music for those wanting to take ABRSM examinations, as well as to offer one-off music bursaries to those who need particular support. We are fortunate in the musical opportunities that are available to us in this country, and indeed in this area - perhaps TVYO is a particular example of how privileged we are. It is good to know that, by using our musical gifts to raise money, we can help to offer opportunities to enthusiastic young students on the other side of the world, who might otherwise not be able to afford music tuition.
*If you are interested, you can read more about the visits to Ballanta via this blog.