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The Music Manifesto: Magic or Illusion?
by Betty Power (from BKA Summer 2004 Newsletter)

On Tuesday 6 July 2004, the Music Manifesto, document, was officially launched to promote music education across the country and ‘put music at the heart of every school’. This new government document, developed by the DfES and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, in consultation with a wide cross-section of music organisations, commits the signatories to five key priorities:

To provide every young person with first access to a range of music experiences
To provide more opportunities for young people to deepen and broaden their musical interests and skills
To identify and nurture our most talented young musicians
To develop a world class workforce in music education
To improve the support structures for young people's music making
These are backed up by pledges of action from the partners to make these priorities a reality. The full text of the Music Manifesto and more details can be found at www.musicmanifesto.co.uk.

Ideas for the future include:

Instrumental tuition for every primary school child, offered free of charge, or at a reduced rate.
Helping students create, record and promote their own music, in choirs, orchestras or "garage" bands, as performers or DJs.
Increased use of "para-professional support staff" in schools, thereby reducing teachers’ workloads. This means more professional musicians involved in schools that may not be qualified teachers but could take classes as instructors, thus freeing teachers as part of the union’s workload agreement.

The Music Manifesto has met with mixed reactions. The National Union of Teachers hopes this manifesto will reverse the overall decline that school music has suffered due to lack of resources and time. However, NUT maintains that it will only work if 1) sufficient resources are made available and 2) greater flexibility over the curriculum is given to all schools.

The government has confirmed that the Music Standards Fund, which contributes nearly £60m a year to support music services in England, will continue at its present level until 2008. But there are no plans for additional government funding. Founder members of the Music Education Consortium, including Evelyn Glennie & cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, are taking the government to task. Ms Glennie said the government has spent 18 months promising improvements such as altering the curriculum and providing real funds, but has delivered very little. Shadow arts minister, Boris Johnson, said the manifesto was "a document of Wagnerian length with more hot air than the wind section of the London Philharmonic".

Neil Hoyle, Chief Executive of ISM: "Children respond well to instruments being played properly. They don't respond to half-hearted attempts to fulfil the music curriculum. It's a vicious circle - more are alienated by semi-competence." Anna Leatherdale, the deputy director of the National Campaign for the Arts, agrees that there has been an upsurge of interest in learning an instrument, but echoes the worries about music teaching in schools. "It's a major concern," she says. "Primary school teachers receive just 30 hours of music tuition over three years of training. How can we expect them to be confident in the subject? At the same time, there are lots of really talented musicians who should be working in the school system."

WHAT DO YOU THINK? The government maintains: "Music can be magic" and has "a unique contribution to make to education". But can the government turn this dream into reality?

Does this manifesto represent the best way forward for the long-term future? What would you include in your ideal Music Manifesto?

Have you experienced any significant changes or improvements in your own teaching situation as a result of this initiative? If so, please report back to us with your comments/opinions. Is there any way you would like to become involved? Please let us know.