Projects

We are delighted that our first project was a partnership with ‘Hamara School’, a shelter for underprivileged children in Goa. Hamara School cares for 80+ children of construction workers, migrants and other low-income families by looking after their food, clothing, after-school studies and provides a safe place for children to stay. Currently, we have over 20 children from Hamara School learning violin, cello, flute and choir with us.

In August 2015, we launched a village project in the lovely village of Santa Cruz, a few miles outside Panjim. The Santa Cruz church and parish school have both been very welcoming of Child's Play India and thanks to their support, we have after-school project that provides instruction in violin and piano to any child from the village.

India has very few cello players. This is because we have very few qualified and trained cello teachers who can work with young children. The absence of good cellists and cello teachers affects us all. We have fewer cellists in orchestras across the country, which affects the quality of the sound. There's also very little chamber music happening as without cellists it is almost impossible to play ensemble music. At Child’s Play India, we are building a new generation of cellists by bringing in qualified overseas teachers who will not only teach our children, but also work with local teachers and our senior students to be future teachers. The cello project is open to the community as we want many people to begin learning this instrument. Children and adult learners are welcome. Students from the wider community will offset their own costs and purchase/rent their instruments, so our limited funds will continue being used for the disadvantaged sector. Come, learn the cello with Child's Play!

The Child's Play Chorus is made up of children from across our various projects and our community choir, which is open to other children of the community. Admissions for our community choir are open for children and young people. Please contact 9922642059 if you would like to register. Come, sing in our children's choir!

We are very pleased to introduce regular screenings for our students. We will be showing music-related, kid-friendly movies and also recordings of orchestral performances from around the world. We want our students to not only enjoy listening and watching to world class performances but also begin to grasp the enormity of the classical music world and its repertoire. Many of them will not have occasion to travel or listen to live performances. Most of our students don't have families who will push them to watch classical music videos on YouTube or take them for concerts. This, then, is the next best thing. We'll bring the music to them. Our gratitude forever to SP People's Trust for gifting us a projector and screen. Due to space constraints, the screenings are for our students only.

One of our goals at Child's Play India is to remove all barriers and obstacles to learning music. Whether it is monetary (expensive lessons) or access to instruments, we will help in any way we can. There are many piano students who cannot afford to have a piano at home (they cost Rs. 3 lakh+ to purchase) and these students practice on keyboard instead. The touch and sound are very different on both instruments and have an impact on the quality of playing. So we're delighted to introduce Piano Practice Rooms at our Foundation's premises where students from the community can come and practice on a lovely upright piano in a quiet setting.

In 2013, we launched Camerata Child’s Play, our chamber ensemble made up of young local musicians and advanced children of Child’s Play. Since April 2013, Camerata has performed over 20 concerts including at the prestigious Monte Music Festival in Goa.

In 2015, our children’s orchestra made its debut. With over 60 children playing violin, viola, cello, recorder, flute and clarinet, the orchestra is a wonderful (and rare) opportunity for children to experience the joy of making music together. Many of the children in the Junior Camerata are moving on to playing with the Camerata which is an incredible measure of advancement and accomplishment.

In June 2012, we collaborated with children's rights charity Mitsuko Trust to teach the children in their care recorder and flute. The project ran successfully for two years but had to conclude for various reasons including transportation issues for the children to come to the Mitsuko center.