The Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund (SNSF)

Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund

Sheila Nelson

The purpose of the Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund is to promote and disseminate the art of teaching as practised by Sheila Nelson through the creation of an archive of her work which will support string teachers.

Bursaries may also be awarded to members of ESTA UK teaching in the UK wishing to further their knowledge of the methodologies of Sheila Nelson and Paul Rolland and those with a special interest in group teaching.

If you are interested in supporting the creation of an archive of Sheila’s work for the benefit of string teachers please click here to find out more, and also how you can donate to the project.

What inspired the Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund?

Sheila Nelson workshop in Hendon — Sheila working with children in a workshop

The Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund was originally endowed as the Stringwise Charitable Trust. In 2016 the Trustees of the Stringwise Charitable Trust decided it was time to look to the long-term future of the charity to ensure that the work of Sheila Nelson and the training of string teachers continued to be supported in perpetuity.

Given the close relationship between Sheila Nelson and ESTA it was not difficult to envisage entrusting the Stringwise Charitable Trust to ESTA(UK) as one of ESTA(UK)’s bursary funds. Typically modest, Sheila would not hear of her name being used when Stringwise was founded but the trustees of the Stringwise Charitable Trust and the trustees of ESTA(UK) wanted to recognise and celebrate Sheila’s inspirational and tireless work with both teachers and children and so the Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund came into being.

How did the Stringwise Charitable Trust come into existence?

Sheila in 2012 with pupils working out a tune from her book Spin-a-Tune, published by Boosey & Hawkes.

Stringwise was founded in 1992 after the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) was abolished and the ‘Tower Hamlets String Teaching Project’ ceased to exist. This Project pioneered group teaching in strings and other instruments in Primary Schools in the 1970s and 1980s and had a significant Teacher Training component built into its structure. The team of teachers was led by Sheila Nelson who pioneered the team-teaching approach to group teaching after working alongside Paul Rolland in the USA. The aim of Stringwise was to continue sharing the considerable expertise gained by the Tower Hamlets Project teachers in group teaching methods.

Stringwise was made up of a company, Stringwise Ltd, running holiday courses for children and professional development courses for teachers plus the Stringwise Charitable Trust which provided bursaries to attend the courses. When it was set up, the Stringwise Charitable Trust benefitted from a large donation from the Driver family in memory of Christopher Driver. Subsequently it benefitted from other donations and an annual gift of the profits from Stringwise Ltd.

Sheila in the late 1970’s acting the ‘Bad Violinist’ in an East End Primary School

The company, Stringwise Ltd continues to organise children’s holiday courses in North London. In line with the philosophies developed by Sheila Nelson and the Tower Hamlets Project, these courses for children aged 4 to 14 are without audition, emphasise the development of musicianship skills with and without the instrument, build chamber music skills from the start and promote team teaching. Every course ends with a piece for a large multi-level orchestra with every child on the course playing. The profits from Stringwise Ltd originally went to the Stringwise Charitable Trust and are now donated to the Sheila Nelson Stringwise Fund.

From 1992 until 2010 Stringwise Ltd organised Teacher Training Courses based on the principles of Freedom of Movement in Playing. Sheila Nelson was always the lead teacher on these courses, supported by the team of Stringwise teachers. These courses were attended by teachers from the world over while members of the Stringwise team also travelled widely delivering workshops and courses based around Sheila Nelson’s inspirational work.

Please read these criteria before applying for a grant using the appropriate link at the bottom of this page

Applications for grants are considered by the Bursary Committee 4 times a year. Deadlines remain at the discretion of the Bursary Committee and late applications may be considered in exceptional circumstances. Applicants are notified of the decision of the Bursary Committee within 2-4 weeks of the published deadline for applications

Criteria for an individual bursary:

You have to be a string teacher or a trained player who intends to become one.
Bursaries are only ever awarded to current Full Professional, Young Professional, Overseas Professional or Student members of ESTA UK (click here to join ESTA UK) or to the pupils of teachers who are current members of ESTA UK. Preference may be given to those who have been a member of ESTA UK for 12 months or more.
Grants are usually for a maximum of £350 and limited in number.
Grant applications are considered on their individual merit. Three grants from any single fund is the normal maximum any individual can receive and to award more than three grants remains at the discretion of the ESTA Bursary Committee.
The SNSF supports teachers working in the UK and wishing to further their knowledge of the methodologies of Sheila Nelson and Paul Rolland and those with a special interest in group teaching. The Fund cannot help with the cost of instruments, travel, entering competitions, post-graduate performing courses or pedagogy courses that do not fit the criteria specified above.
You are asked to provide a short CV and indicate reasons for need of a grant including details of any specific financial hardship.
The amount of any grant awarded will be paid to the teacher once they have provided a copy of the receipt for the fees and a scan/photo of the relevant part of a bank/credit card statement showing the name of the organisation that has been paid and the amount.
If awarded a grant you are required to provide a write-up (maximum 300 words) on the course describing a teaching point, tip or strategy from the course in a format that can be shared with the ESTA membership. The write-up must be submitted within two weeks of the end of the course. This report or extracts from it will appear on the ESTA website and might be published in the ESTA magazine Arco. On request, the report can be published anonymously.

APPLY for an individual bursary

Criteria for a project bursary:

The ESTA member must be a current Full Professional, Young Professional, Overseas Professional or Student member of ESTA UK (click here to join ESTA UK). Preference may be given to those who have been a member of ESTA UK for 12 months or more.
The project must be focused on sharing and teaching the specific methodologies of Sheila Nelson. While group teaching was a feature of her methodology, it should be noted that this is not necessarily a sufficient reason for applying for a bursary from this fund.
Special consideration will be given for projects in communities that might lack similar such opportunities
Reasonable funds can be applied for to support specialist presenters and these might include reimbursement of travel, accommodation, materials and teaching hours as well as other costs associated with running a significant course. Funds may be released at any point in the project’s life cycle at the discretion of the bursary officer.
The bursary applicant will be required to provide a write-up (300 – 500 words) of their experience running the project and how the bursary helped. This must be submitted within two weeks of the end of the project. ESTA UK reserves the right to publish this write-up or extracts from it.

APPLY for a project bursary

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Deborah Young – research write-up