East London School of Classical Music Joins Help2Fund

Classical music should not depend on what your parents earn. We are pleased to welcome the East London School of Classical Music to Help2Fund.

Who they are

ELSCM is a registered charity making high quality classical music education available to children and young people who face financial, social or cultural barriers to ever picking up an instrument. They work across East London, North London and Wales.

They provide affordable tuition, music theory training, examination preparation and performance opportunities, delivered by a team of experienced tutors and volunteers. The students they prioritise are the ones from disadvantaged and underrepresented communities, which is to say the ones the conventional route was never built for.

The problem they are actually solving

Talent is evenly distributed. Instruments and lessons are not.

Classical music has an access problem that is well documented and rarely fixed, because the cost is not one line item. It is the instrument, then the weekly lessons, then the exam fees, then the sheet music, then the parent with a car and a free Saturday morning, then the assumption that this is a normal thing for a family like yours to do. Remove any one of those and the child never starts. Most families in the communities ELSCM works in are missing several.

The result is not that fewer children in those areas are musical. It is that the ones who are never find out.

Performance is not a bonus

ELSCM students perform in proper concert halls, and this matters more than it might appear on a programme of activities.

There is a large difference between a child who has lessons and a child who has walked onto a stage, played, and been applauded by strangers. The first is a hobby. The second is evidence, and it changes what the young person believes is available to them, which tends to outlast the specific piece they played.

Where your money goes

A £2 donation provides essential learning materials and music resources for a student.

A £5 donation contributes towards music theory resources, sheet music and examination preparation materials.

A £10 donation supports a student's participation in a lesson or rehearsal session.

A £20 donation provides subsidised tuition for a child or young person who could not otherwise access music education.

A £50 donation supports examination fees, performance opportunities and specialist tuition, which is what allows a young musician to progress towards recognised qualifications rather than plateauing.

You can donate on their Help2Fund page: help2fund.org/donations/east-london-school-of-classical-music

Volunteering

ELSCM welcome volunteers to support fundraising events, concerts, administration, marketing, social media, community outreach and event management. Volunteers are a significant part of how they reach more young people, and the skills needed are not all musical.

More about the charity at elscm.co.uk

About Help2Fund

Help2Fund is a free platform that gives small registered charities in England and Wales promotional support and fundraising infrastructure they would otherwise have to pay for. It is run by a team of volunteers, and the support is personalised to each charity rather than sold as a fixed package: some partners want social media content, some want a donation page, some want help telling a story they have never had the time to write down. Nothing is ever published without the charity signing it off first. In-person volunteering sessions with our partner charities are planned for the future.

Every child who never gets a first lesson is a musician nobody will hear. ELSCM is working through that list one student at a time, and their students are already on stage.