We must rebuild Music Education

This post is based on the speech I gave at Conference on the music industry. (Motion F36)

I have spoken at conference on many issues – from funerals, to IT to empowering communities – but it is rare for us to have a chance to talk about the Creative Arts. As a society we do take artists, and what they produce, for granted.

Music, drama and images are so much embedded in our lives that we often forget that there is a huge industry behind them, supporting individuals whose creativity needs to be nurtured, and often from an early age.

Most of us experience and enjoy a wide range of musical genres, through our headphones, as background music to films, and live at gigs held in arenas, concert halls, clubs and pubs.  And we all DO music as well – we sing at sports events, we do karaoke (some better than others), we dance, we hum theme tunes, we clap along and tap our feet, we sing hymns (well some of us do). Music is part of who we are.

I have a particular reason for wanting to write about music – my only direct involvement has been as an enthusiastic member of a choral society, but in my, only slightly extended, family eight members work professionally (or have worked) in the music industry. They include seven performers, two music producers, two songwriters, five instrumental teachers, two music publishers and one event organiser. Now you may have spotted that adds up to more than eight, which underlines my first point – music is a precarious industry and most professionals are free-lance, so many of them double up their roles.

However, I particularly want to focus on music education.

Michael Gove and the Tories have seriously damaged education with their emphasis, not on the whole child’s development, but on the economic benefits to society of STEM subjects. Now I am a Computer Scientist, so I don’t disparage STEM – but that’s not all there is to life.

Music education breeds the musicians of the future, and crucially it also breeds the audiences of the future. But more than that, learning music develops all children academically. It has huge cognitive benefits which transfer right across the curriculum.

Every child deserves the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, with free or affordable tuition and instruments. A prime example is set by Newham’s “Every Child a Musician” programme.

My niece plays with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and she told me how the orchestra is a partner in a new non-selective state school, Shireland CBSO Academy. The school offers a small number of places for students with exceptional musical aptitude, set alongside an enriched musical experience for all the pupils, whatever their background.

However these two excellent initiatives are not going to transform the lives of children across the country on their own. It needs political will.

I am encouraged by some statements from the Labour government.

In his speech at the Labour Party Conference Keir Starmer mentioned the significance of music in his life. He plays flute, violin, recorder and piano and was a junior exhibitioner at the Guildhall School of Music.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has said that “Music is as important as Maths“.

Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said this in a speech at the Labour Party Conference:

Successive Tory Governments running down our rich and proud heritage in arts and music and the right of every child to it.

We’re going to reignite the imagination of the next generation. Because a complete education is a creative education.

And that is why Bridget (Phillipson) and I have kickstarted a review of the curriculum to put arts, sports and music back at the heart of our schools and communities where it belongs.

We must hold them to it.

 

 

 

* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.

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4 Comments

  • Colin Brown 5th Oct '24 - 11:15am

    Well said! I am pleased to have heard members of the Labour government speak up for music, standing up to the nonsensical charge of “elitism”.

  • Totally agree that whole person development is important in schools, and the opportunity to learn music (alongside other activities such as sport, dance, theatre, etc.) should be a part of that. I have two concerns though.

    Firstly, if we allocate more hours to teaching music in schools, that must mean fewer hours for something else (unless we’re demanding that children study more). So it does rather beg the question, if there’s more music, what other subject are we going to teach less? That’s tougher to answer.

    Secondly, you mention how precarious an existence a career in music can be. The basic reason for that is the same reason that a career in almost any art is precarious: It can be exceptionally enjoyable to do and that inevitably means the number of people trying to pursue it as a career massively exceeds the number of jobs available. If teaching music more means we end up with more competent music-makers then that’s probably going to make the careers of professional musicians even more precarious due to even more competition. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t give children those opportunities, but it is something to be aware of.

  • Nigel Jones 9th Oct '24 - 8:49pm

    Music in school does not have to be formal and for passing exams and we should revitalise all the extra-curricular music provision once laid on by local authorities but now hugely declined and disappearing due to the demise of LAs. To make space for this we should seriously consider reducing some of the crammed subject syllabuses and curriculum; not all of it is necessary except in the minds of subject specialists.

  • Nonconformistradical 9th Oct '24 - 10:09pm

    @simon R
    Your comment came over to me as if you value education only in terms of career opportunities.

    How very boring.

    Education is for life. And ideally children should be educated towards loving learning – whatever they learn.

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