25/06/2009
Music programmes like In Harmony can change lives, and even save them, according to Gill Walshaw, senior tutor on the In Harmony Lambeth project.
The Lambeth project is based on the Lansdowne Green estate in South London, near where a 15-year-old was tragically stabbed and killed in April.
The incident was gang-related and it's these territorial divisions in the community that Gill thinks In Harmony can tackle.
"There are a lot of territorial lines that even children in the schools we're working in are aware of," she says.
"If we can help break down some of the those boundaries and bring together children from different schools, getting to know each other, going to different areas, that's something we can address."
In Harmony Lambeth is one of three projects inspired by Venezuela's El Sistema, offering free, intensive music training to children in underprivileged parts of the country.
Although the tutors from In Harmony are currently working with young children in Nursery and Year 1, they stress the importance of long-term funding for the project to make a long-term investment in these children's lives.
"So that we can follow through and genuinely help different families and communities work together in a cohesive way," says Gill. "Sharing their music together, sharing experiences, performing, all those esteem-building activities - that can't help but do good, and I do believe it would help break down the boundaries that you find in gang situations."