Music tuition for 70 disadvantaged London children

Wow - since May it really has been a whirlwind of events for all the wonderful young musicians at World Heart Beat !

Following the very successful opening of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe Festival at the beginning of May in which our Second Line New Orleans Band took a key part, on 19 May World Heart Beat took part in Hazelfest!  It was a lovely afternoon where the community of Tooting came together through music and laughter.  Some fantastic young musicians from the Academy inspired the children of the Hazlehurst estate by giving them music workshops which were much enjoyed!

World Heart Beat were then invited on 6 June to perform at a dinner hosted by the Worshipful Company of Fanmakers at Skinners Hall in the City of London. It was a great opportunity for the Gypsy Ensemble to perform and showcase their talent!

On Saturday 6 July, World Heart Beat again engaged with the local community, offering musical discovery in the ‘Come and try an instrument!’ gazebo during the LoveParks Picnic, organised by the Friends of Coronation Gardens in Southfields.  Local children who attended the picnic could try out new instruments guided by some of our talented young musicians. 

On Sunday 7th we were treated to an inspiring and uplifting performance by the award winning jazz vocalist Cleveland Watkiss MBE - a British virtuoso vocalist, actor and composer - with the World Heart Beat Stardust Jazz Choir.  Cleveland had been working with the Choir during the previous 4 weeks in a series of workshops and this performance gave the vocalists a wonderful opportunity to showcase what they had learnt as well as an amazing performance by Cleveland himself.

The following weekend on 13th, World Heart Beat performed at the Get Active Wandsworth Festival supporting the York Road and Winstanley redevelopment programme. It was a fantastic day of free activities from dance to football and music to petting farm animals!  Our young vocalists and musicians created performances for the day along with other young performers; our young gig band filled the stage and performed a range of soul and pop classics.  Next up, our older vocalists and musicians performed a beautiful set led by Sian Kelly who then introduced her own band with some upbeat funk. All the young musicians did a fantastic job performing to such a large audience.

Another big thank you to Ronnie Scott’s Charitable foundation for having World Heart Beat as one of the beneficiaries for their Instrument Amnesty drive on Saturday 20 July in which many instruments were donated to Ronnie Scott’s and some passed along to us, giving even more young students the opportunity to learn and progress in their instrument!   We are very proud to be connected to such a prestigious organisation which continues to drive many of our musicians in their jazz and musical development and to provide musical opportunity for every child. 

Once again, thank you to you all for your continued support which enables us to develop the next generation of successful musicians, giving us all positivity for the future.