John Witchell's Chief Executive blog

The Royal Northern College of Music is a great place to be when discussing music education, especially when it’s the musiclearninglive!2010 conference, as it was last week. With so much live music around you, and with so many young people making music, it’s an ideal place to meet like-minded people who share the same musical passions.

What marks this conference is the amount of practical music that is threaded through the seminars and presentations. Two outstanding concerts were relished by delegates. The first was by Tim Garland and his superb jazz trio ‘Storms/Nocturnes’. They played a fabulous number called ‘Rising Tide’, which would make a great signature tune for our leadership programme ‘Rising with the Tide’ - and by the way we still have literally one or two places left for the September course. I believe that this leadership training is essential for anyone considering taking a leadership post in a music service and it is also ideal for recently appointed heads. So if you have been considering this I recommend you sign up quickly by contacting sarah.adamson@federationmusic.org.uk.

The second concert was by the choir of Ripon Cathedral. It was inspiring in every sense and reinforced my fervent belief that in singing children can and do match the highest standards of adults. In a demanding programme, which they sailed through with technical and musical mastery, I thought about a parallel between words in Walton’s Te Deum - ‘the truth endureth from generation to generation’ and the ‘enduring’ nature of learning in music. At a time when we are articulating our message about the power of music we know that we will never fail to pass on our love of music to the next generation.

In some ways that was a theme of the conference and was certainly implicit in the keynote by Deborah Annetts, Chief Executive of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Deborah articulated what many delegates were thinking; that the Music Standards Fund, which is the backbone of music education funding, must be centrally retained and ring-fenced for music education. Her messages about the great heritage that we have, and the need to ensure that opportunities are sustained for young people to fulfil their potential through high quality teaching often in music services, were clearly supported by all. We also appreciated her determination to fight for the sake of all our young musicians.

There is, I truly believe, a ground swell of support for music services. There is recognition that we have a central role in ensuring that sustained pathways are clearly available to all children - from first steps, through progressive routes in lessons, ensembles, choirs and orchestras, to accelerated programmes for gifted musicians. There is, therefore a high expectation - and with that comes responsibility. We haven’t used the term ‘hub’ very much recently, but perhaps we should again. With possible structural changes locally and nationally, we need to ensure that music services retain their front line role of delivery, whilst doing more in the areas of brokering, commissioning and forging partnerships with other organisations who share our objectives. At the conference there were many delegates who are not members of music services as such, but nevertheless I sincerely hope that they all feel warmly welcomed by their local music services. I hope we draw them into our communities and work together in providing the highest standards of learning in music.

I note that the Conservative Party is now telling us to ‘vote for change’. Well, I think that whichever party one votes for, change is inevitable. And of course change has been the theme of the Music Service Communication Campaign. Managing change is one thing - our teams, our structures. But to my mind it is ‘leading’ change, which is even more important. Our leadership is about finding solutions, taking opportunities, exploring alternatives and moving forward with confidence. It’s also about uniting the forces inside and outside music services. I am reassured by the strengthening friendships and advocacy of our partners in education. But I am also determined that the FMS also communicates its message with force and clarity, so that we will have no doubt about our legacy for the next generation.

Tides flowing and music services flowing from one generation to another - knowing the truth about why we teach music, why we serve children, schools and families and why we make Britain musical.

← Do we agree with Ed Vaizey’s thoughts on music education? is an earlier blog entry Twenty-six blinks between Kings Cross and Biggleswade is a more recent blog entry →

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Blog.

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