“Without music, life would be a mistake”: Nietzsche. Sadly for many – indeed tragically, Nietzsche would say – music education in the UK has become so inconsistent that now, music barely features in some children’s lives at all. For years, county music services have been tied in to long contracts with services and teachers, some of whom have consistently delivered outstanding musical education, while others are tired and disconnected from the needs of the pupils they are teaching. It is detrimental enough not to have a musical education, but potentially even more damaging to a child to receive a bad music education, delivered by unmotivated and disenchanted teachers.
The government has received a public bashing for the recent cuts to music education and county music services, but I believe that these changes are the most positive thing to happen to music education in years. The conditions of new funding mean that county music services must work with regional professional partners, forcing new collaborations which are benefiting both the UK’s schoolchildren and the arts organisations who are now dedicating their time to providing first-rate music education.
Cuts are a good excuse to evaluate and improve, and for the first time schools and local authority music services are being given more control over their own budgets. In the past, music services received their funding direct from the Department of Education, but now must apply to a Hub organisation, potentially in competition with other providers, which in turn forces a higher quality of musicianship and improves the social and artistic life of the school and the individuals involved.
These Hubs must ensure that every child aged between five and 18 has the opportunity to sing and learn a musical instrument, and to have the chance to perform as part of an ensemble or a choir. This is something that AC Academy has been striving for since being founded in 2002.
The result of these changes is that professional arts organisations – including concert halls, festivals, charities and orchestras – are devising and delivering outstanding education programmes to schools across the UK. Of course, it can be said that the quality of education is still uneven, but it is certainly improving. My work with AC Academy, a nationwide initiative which brings first-class music education to children across the UK, enables me to see a cross section of music education across the UK and as a result, I am confident in saying that matters are better now in music education than they ever have been.
Cuts have also forced us all to look for new sources of income, where previously we may have been reliant on government. Rather than relying on a small number of sources, arts organisations are working with larger number of investors and philanthropists who may give smaller amounts, but collectively this becomes a significant amount and is less damaging in future should one be forced to withdraw.
The responsibility for securing the future of music education should lie with government, but this does not have to be a financial responsibility. If the government and head teachers are encouraged to see the benefits of a music leader educated in professional musicianship, and collaborations with professional arts organisations, the quality of music in schools will undoubtedly improve and investment from sponsors and philanthropists will follow.
However, despite all of the recent improvements, one of the leading inconsistencies in our music education still remains: the difference between the artistic scene of London and Central England (where most arts organisations are based) and the rest of the UK. This is a matter on which the cultural sector will have to collaborate if the artistic divide (and the resultant impact it has on education) is to improve. Local education authorities need to be ardently encouraged to engage with local arts organisations to foster new collaborations throughout the country if we are to see this divide begin to settle. And only then can we begin to hope that all children throughout the UK will have an education and life filled with music. After all, a life without music would be beyond a mistake.
Watch a video of 1,500 young voices from AC Academy perform at the Albert Hall in March 2013