Goldsmiths College, London: Music for Alice Goldsmiths Award

Part of the University of London, Goldsmiths is known nationally and internationally as a principal creative institution. The Music department is one of the top ranking departments in the country. Alumni include musicians Graham Coxon and Alex James (Blur), John Illsley (Dire Straits) and Brian Molko (Placebo).

Eligibility Criteria: The award is open to full time students at Goldsmiths College enrolled in either the BMus (Hons) Music or BMus (Hons) Popular Music Studies from individuals and ensembles of any age and gender. All musical genres will be considered. The award cannot be used to pay fees, debts or other ongoing commitments. Applications for the 2010 award are now open. The deadline is 26th March 2010.

Download Goldsmiths App form

• 2008 - 2009 Award Winner: Assaf Gidron: Composer

Assaf is the worthy recipient of the 2008 - 2009 award. He demonstrated not only musical skill, but also the passion and commitment to take forward his career as a composer. Assaf is using the money for advanced composition lessons which he hopes will help him reach his goal of his music reaching the ears of the public!

• 2007 - 2008 Award Winner: Becky Wiles: Pianist

Music for Alice is extremely happy to announce that the 2007 - 2008 Goldsmiths Award has been given to Becky Wiles, a phenomenally talented second year student at the college. Becky takes an active part in the musical activities at the college and beyond and dazzled us with her energy, passion and talent as a pianist.

Becky is hoping to do a post graduate performance course after she completes her undergraduate studies. "Being a professional pianist is what I aim to do with my career and the Music for Alice award has helped me towards this goal; without the award I would have struggled to pay for auditions fees, let alone be in the position to have consultation lessons with different teachers and help towards extra lessons."

As a result of one of the consultation lessons the head of keyboard at the Royal Academy of Music has offered to be Becky's official piano teahcer which will hopefully lead to further performance opportunities.

• 2006 - 2007 Award Winner: Charly Richardson; Composer, Saxopohonist, Pianist, Clarinetist www.charlyrichardson.com

Update, July 2008 - Since graduating from Goldsmiths Charly has been extremely busy working on his second album. Charly is now in the exciting position to give up his day job to work full time as a professional musician. Please visit www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/former-students/goldlink/pdfs/goldlink30.pdf  and go to page 14 to see an article about Charly and Music for Alice.

Summer 2009 - four awards presented...

Music for Alice are very happy to announce four awards that they have recently given out to extremely worthy recipients:

Alex Mitchell, Principal Viola at City of Leeds Youth Orchestra. Alex will play the Walton Concerto in a concert at Leeds Town Hall concert this season

Russell Akbar, winner of the annual music competition at George Green's School, London. Russell is an outstanding musician who is currently in Year 10 taking GCSE music

Assaf Gidron, winner of the Goldsmiths Music for Alice award. Assaf will use the £500 award for advanced composition classes in order to advance his career as a composer.

The family of Carl Austin, an extremely talented viola player from Manchester have been awarded £500 towards the cost of a new viola. Carl will soon be attending auditions at Conservatoires across the country.

Music for Alice Pub Quiz, 18th May 2009

A big thank you to everyone who attended the Music for Alice pub quiz in May. The evening was a great success with a fantastic turn out and over £300 raised....and in case you're still wondering the crisp flavours were caramelised onion and balsamic vinegar, paprika, hint of lime and barbeque spare rib!

Music for Alice Harmony Awards

Music for Alice Harmony Awards are open to any musical individual or ensemble to apply for. The awards are up to the value of £500 and must be used in in a demonstrable way in furtherance of the applicant's music education. Award money cannot be used to pay fees, debts or ongoing commitments. Please note that applicants must be UK residents.

Applications are reviewed bi-anually: Deadlines are July 1st and January 1st.
Download HarmonyAwardapplication.pdf

September 2009 - The family of Carl Austin from Manchester have been awarded £500 towards the cost of a new viola. Carl is an extremely talented musician and studied at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester. Over the coming months he will attend interviews at Conservatoires across the country.

April 2009  - Enrico Bertelli, a PHD student at York University. The award money will be used to purchase a MIDI drumset to assist him with his studies.

                - Barnes Concert Band. The award money will be used to sheet music for the band.

                - Kids Company, a children's charity. Music for Alice have purchased guitar starter sets and music software for use in drop in centres. See www.kidsco.org.uk for more details.

October 2008 - Ana Nedobora, a young violinist who won the Windsor and Maidenhead Symphony Orchestra Young Musician's Award with a tremendous performance of part of the Prokoviev concerto no 2. Ana was extremely happy to be given the award which was presented by the Lord Mayor. Ana has used the award money to buy a music stand, metronome and a tuner.

July 2008 - Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra. The award money will be used to buy orchestral parts and sectional rehersals.

City of Leeds Youth Orchestra (CLYO): Music for Alice Award

CLYO has over 80 young players (14-19) of an extremely high standard. The orchestra regularly performs in Leeds and tours around the UK and internationally. CLYO is regarded as one of the best youth orchestras in the country.

• 2009 Award Winner: Alex Mitchell, Principal Viola
• 2008 Award Winner: Sally Perkins, Principal Cello
• 2007 Award Winner: Catriona Frazer, First Bassoon
• 2006 Award winner: Hilary Cornwell, Principal Oboe

George Green's School, London

Situated in the Isle of Dogs, East London, George Green's is a comprehensive school for boys and girls aged 11-19. Students come from a wide range of socio-economic, ethnic and religious backgrounds. Music is an important and influential part of the curriculum.

• 2009 Award Winner: Russell Akbar. An outstanding musician who is now in Year 10 taking GCSE music
• 2008 Award Winner: Nicola Le, Year 10. Nicola has worked very hard to take her GCSE Music a year early and has recently completed her Grade 5 theory exam.
• 2007 Award Winner: Kay Roucou, Singer, Year 10
• 2006 Award Winner: Mohammed Ibrahim, Year 9

Instrument Loans

Music for Alice have loaned out a saxophone to 17 year old Lara Belo Jones who approached us earlier in the year to enquire whether we could help her. We would like to thank Dee Wilkinson for her genorous donation of the saxophone which belonged to her late partner Tom Fairbrown who died in the tsunami.

If you are interested in either donating or borrowing an instrument then please get in touch.

Flora London Marathon, 13th April 2008

On April 13th 2008 MfA's founder, Ede Macgill took to the streets of London to run the Flora London Marathon in aid of Music for Alice. The day started with glorious sunshine, but as it was April, and in England this was soon followed by two downpours! However this failed to dampen the spirits of the 30,000 runners and thousands of spectators who lined the pavements and provided much needed encouragement throughout the race. Ede finished the race in 4 hours and 27 minutes which she was thrilled with. To date her amount raised is £2000 which she, and the other trustees were absolutely thrilled with. Many thanks to everyone who sponsored Ede.

Music for Alice would also like to say a huge thank you to Josh Sturges who ran the marathon and raised over £1500 for Music for Alice.

Ede and Matt, still standing, just!

A night out with Music for Alice, November 17th 2007, St. Paul's, London

Many thanks to everyone who attended our third fundraising event. The Livery in St Pauls provided a warm welcome from the cold and blustery weather outside. As the crowds descended coats and hats were shed to reveal a fine array of party outfits ready for a night of dancing!

The highlight of the evening was Charly Richardson with his talented seven piece band playing a unique blend of Jazz, Reggae and Funk. Afterwards our very own Matt and Will alongside guest DJ Omar ensured the crowds stayed on the dance floor until the early hours of Sunday morning... and dance they did! The evening was a great success and we were very happy to have been able to showcase the talent that we support in Charly.

Music for Alice Pub Quiz, March 12th 2007, Covent Garden, London

On Monday March 12th pens, and in some cases pencils, were poised in anticipation for the first Music for Alice pub quiz. Over 20 teams packed out Bunker Bar in Covent Garden and slugged it out to see who would be crowned champions.

Over the course of 7 fiercely contested rounds, on topics ranging from Sport to Current Affairs, the wheat was most definitely separated from the chaff. From the start it was clear that the winners would be the team with the skills to name both the largest landlocked country in the world and the five members of Girls Aloud.

As the alcohol flowed and the stakes raised, insults were traded, not only between the teams, but also with the quiz master with both his pronunciation and fact checking being questioned. After the answer sheets were checked, the results disputed, Quiz Team Aguilera romped home and were crowned the first winners of the Music for Alice Pub Quiz and the recipients of a case of champagne.

A big thank you to all the teams who came down to take part and made it such a great event. We raised an impressive £400.