Young Musicians

Amidst the current political and economic shit storm on these islands, one finds oneself looking in vain for the positive - even asking ‘should I be living here any more?’ I have relatives abroad; my sister lives with her family in Portugal, Big C has a brother and family in Palermo, I have aunts and cousins in Switzerland and Australia. It would be a lie to say that it hasn’t crossed our minds occasionally to be tempted by the promise of a whole new life in a new climate. There are things that keep us here however. Apart from the obvious - family, friends and work - there are other small pleasures that I would miss; sticky toffee pudding, the seasons, cricket, kindness to animals, country walks, our town - which is the longest I have lived anywhere and have become emotionally attached to…

I blow hot and cold about our music. On the one hand, I still think the twentieth century probably belongs to America; we nicked most of their musical ideas, and a country that invents jazz clearly has some redeeming features. On the other hand, here we have Vaughan Williams, Holst, Purcell and beautiful folk music, great orchestral players and sight readers and - at least until recent decades - outstanding youth music making.

I said in my ‘County Lines’ post that I am extremely grateful for growing up in an era where most of my instrumental lessons were free or heavily subsidised. There were multiple ensemble opportunities, county music groups, travel, and a free education at a conservatoire. As time passes, my gratitude grows as it seems increasingly obvious that this is never going to happen again. In terms of musical education, mine was a golden era; a time of specialist primary and secondary school music teachers, singing every day, music departments equipped with real instruments, lessons in school or on Saturday mornings, guitar clubs, recorder clubs, percussion, wind band, orchestra, choirs, rock and jazz groups. Even those not interested in music were picking it up by osmosis - you can’t ignore these activities when they are such an integral part of schooling - and of course we know the benefits of music education on children are multi-pronged and unarguably cognitively and mentally positive.

We also know however that around thirty years ago, these truths were either ignored or simply slipped away from national consciousness.

Slowly but surely, music education started being eroded, County Music Services all but vanished and it is now fairly unusual to get specialist musicians in state secondary schools and rarer still to see them at primary level. If music making exists, it now has to be paid for by parents on an ad-hoc basis, with the inevitable consequence of millions of children having little or no access to live music.

There nevertheless remain some bright jewels, and lots of musical institutions are trying to reach out to children and schools. Their motivation is obvious; anyone working in music genuinely wants it to be shared with as many people as possible - if you are touched by it, you want others to feel the joy. More cynical but truthful reasons are that those institutions will die if youth are not musically educated. Think of all those conservatoires, those exam boards, those instrument makers and repairers, venues, record companies and ensembles who will not exist without the young growing up into consumers of music. Depressing isn’t it?

A glowing ember however on this bleak landscape is the biannual BBC Young Musician Competition. For the uninitiated, it is a festival of classical music for the under nineteens and the competition comprises five categories; strings, keyboard, woodwind, brass and percussion. The winners of each of those classes goes forward into the grand concerto final and an overall winner is declared after a live public performance. This was aired a few days ago and as usual demonstrated some really astonishing musicianship, talent and phenomenally hard work. The joy of it at this level, is that the music is really a celebration of all that is wondrous in our younger classical music world. I don’t always agree with the choice of the overall winner but the happy truth is that it doesn’t matter; every one of those young performers are already winners and will no doubt go on to have fulfilling, creative and successful careers. If this sounds a little cliched, then perhaps it is; I am more and more touched by the honesty of the kids’ goals (they genuinely seem to relish the excitement of playing with a live orchestra more than care for the overall result) and the amazing work ethic and love of music they demonstrate. It can’t be ignored however that increasingly fewer of these children are learning through services provided by state education. Whilst it is true that some of them went to ‘normal’ secondary schools, it would have been literally impossible for them to get this far without either attendance at conservatoire Saturday centres (often supported by scholarships) and/or tremendous support from home - usually by middle class parents. Many more of these children attend specialist music schools, offering a curriculum that is exceptional in its teaching, practice facilities and musical activities. The truth is that throughout my teaching years, the vast majority of children who get past beginner instrumental levels, or even get off the starting block are either the offspring of professional musicians or the privately educated.

Those who are privately educated - just to reiterate - amount to seven percent of the population of this country. Seven percent. Granted, some successful Young Musician competitors don’t attend these schools but as I’ve already said, their route into playing Classical music is nearly always exceptional. Given that level of exception, we can be absolutely sure that vast numbers of children are being missed - and I mean enormous quantities. Knowing that the young are our greatest resource, this seems to be a monstrous waste. Numerous commentators (including yours truly) have wearily pointed this out time and time again; it is difficult to know how to reach those in charge. I do however remain hopeful (just) that we can do rather better than this, that we can finally recognise the profound importance of music for all in a civilised society. The alternative doesn’t bear thinking about.

Contemplative music of the day: - ‘Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis’ - Ralph Vaughan Williams. Although, for me this stunning piece needs no excuse to be played, it does happen to be VW’s one hundred and fiftieth anniversary this year, and I believe his birth was on this very day. This piece is simply a luscious demonstration of string writing and glorious, deep soulful music. It also makes me feel absurdly proud when I see orchestras of different nationalities playing it.

Uplifting music of the day: - ‘On The Up’ - by Laura Jurd and her ‘Big Friendly Band.’ Talking of youth music, this composer and trumpet player is a classic example of hopefulness and honesty. Her compositions and the accompanying musicians have humour, a sense of fun and quirkiness. I was lucky enough to see her promoting this album a couple of weeks ago and it was everything I hoped; urban, eclectic and brings a smile to your face.