'We should play flute duets,’ Sir Keir Starmer said to me. We were in Liverpool, and Starmer had just made his first Labour conference speech as prime minister. I hope he doesn’t hold me to it (I took up the instrument a few years ago as part of a Grade 1-a-thon), though I’m probably safe as I doubt he has much spare time for music-making at the moment. But he certainly used to play, having spent his teenage Saturday mornings at the Guildhall junior department. I know this because [in Liverpool] I was sitting in the front row and, although I was quite surprised to be mentioned (I won’t go into my health story here, but you can easily look me up), my ears really pricked up when he proceeded to reminisce about his time touring Malta with the Croydon Youth Philharmonic. Why? Because music education is central to his government’s mission ‘for opportunities to be there for your children’, and this commitment comes right from the top.
Supporting statements
It appears that leading figures in the Cabinet have received the memo, and not just those directly responsible for music education. In a conference floor interview (after telling the BBC’s Nick Robinson how I’d inspired him – my ears were really starting to burn then!), health and social care secretary Wes Streeting stressed the importance of music-making for wellbeing, saying: ‘If you’re able to play an instrument… you’re more likely to be able to live well for longer.’ Even chancellor Rachel Reeves passionately declared that music education is a way for ‘working-class kids’ to have richer lives, but that music in schools is ‘cut to the bone’ and ‘the joy of… learning an instrument shouldn’t be the preserve of better-off kids.’
This sentiment was echoed by culture secretary Lisa Nandy, who told an assembled crowd: ‘We have never believed that arts and culture and music belong to a few of us; they belong to us all,’ before starting her DJ set with Britney Spears’s Toxic. And as for education? Well, I did express my disappointment to schools minister Catherine McKinnell that education secretary Bridget Phillipson had failed to mention flute lessons in her speech; but, as I reported previously [see MT March 2024, tinyurl.com/2mp5h4fp], they have both been making all the right noises for quite some time. Moreover, at fringe events all over Liverpool, politicians, union leaders, arts organisation representatives and celebrity panellists chimed in – almost in unison – with powerful testimonies coming from members of a school big band brought to the conference by Music for Youth.
Words and deeds?
These are fine words indeed, and after 14 years of not just belt-tightening for the music education sector but also marginalisation, I for one am absolutely delighted to see such a significant rhetorical commitment to music and arts education. But it doesn’t take a world-weary sceptic to ask: what is actually being done to achieve that holy grail of opportunity for all?
It’s important to acknowledge that the end of one-word OFSTED judgements, a 5.5% pay rise for teachers and tax on private school fees to fund mental health support and breakfast clubs are all steps in the right direction for our sector and our children’s education. But more specifically to music teachers, there are two significant steps that, if not providing all the answers, give me hope.
The Music Opportunities Pilot [see MT news Sept 2024, tinyurl.com/5897hx7h] could provide a model for building on established instrumental teaching programmes, such as First Access, WCET or WCIT, and a progression route that enables those most musically engaged to flourish and maybe, just maybe, helps them to pursue a career in music, whatever their background.
The Labour manifesto commitment of a ‘music education network’, meanwhile, may well be based on the Fabian Society idea of a directory for families to find existing music services like hubs and private tutors. Okay, we’ve all been approached by enthusiastic parents wanting this information. But what if we dream big here? What if this network supported the profession, for example, with the different professional development needs of primary, secondary and visiting instrumental teachers?
Working with us, not against us
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that in the past month we have witnessed the greatest government commitment to music education since Churchill was asked to cut arts funding and famously refused because, as he said, ‘[Then] what are we fighting for?’
I’d say we’ve all been fighting against, rather than with, government for far too long. But, at long last, those in power are in our corner. They really are listening, and now is the time to make our voices heard.
