Volunteer Guitar Connection will be starting new round of beginners guitar class (starting 9th April 2010) for:

(i)  volunteers who wish to pick up guitar playing (strum-and-sing) to play for their beneficiaries,
(ii) guitarists/musicians who wish to volunteer their skills to help beneficiaries in music learning.

Information of group

Background: Volunteer Guitar Connection (VGC) was formed in 2004, an interest group under the ‘Volunteer Circle’, under National Council of Social Service (NCSS). The group was formed then because volunteers from different agencies wanted to bring live music and singing to their beneficiaries, so as to bring joy and laughter as they go about their weekly activities, serving the beneficiaries from respective Volunteer Welfare Organisations (VWOs). Since 2006, we have become an independent group and started to embark on projects to benefit the less privileged in music learning.

Activity: Every alternate Fridays, we gather to learn under a structured syllabus primarily targeted to teach volunteers strum and sing so they can bring back the songs to play to their beneficiaries.

Projects: Our current projects include:

(i) guitar teaching projects at children related homes, schools for the intellectually challenged,
(ii) teaching guitar to young cancer patients and
(iii) agency hopping to perform strum-and-sing for beneficiaries

Entry requirement

(1) Volunteers attached to a Volunteer Welfare Organisations (VWO) in Singapore
(2) For guitarists/musicians who are not volunteers yet – the requirement is that you will need

(i) to become a volunteer in a VWO (We can recommend you to VWOs) or

(ii) take up projects which VGC is currently embarking on.

For (2), due to sensitivity of some of the projects we are taking up, we will also need to conduct a short interview with you, and also understand your guitar skill level so we can ascertain a suitable project or VWO to attach to. Listed below are some ways how you can contribute:

• Projects : Teach beneficiaries guitar skills (cancer patients/children or teenagers from problem families etc)
• Performances : Performing strum-and-sing for needy beneficiaries including elderly or children who are less privileged
• Teaching : Teach guitar playing to volunteers so they can in turn bring music to their beneficiaries in respective VWOs

Contact us

If the above is what you will be interested to participate in, please email to us (volunteer.guitarconnection@gmail.com) and we will follow up with you shortly. Our blog is http://volunteerguitarconnection.wordpress.com/

Closing date for registration is 15 March 2010.  The beginner class starts on 9 April for 8 compulsory consecutive weeks (9 April to 4 June 2010), thereafter the lessons will carry on every alternate Fridays.

Thanks and Best Regards,
on behalf of Volunteer Guitar Connection