Clare Stevens looks at the range of government initiatives and charities helping to provide instrumental tuition within UK state schools
‘Music is a cornerstone of the broad and balanced education that every child should receive,’ declare the authors of the refreshed National Plan for Music Education in England, published in June 2022 under the title The power of music to change lives.
The plan asserts the government’s commitment to providing a broad music curriculum in the state education sector, embracing classroom music, instrumental and vocal tuition through either one-to-one or group lessons, and extra-curricular activities such as bands, choirs and music theatre. It proposes refinements to the national network of Music Hubs set up from 2011 to support joined-up music education both within and beyond schools. Funded through Arts Council England, these are partnerships between schools and local authorities, performing ensembles, arts venues and/or community and youth organisations.
The government expects schools to invest in paying Music Hubs to deliver group instrumental teaching that is free of charge for the students, and to offer the opportunity for advanced study through individual lessons to pupils who show aptitude and interest. At this point, tuition fees would normally be charged to their families, although local authorities may reduce the fees or offer bursaries in case of need, for example to young people who receive free school meals.
Additional support for those who cannot easily afford to purchase instruments, buy new strings or sheet music or, as their skills develop, travel to youth orchestra rehearsals at their local Saturday music centre is available from charities such as the Benslow Music Instrument Loan Scheme (benslowmusic-ils.org), Awards for Young Musicians (a-y-m.org. uk), Music for All (musicforall. org.uk) and the London Music Fund (londonmusicfund.org).
In practice, anecdotal evidence from online discussion forums indicates that music remains a Cinderella subject in many English schools. While the refreshed music education plan and other government documents wax lyrical about the value of creativity in training a skilled workforce, parents and the students themselves have absorbed other messages about the importance of STEM subjects – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics – in guaranteeing future employment, an
