The halls of the Island will be alive with the sound of music in the coming weeks as more and more charities and institutions turn to concerts of various kinds to meet their fund-raising needs.

By tradition, a variety of non-profit or educational groups, such as churches and music schools, have staged staff and student concerts or brought in foreign gospel and religious singers to elicit public donations.

In recent months, however, an increasing number of non-musical fund-seekers have discovered the power of song -- so much so that even those which have held musical fund-raisers in the past have been going out of their way to edge out the competition.

"Bigger, better and jazzier,'' human rights activist Mrs. Lena Ostroff said in a recent announcement for Amnesty International Bermuda's fourth annual jazz festival, "this year's event has a terrific line-up, with over 50 of Bermuda's hottest talents, including Legacy, JAZ, Denise Whitter with Shine Hayward and Friends, Jazzology, the Somers Isles Jazz Band, the Charles Bascome Trio, SHE, Nuance, the Tommy Ray Band, Finesse, Jazzus and June and Phiemma Caisey...It is...not to be missed.'' As one of the oldest human rights organisations on the Island, AI Bermuda, which was founded in 1983 and has over 235 members, has long recognised the shrewdness of staging musical fund-raisers, especially those involving jazz, an extremely popular form among Bermudians.

"Operating entirely by money raised in Bermuda,'' Mrs. Ostroff said, "(the local AI chapter) has turned `Jazz and Razmatazz' (as the jazz festival has come to be known) into a major fund-raising event.'' "Every year,'' she continued, "this event has been a sell-out, so jazz enthusiasts are encouraged to buy their tickets early!'' Jazz, indeed, has proven such an effective fund-raising tool that numerous organisations -- from music schools to primary schools to the Bermuda National Gallery -- have turned to the genre in an effort to loosen their supporters' pursestrings.

Next month, for instance, the Elliott School in Devonshire will attempt to raise some funding for the maintenance of the old Elliott School building by having the Jazz Masters, "Bermuda's No. 1 jazz ensemble,'' perform in an on-site concert.

The Jazz Masters, a group that is dedicated to "recreating and exploring the musical purity of masters from the late '60s to the early '80s,'' are the same ensemble that was recruited by the National Gallery and the Dunbarton School of Music last April for a joint fund-raising concert at City Hall.

"It (the Elliott School project) is a very good cause. We hope everyone will come out and have a very good time,'' said Jazz Masters drummer Mr. Howard Rego, one of the many local artists who have worked at cut-rate prices or even donated their talents in the aid of Bermudian causes.

In one of the splashiest examples of such local artistic beneficence, many of the Island's top entertainers, including Ms Pinky Steede, Mr. Gene Steede, Mr.

Ron Lightbourne and the Hubert Smith family, volunteered their services during a star-filled night of music in January to raise money for Bermuda's first epidemiology study into the expectedly high incidence of diabetes here.

And while it hasn't planned a similar evening of classical and European folk music as a fund-raising effort per se, the Saltus Concert Society has managed to coax 87-year-old pianist and Saltus "old boy'' Mr. Laurence Dill to perform with the other assembled artists at a Concert Society recital on November 17.

In addition to the singing of four of Mr. Dill's Bermuda songs -- the one-time Juilliard student is also a composer -- teacher and mezzo soprano Ms Susan Lavasseur will perform four French songs, clarinetists Ms Sally Dennis and Ms Lisa Maule will perform Mendelssohn's "Concert Piece No. 1 in F minor'' and a quartet of players from the Dunbarton School, the Bermuda Suzuki Academy and the Menuhin Foundation will perform a concerto for three violins by Vivaldi.

As the Saltus recital reveals, moreover, there is more in the staging of a concert for such organisations than merely raising money.

For one thing, a musical event can be both an effective and a memorable way of spotlighting particular causes in a time when the competition for public donations has never been fiercer.

And for another, the musically-orientated fund-raiser can be more lucrative than other methods of charitable initiatives in the sense that it offers something that is both tangible and enjoyable to those who will be doing the donating.

"At $20 a ticket,'' stated Mrs. Ostroff of her particular effort, although she could have been speaking of any musical fund-raiser, "there isn't a better entertainment deal for a better cause...'' And that view, it seems, is a sentiment that people on both ends of the fund-raising spectrum have increasingly been sharing.

"Jazz and Razmattazz,'' Amnesty International Bermuda's fourth annual jazz fund-raiser, will take place between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on November 19 at the Princess Hotel in Pembroke. Tickets, which cost $20 apiece, can be purchased at the Body Shop, Compact Discount and the Music Box, all on Reid Street in Hamilton.

The Jazz Masters, a jazz ensemble that performs the music of the jazz greats exclusively, will play in aid of the Old Elliott School Building Fund between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the school on November 11. Tickets cost $20 each and can be purchased by phoning 236-3091.

Featuring pianist Mr. Laurence Dill and others, the Saltus Concert Society will present an evening of classical and European folk music at 8 p.m. on November 17. The venue for the event has yet to be set, although more information can be had by phoning 292-6177.

HOWARD REGO -- The Jazz Masters drummer is one of the many local artists who have worked at cut-rate prices or even donated their talents in the aid of Bermudian causes.