A music education revolution

It’s been 18 months since I took up my post and, in that time, I’ve been reading reports and research to keep me up to date. I was struck by Youth Music’s ‘Sound of the Next Generation’.  It describes a generation of young people passionate about music, as a hobby, a soundtrack to their lives and in supporting their wellbeing.

But the data shows that this passion and commitment for music isn’t translating into engagement with music education, in or out of school.  We also know that there are certain groups of children and young people who miss out entirely. Those from lower income backgrounds, those with special educational needs or disabilities and in some cases boys. 

Why is this? Why is the offer not satisfying their needs and wishes and are there barriers we need to break down?

I was struck by the words of Lucie Niemelä, a young singer/songwriter recently at a music education conference in Sweden. She said that during her music education she had been “supported but not heard”. Could this absence of adults listening to young people explain why they are not engaged with music education? 

What might music education in England look like if it was youth-led?  Could we inspire young people to lead a music education revolution that demands their needs are placed front and centre? 

We don’t need to worry that youth-led learning would lead to a bonfire of clarinets and a focus only on popular genres. Technology has led to such variety being available to young people that they enjoy listening, playing and composing a much broader range of music.  Those surveyed for ‘The Sound of the Next Generation’ cited over 300 musical genres they appreciated. The young people we consulted with for our next strategy informed us that they prefer not to think about distinct genres or even art forms. Creativity was more important to them. 

We are keen to support a musical education that starts from a young age and continues to adulthood. One that helps children and young people develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to have a vibrant musical life. 

We already have the infrastructure through Music Education Hubs to produce an education offer based on young people’s needs and wishes. That offer may look different from place to place. But it’s fine if we’re listening to young people, drawing on appropriate musicians and organisations to deliver it and measuring its impact, not just outputs.

We have an opportunity in the coming years to reduce the patchiness of provision for 0-4 year olds and 19-25 year olds, as the original National Plan for Music Education intended for 5-18 year olds.  We can use music to help shape babies’ and young children’s emotional, social and physical development.  We can support young people to progress into the creative industries and perhaps join the excellent music education workforce.

We are fortunate, in music education, to have so many passionately committed individuals and organisations.  I see many musical opportunities for young people across the country and there is such a lot of good work happening in and out of schools. From musicians supporting children about to have operations in Sheffield Children’s Hospital to teachers developing hip hop curricula in secondary schools. From In Harmony programmes changing children’s lives through orchestral ensembles, to companies like Mish Mash Productions and Music in the Round developing quality early years shows and National Youth Music Organisations supporting some of our most talented young musicians.

Let’s join together to ensure that we listen to young people, so we can shape music education around them and ensure that every child can have a musical life whoever they are, wherever they live.