OUR STORY
My name is Sasha Perskie. I created Play It Forward to bring music education to children who want to learn music but don't have the means.
I grew up lucky enough to receive a music education. I’m a classically-trained pianist, a singer-songwriter and guitarist who records on MoTo Records, and an a cappella singer who has performed at Lincoln Center.
I've also become a music teacher myself. I work as an instructor at the Lakehouse Music Academy in Asbury Park, NJ, and I founded Harmony Music Instruction, which provides private classes in piano and guitar.
But with Play It Forward, I'm able to bring music to children who otherwise would not have the chance to learn.
I got the idea for Play It Forward in 2022, after I enrolled at Red Bank Regional as a piano major in the Visual & Performing Arts Academy. I noticed that most music majors came from more privileged backgrounds than the average student at RBR.
I realized that given the VPA’s selective application process, only students whose families could afford music lessons had the chance to join our special program. At RBR, where a third of the students are considered economically disadvantaged, that left a lot of kids out.
I proposed a way for the VPA to serve all of RBR’s students and give all children in our community the chance to learn music: We could ask the students in the VPA to serve as music teachers for the community's children, free of charge.
In other words, we could use to the school's current generation of music majors create the next generation -- hopefully the best generation yet, drawn from a wider pool of talent than ever.
The school approved my plan, provided instruments, and awarded volunteer credits to all music majors who wanted to join the program.
Today Play It Forward operates after-school classes in six-week sessions in downtown Red Bank, just a few blocks from the Red Bank Middle School.
Next year, our first group of graduates will reach eighth grade and will be prepared to audition for the VPA.
In 2023 I expanded Play It Forward beyond Red Bank, after I began working as a music instructor at the Lakehouse Music Academy in Asbury Park. Lakehouse is one of the top music schools in the state but is based in a community where few families can afford a music education.
Play It Forward now raises and distributes money to fund scholarships for children to attend classes at Lakehouse. This summer I will be teaching some of these classes and students myself.
In 2024 I saw the chance to expand Play It Forward even further. During a sightseeing trip to Zambia to see the famous waterfall Victoria Falls, my family and I visited a local village and toured its school. The children greeted us by singing Zambia's national anthem. They loved music, but their school had little funding for instruments or music instruction.
Now, thanks to support from our donors, Play It Forward funds the music program at the school, paying for instruments and a music teacher throughout the school year.
This summer I will return to the school to teach courses in piano, guitar, and songwriting, and prepare a concert by the children.