Princeton Students Raise Money for Philadelphia Music Program

When Princeton High School junior Ben Wulfman heard about Tune Up Philly, a non-profit that offers music education to Philadelphia children living in poverty, he jumped at the chance to become involved.

Wulfman first thought about teaching lessons for the program, but that didn’t work with his schedule.

Undeterred, the 17-year-old French horn player instead organized a fundraiser.

The April 8 classical music concert drew hundreds of people and raised more than $3,600 for the organization, which launched in September.

“I thought (Tune Up Philly) was a fantastic idea and I wanted to get behind it,” Wulfman said.

Tickets were $10, $5 for students and seniors.

Most of the two-hour performance featured classical music performances by Wulfson on French horn, junior Julian Edgren, 16, on piano and senior Farshad Tahvildar-Zadehm 17, on piano and violin.

For the final three songs, the performers invited nearly 200 musicians from throughout district, from elementary through high school, plus members of area youth orchestras.

Although Wulfman has participated in other fundraisers, this was the first one he has orchestrated on such a large scale.

"I’m so grateful and thankful for my co-performers who are also doing this and have worked so hard on this.”

And he thanked high school orchestra Director Robert Loughran, whom he said embraced the idea from the start and worked with the students to make the event a success.

“I couldn’t have done it without them,” said Wulfman, who will attend Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute this summer.

Money raised from the April 8 benefit concert will help Tune Up Philly better staff its program and provide more instruments to students.

The Philadelphia program, run by Stanford Thompson, was based on “El Sistema,” a Caracs, Venezuela program the does something similar.

Wulfman knew about “El Sistema” from watching a documentary in school.

“That program really touched me, how hard the kids worked and just because music is one of the only things they had going for them,” he said.

Thompson drove up to Princeton for the recent concert and thanked local students for their help.

One in three children in Philadelphia lives in poverty, he said.

More than 200 families have signed up with “Tune Up Philly so far and 80 children now play a musical instrument for two-and-half hours every day after school. Besides lessons, the children participate in assemblies and play in some of the top venues in the region.

“The worst part about being poor, more than never having a home, is the feel of being nobody,” Thompson said. “Your support of Tune Up Philly will pave the way for this type of work.”

He hopes the program becomes a national model.