Striking a chord
Registered Charity No: 1198134 since 2022
MUSIC
MOVES THE HEART
TOUCHES THE SOUL
Striking a Chord (SaC) is a UK-based registered charity, whose goal is to inspire, uplift, empower, educate, motivate, enrich culturally - through all things music and beyond.
“→ ‘In these trying times, we need spiritual leaders like yourself, who have that open heart and mind and who teach how to spread one’s wings in a flight towards one’s goal. You are a perfect example of the notion that everything becomes possible, if we only water the plants of our dreams with the water of the inner faith. You teach like a Master-Teacher’.”
OUR GOALS ARE TO:
lift our beneficiaries out of their stagnation, possibly even depression and help them extract themselves from their current difficulties and despondency post-Covid. We dream of infusing them with new zest for living or adding a dimension to life they hardly knew they were missing. We achieve this via our programmes, one of which is 'Inspired You - Inspires Others'. It provides our beneficiaries with access to a series of ongoing inspirational video podcasts charged with good music and empowering, motivating and enriching ideas contained within the lyrics.
provide opportunities to members of the community to achieve differentiated levels of performance and appreciation of music through practical application of the acclaimed Gorna Method. This is a unique and original system of teaching music in a lively, dynamic and creative way, bypassing the traditional music notation system and empowering students to be their own creative decision makers. Initiated in the 90’s, the method is tried and tested. Hundreds of participants can attest to its efficacy and the acquisition of a lifelong treasure. Some features of the method’s novelty include: exceptional success rate, inspiration and excitement, acquisition of professional performance skills, speedy high-quality results and the use of neuro-scientific insights in the learning experience. The Gorna Method uses music as a vehicle of self-expression and a means for participants becoming more in touch with themselves which in turn helps their wellbeing and general fulfilment.
make the music experience and its education accessible to all, even to those with amusia or assumed, so-called ‘tone-deaf’. We use the principles of Professor Carol Dweck’s ‘growth mind set’ as opposed to the ‘fixed mind set’. Believing that ‘talent isn’t born, it’s grown’, we empower our beneficiaries with knowledge of their innate neuroplasticity. It goes without saying that there is no age barrier, quite the contrary: it is never too late to learn, you just need to know the best and fastest way of doing it.
provide our participants with opportunities to express their feelings in a creative fashion thereby enhancing their emotional wellbeing. Music moves the heart and touches the soul.
bestow connectivity, improve communication and encourage social interaction. What a marvel music is: people meet heart to heart overcoming language barriers. Music is the ultimate universal language.
raise their self-awareness, build their confidence, self-esteem and perseverance, increase motivation. We help them discover their hidden talents, learn about engaging in a public environment and to collaborate with others while working on a project.
improve academic performance. We would love to provide the opportunity for them to achieve personal fulfilment and success as well as gain important skills for life.
open avenues for them to secure gainful employment in the future. Beneficiaries become confident and proficient in skills and with career guidance from tutors, they gain access to further educational options or develop their talent to a professional level.
create a new generation of volunteering. We encourage our participants to volunteer within the community by using their newly acquired skills.
provide music opportunities to academically challenged students, participants with behavioural challenges, victims of bullying who need their confidence rebuilt. We open our arms to those who have terminally ill or special needs family members at home and require a warm safe outlet.
provide music opportunities to adults in need for that outlet, to assist them in finding a fulfilling or relaxing pastime to take their minds away from various problems, life complications and crises they may be facing.
OUR PROGRAMMES:
experience
learning music
in a different way!
Experience The Gorna Method for Creative Teaching of Music - a unique and original system of teaching music in a lively, dynamic and creative way. Impressive results can be achieved, even for the less talented student, in a relatively short time. The method bypasses the traditional routine of learning by musical notation.
Some features of the method’s novelty include: an exceptional success rate, inspiration and excitement, acquisition of professional performance skills, speedy high-quality results and neuro-scientific input into the learning experience. The method uses music as a vehicle of self-expression and a means to become more in touch with oneself which in turns helps wellbeing and general fulfilment.
The Gorna Method for Creative Teaching of Music is invented and developed by Jarmila Gorna, Director of SaC and taught at the Gorna Institute for Creative Approach to Music (GICAM).
music through neuroscience and psychotechnology
Discover the best practises to form new neuropathways for absorbing music training faster, deeper and sustaining it longer term. Make the road to your musicianship be the most direct way achievable. Make it the ‘Long Shorter Way’.
We enrich the standard Gorna Method course of learning piano with insights into the workings of the brain during the process of acquiring the new skills. From Prof. Carol Dweck’s principles of the ‘growth mind set’ to Daniel Coyle’s explorations of the ‘Talent Code’, we garnish this module with a number of useful brain tweaks and even bio-hacks or simply breathing techniques, all of which guarantees the learning adventure becoming speedier, more exciting and deeper.
Everything to play for
Perform with professional musicians, be professionally filmed and share your video with the world!
After a relatively short period a participant of this programme will have achieved a level of competence to enable them to perform centre stage accompanied by a professional musician or be part of a small ensemble also comprising more experienced musicians. The crowning accomplishment of the project is that the performances of the participants are filmed and edited in a professional suite and given to them to share with friends, family, social media and in any other way they wish, to further the reach of their cultural experience.
‘Everything to Play For’ is taught at the Gorna Institute for Creative Approach to Music (GICAM).
Compose yourself -
finding a creator within you
Receive the magic key to becoming a budding composer. All you need is the will within.
Using the Gorna Method, we open our participants, who would never otherwise entertain the idea, to the thought of creating their own music. The student is literally shown how simple and enjoyable creating music can be. The magic starts to happen when they realise that all they need is to be daring and willing for the new sounds to be created out of their own input.
is your talent born
or grown - music for
the ‘unmusical’
Claim your dream and right to be a musician, in spite of all the odds.
We make the music experience and its education accessible to all, even to those with amusia or assumed, so-called ‘tone-deaf’. We use the principles of Professor Carol Dweck’s ‘growth mind set’ as opposed to the ‘fixed mind set’. Believing that ‘talent isn’t born, it’s grown’, we empower our beneficiaries with knowledge of their innate neuroplasticity. It goes without saying that there is no age barrier, quite the contrary: it is never too late to learn, you just need to know the best and fastest way of doing it.
musical escape -
for the latecomers to music
Claim your childhood dream of music. Relax or be stimulated through learning music – the choice is yours. Fill the free hours of your busy day or evening by learning the new skill and expressing your emotions through music.
We provide music opportunities to adults in need for that outlet, to assist them in finding a fulfilling or relaxing pastime to take their minds away from various problems, life complications and crises they may be facing.
inspired you -
inspires others!
'Inspired You - Inspires Others' is a project which will witness the creation of a series of inspirational video podcasts infused with good music and enhanced by the description of the empowering, motivating and educational ideas contained in songs. Its aim is to lift people out of their stagnation, possibly depression and help them extract themselves from their current difficulties and despondency post-Covid. It will infuse them with new zest for living or add a dimension to life they hardly knew they were missing.
A taster podcast from ‘Inspired You - Inspires Others’: