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Richard Jones has 42 years’ experience in music education, as a teacher, head of department, head of faculty, member of an SMT, National Adviser and Music Education Hub lead. He has led many school music tours over the years. He’s currently a trustee of the Music Education Council and independent chair of Somerset and Torbay Music Hubs. Here he explores the present challenges and future opportunities for music education and calls for a ‘recovery programme’, which includes more funding, to safeguard its future.
Despite the music examination industry doing its level best to offer an online examination system and the tireless efforts of music teachers throughout the country, the vast majority of young people are going to lose a year of continuous music education.
Online and in-school bubbled teaching has proved different; it’s less practical and more listening and appreciation orientated. This suits some students but not all.
it was great to see so many performance advent calendars and virtual concerts in the run up to Christmas. However even these opportunities to perform are creating a new mindset in young performers for without face-to-face rehearsals, concerts and festivals to aim for even the most motivated can become fed up.
Take up and retention rates are falling for instrumental and vocal teaching. But for many instrumental teachers, online tuition has been a success; students don’t forget their instrument, they are more focussed and teachers get to know parents better and feel more appreciated.
It’s sad that some teachers are feeling musically de-skilled. Hours in front of a screen and preparing lessons gives them little chance to play their own instrument either to demonstrate or accompany. However there’s no doubt that school-based music teachers are bravely trying to ensure that the investment they make in their students’ musical learning is maximised.
Music tours give wonderful opportunities for young musicians. Being on the road is the closest experience young musicians can get to being a professional musician on tour for not only do participants have to cope with the logistical challenges, they have to live with each other! Not only musical skills are honed but personal attributes such as tolerance, adaptability an cultural awareness are broadened. Sadly many young musicians are missing out on such character building experiences.
There are too many variables at play to suggest any short or medium solutions. Who knows when the pandemic will truly be over? So we must look to shape a “new normal”.
We should work to ensure that music is even more firmly embedded in the curriculum. Music teachers must advocate that the type of collaborative learning used in the classroom is of greater importance to the health and wellbeing of young people than core curriculum recovery. The “soft” skills such as communication and teamwork are the skills and the social interaction that students have missed out on and need to be engendered in the student body once more.
Perhaps content and progression for Key stage 1-3 should not be the focus but rather experimentation and creativity. Place no longer matters. The relationship between music services, schools and parents has moved on significantly in the last year.
Music services have become wonderfully adept at providing online individual, small group and whole class teaching. This surely will remain as part of a blended offer. It is more cost effective and opens up the opportunity for delivering in more rural areas.
The New Model Music Curriculum and the refreshed National Plan for Music Education are now two years behind schedule. Is it not better to think about a recovery programme for young people’s music making rather than impose new initiatives? Music Hubs have continued working, many have continued to support their partner organisations thus ensuring that in the post Covid world there will be an infrastructure in which students can make music.
The centre of a Music Hub is the student, with the spokes leading to the surrounding delivery infrastructure, schools, music services, private teaching, churches, friends and informal music making. Students need to be able to access these without the barrier of lack of finance.
The Government has borrowed billions to keep the country afloat. Interest rates are not currently prohibitive. Is this not the time to invest in our children’s musical recovery by turning back the clock to provide free tuition, free instrumental hire, free ensemble activity, free entrance to concerts for without such music in schools, in our communities and the pipeline to the professional world will quickly atrophy.
*We were delighted to see the House of Commons recently held a debate on Music Education. Spearheaded by Andrew Lewer (Con) MP for Northampton South. Click here to read the full debate.
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