London children offered 400 music scholarships

Private music patrons aim to raise £2 million to fund 400 scholarships for London children with a talent for music. The aim is to give steady four-year support for disadvantaged children to have Saturday lessons, individual coaching and group tuition to learn a musical instrument. Alongside the scholarships, there is to be a "partnership" scheme whereby professional musicians go into schools to work on music with up to 10,000 schoolchildren.

The 400 scholarships and the partnership scheme will be funded by a new music charity, The Mayor of London’s Fund for Young Musicians, set a fundraising deadline of next March. Yesterday’s launch announced that £150,000 has been pledged so far.

Paradoxically, this charity is due to become active just as several non-London councils prepare to cease their funding of music education in schools, as Jasper Rees reported last winter.

The launch claimed that 80 per cent of children say they’d like to learn a musical instrument, but in the state sector only 8.4 per cent of them have weekly instrumental lessons - while by contrast 50 per cent of independent schoolchildren apparently do so.

It’s long been acknowledged that music makes a significant difference to the lives of children, opening up their personalities and confidence, and improving their concentration and interest level across the curriculum, and also helps disaffected youngsters learn teamwork in a band or orchestra. Around eight out of 10 primary schoolchildren have access to some music teaching - the problem was that all too many could not continue because they lacked the money to pay.

London Mayor Boris Johnson launched a specific music education strategy a year ago, aiming to draw local authorities, the Arts Council, private patrons and arts organisations together to solve the problem of disappearing public music education, whose social benefits were widely acknowledged. Public money put into the pot was more than doubled by other support to around £240,000 over the past year, and the success of this model has instigated the extension of the plan to home in on a London-wide scale to the poorer children in London who love music but can’t afford lessons.

The new Fund for Young Musicians aims to focus on poorer children from the 33 boroughs with a genuine interest and commitment to develop their skill into secondary school. The range of figures involved in the project proves the strength and breadth of the sense that something must be done - from artists such as violinist Nicola Benedetti and hit young guitarist Miloš Karadaglić, arts leaders such as the Barbican’s Sir Nicholas Kenyon, former Barbican MD Sir John Tusa and impresario Raymond Gubbay, to leading private supporters such as American banker Jonathan Moulds and major Covent Garden patron Lady Hamlyn.

Mayor Boris Johnson said at the launch: "Music can transform the lives of young people from all backgrounds, enriching the mind, teaching valuable skills and discipline and importantly, providing a source of invaluable self-expression, personal enjoyment and life-enhancing career options. If a young Londoner has a talent for music and the commitment to progress, I want them to be able to do so regardless of their starting point. The new fund will help to make this not just an aspiration but a reality for young musicians who could otherwise be overlooked."