Rethinking Music

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The Next Generation

What does the crisis in music education today mean for musical life in the UK?

Soweto Kinch explores the crisis in music education today and what it means for musical life in the UK in the 21st century

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Rethinking Music: The Next Generation

BBC Radio 4 - Rethinking Music, The Next Generation

In a three-part series, Soweto Kinch looks at music education across the UK and assesses how its de-prioritisation over the years is playing out.

Where will the musicians of tomorrow come from?  A generation ago, children had access to free instrumental tuition, but today it’s mostly faded out, and in the past decade music has been de-prioritised in most state-sector schools in England.  With inequality baked into the system, whether a child can access music education depends on which nation they’re in, what kind of school they go to - and now more than ever, how affluent their parents are.  The talent pipeline feeding conservatoires – though not the only route into a career – is under threat, with a dramatic decline in the number of pupils taking A level music: it could die out as a subject by 2033.  Tracing that pipeline back to primary school, Soweto looks at what’s driving this situation, and asks how much it matters.

In a 3-part series, Soweto Kinch looks at music education across the UK and assesses how policy changes over the years are playing out. What impact is decades of underfunding going to have on our economy, culture, and children's development? How are new National Plans for Music announced last year going to address the situation across the UK?  Reflecting on his own route to music, Soweto asks what music education could look like, and how much it matters if we don't get it right.  Contributors include Nicola Benedetti, Anna Meredith, Nubya Garcia, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, Jamie Njoku-Goodwin and a range of music professionals and providers across the UK.

Produced by Megan Jones and Amelia Parker 
Photo: The Benedetti Foundation (credit Sarah Pickering)

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