Our new proposition for 2012

Posted on January 10, 2012 by

For 2012 we have a new proposition for our corporate clients.  It is motivated by our desire to do maximum good for both charity and young people, and this year of all years seems like an appropriate time to launch this initiative.

Here’s the deal:  for every corporate event we run, we will donate a comparable event to a school of your choice, on an expenses only basis.  So if you decide to buy two one day events, we will give 2 days of Musikscool time (with a team of up to 10 of us) free of charge to the school you wish to support.

What is more, we will invite you to support the event if you so wish by sending a cohort of your staff who attended your Musikscool to assist, in whatever capacity they wish. thus extending the impact of your event, developing their coaching and facilitation skills, and building your organisation’s relationship with the community.

This offer will run throughout 2012, and we are not putting any constraint on the commitment we therefore will be making to resource the free events.

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Round Square in tune with charity

Posted on October 19, 2011 by
Classes under the tree

Classes under the tree

Without help, hope and happiness 156 mentally and physically disabled children in  Mpumulanga, South Africa are in need of a helping hand. They live with life-limiting problems such as blindness and missing limbs etc. They are considered the outcasts of the community, surrounded by a negative stigma of not having anything to contribute to society. They live in the Masoyi Special Care Centre, which is in desperate need of a classroom.  This projects aims to provide these children with a place where they can express themselves in a safe learning environment whilst gaining a basic education. Ask yourself, would you want your child to endure these horrific conditions every day, or to rather grow up in a fun environment filled with happiness, security and love?

From 27 countries, 800 delegates united for an international conference at Wellington College to produce an inspirational song that will help evoke emotion and empathy for these children, whilst providing an opportunity for the delegates to open their eyes to the plight of others. These delegates represent young people working together to create a better world, something we all share as a common goal. It is fitting that the conference theme is “Reaching Beyond our Limits”, as we came together on our first night of the conference to begin this production which has evolved into a fully-fledged fundraising campaign that will play a key role in raising awareness for Masoyi. The classroom in Masoyi will be named “Reaching Beyond Our Limits”, in recognition of our efforts.

However, this student-driven initiative is only the beginning. Every pound, every
dollar, and every rand goes entirely towards building the centre; all proceeds
go directly to the Masoyi classroom. With your help, we can raise the target of
£50,000; together we can move this project from vision to reality. All help is
appreciated, and we are spreading the word through social networking sites;
such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. You can donate funds at www.Justgiving.com/roundsquare, and on Sunday the 23rd  of October the video will be uploaded to YouTube, as well as the CD being  available for download from the Just Giving website. The initiative has already  been kick-started with each school pledging £100 per student whom has attended  the conference. Will you be giving a helping hand for these children… Will you  help them to become limitless?

Thank you for your support in helping these children reach beyond their limits!

Blog written by Round Square delegates.

 

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Getting ready to rock for Round Square conference!

Posted on October 10, 2011 by

The Musikscool team is preparing for one of its biggest challenges yet.

On October 18th we’ll have just 3 hours to create an “anthem” for the Round Square conference hosted this year at Wellington College.  The anthem is going to be performed by no less than 800 students from around the world, who are going to learn it and work out a dance routine so they can produce a tip top performance first time round once the cameras start rolling.

The students then plan to use their sales skills to persuade at least 10 people to pay to download the video, which will raise £50,000 for Round Square by Christmas.

Musikscool has co-written the music with a group of Round Square committee members.  Our role on the night is to galvanise, support and motivate the students to work out a fab dance routine and a performance which will knock peoples’ socks off when they hear it.  We have mustered a team of 25 for the event, and the excitement is beginning to build.

We’ll publish an update of the event when we have more to tell.

Wish us luck!!!

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Deben High School puts on a show!

Posted on June 23, 2011 by

Felixstowe’s Deben High School, has been set a challenge to host a musical in front of a public audience, starting from scratch! We have exactly one day before we perform our play about ‘Life in 2050,’

We have been given the task by the ‘Musikscool’ team, and have been given four different areas of the production; Dance, Singing, Drama and Stage Pruduction, in which myself, Ollie Spink and Josh Horton are involved. Stage Productions involves Press Conferences, Photography, Costumes and Props, Lighting, Scenery and our pathway, Social Networking and publications, on sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

The show will be to a real audience of over 100.  Every component of it will be built from scratch, from props, scenery, the music, theatre and dance acts.  We have only three lessons for each group to have its stuff ready for the show, which is not long at all.

Michael Brown, co-founder of Musikscool, has told us that this is the first time Musikscool has organised a live show involving music, dance and theatre.  It is also the first time they have worked with 12 to 13 year olds, so they are learning a lot too.

We hope we can pull this off and put on a show that we can all be proud of.  It is great to have a challenge like this, and very different from a normal school day.

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Pangbourne excels itself for DEBRA

Posted on June 12, 2011 by

What an event that was!  2 afternoons with Lower 6th at Pangbourne College, and our usual demand for 5 tracks, PR, Design, Social Networking, and of course, money!!  We asked them how much to aim for, and they said they wanted to outperform rivals Wellington College (being quite a competitive bunch, as we soon found out!).  So the target was £12,000, no less.

They ended up close to £4,000 within the event, and plenty more to come we hope, because they have worked out how to have the album “Hope Begins” hosted on ITunes (a real breakthrough, it saves so many production and despatch headaches, as well as costs).

They were great to work with:  passionate, energised, respectful and with an impressive “can do” attitude.  One pupil spent 2 days aiming for a £10,000 single donation (pity he didn’t get it, but he soon bounced back).

We think the music is great.  You’ll have to judge for yourself (it’ll be available to buy on Itunes shortly).  Meanwhile here’s what we think is one of the best tracks ever produced on a Musikscool, and some images from the event.

 

We are very grateful for all donations, and wanted to thank in particular Holroyd Howe independent caterers, who are one of the UK’s leading independent schools catering companies, and service Pangbourne College.  They made our largest ever corporate donation.

 

To add your contribution to the pot (currently approaching £5,000) please visit DEBRA’s Just Giving page

Well done all, you were great ambassadors for Pangbourne.

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Leadership Development at Pangbourne College

Posted on May 31, 2011 by

Our Musikscool event is underway!  Working with Pangbourne College, Berks.  Once again we are working with DEBRA, our partner charity, and we will be setting out to raise around £12,000 during this 2 x half day event., a new record (sorry about the pun!)

The pupils are amazing:  4 tracks almost oven ready within 4 hours, discussions with suppliers of major sponsorship opportunities, and some great PR lined up for tomorrow.  If they keep this up, they will amaze not just themselves but us!

The event is one part of the annual  ‘Taking Responsibility’ programme run for senior pupils to develop leadership skills and personal qualities before they move up into the Upper 6th Form.  The College has a strong tradition and history of placing great importance on teamwork and personal development.  Pupils will be closely observed by members of staff during the exercise, and assessed against a range of leadership competencies.

We are taking donations now:  please visit Just Giving to make a donation.  Thanks!

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£20,000 for DEBRA in two days!

Posted on March 11, 2011 by

 Yes, Wellington College pupils have excelled themselves again, by adding a further £9,000 to the £12,000 raised in phase 1 last year from a total of 2 days of effort. Quite remarkable. 

This year they managed to get the event onto BBC Radio Berkshire, and Head of 6th Form Murray Fowler did a great job of describing the Musikscool challenge.

Murray and pupils get the brief

Interview with BBC Radio Berkshire

It wasn’t all plain sailing by any means. 

Running the event across two afternoons meant we were following a morning of school lessons, and it took the pupils some time to snap out of “being taught” mode into taking responsibility and running their own business.  However, we got there, with a great sum raised (and more to come no doubt), and some great music too which will last forever. 

Here’s one of the  Musikscool team’s favourites, called ” Life free of pain ”.  Great lyrics, beautiful guitar playing, and some lovely two part harmonies from the four singers.

The group were video’d just before they went into the recording studio, and we think this captures the spirit of these talented and modest young people.

DEBRA’s Director of Fund Raising Louise Tait is delighted with the result.  ”Raising over £20,000 from sales of this album from 2 days of effort is quite remarkable, and we at DEBRA are so grateful for the commitment and hard work of the pupils at Wellington.” 
If you want to hear more like it, you’ll have to buy a copy of the 10 track CD.  They cost £10 each, and all proceeds go to DEBRA.  Click here to go to the site to make your donation:  please leave your address details so they know where to send you CD.
 
Many thanks to Kate Evans for the wonderful photography.
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