Meet the Expo 2023 speaker: Jim Pinchen

MT: Describe yourself in three words.

JP: Work in progress.

MT: What will you be sharing with Expo delegates?

JP: I'll be sharing learning from the extensive programmes we've been delivering with displaced children and young people. In the Expo session I'll talk about why this work is important to the sector, as well as to participants. I will share some of the music approaches and methodologies that we have developed during our journey at Surrey Music Hub.

MT: Tell us a bit about your background and career.

JP: I started playing guitar when I was about four years old, when my dad began teaching me songs by The Beatles. I then played in local bands from about the age of 14. After studying a BTEC in Performing Arts, I worked in theatre production, starting as a volunteer sound and lighting technician with the Royal Shakespeare Company and eventually touring the world with well-known theatre and dance companies. During this time, I was also songwriting, collaborating with a number of bands (rock, funk, Latin-jazz), performing in London and composing for dance, radio and film.

I then changed career and started working in music education, with a focus on supporting vulnerable communities. I've worked for Surrey Arts with Surrey Music Hub for around 15 years now, while also working as a composer and developing international projects and relationships with organisations such as Musicians Without Borders.

MT: If you could make one change to the UK music education system, what would it be?

JP: I would ensure that evidence of inclusive and diverse practice throughout the organisation becomes a prerequisite for receiving funding.

MT: Other than your session, what are you looking forward to when attending the Expo?

JP: The Expo always provides an invaluable and rare opportunity to catch up with national colleagues. I always look forward to this. This year, there is so much that I want to see but I'm particularly drawn to the sessions ‘Trauma informed practice’ and ‘Decolonising, decentralising, diversifying’.

MT: What were the key takeaways from your own music education?

JP: There aren't many, I'm sad to say. I was lucky enough to be raised in a musical family and so my music education took place at home and within non-formal settings. I had some piano lessons from an elderly lady who would doze off as I did scales, and so I never made it past Grade 1. Then I attended a state secondary school in a deprived town, one with poor facilities and run by someone who was disinterested in contemporary music and waiting to retire. It angers and breaks my heart when, 30 years later, I come across children having similar experiences. Being a music educator is such a precious and unique privilege. We are the beneficiaries of teacher status while working in a field that uniquely draws out our learners’ aspirations, creativity, traumas, joys and heartache, and that bears responsibility in my view. Maybe that's my takeaway?

MT: Who should attend your Expo session and why?

JP: Sadly, the need for our sector to support displaced children and their host communities is not diminishing. Thanks to continued support from the National Foundation for Youth Music, Surrey Music Hub has been working extensively with these communities in emergency accommodation settings, youth centres, schools, recording studios and detention centres for a number of years now. My hope is that the session will provide an opportunity for our learning to be shared, so that colleagues nationally are inspired to develop their own local provision and knowledge in this area of work. My aim is that the session will be relevant for teachers, managers, funders and policymakers.

MT: What do you hope to see happen in music education in the next five years?

JP: Young people are at the heart of our decision-making. This means that young people will sit on our boards and advisory groups, become keynote speakers, influence policymakers, and we will be consulted when developing local music offers. It will mean that programmes reflect the interests and aspirations of our students and broaden their knowledge by giving access to creative education programmes in subjects, cultures, musical genres and artforms that are unfamiliar.

MT: In your view, what should we be talking about that currently isn't getting enough attention within music education?

JP: Definitely workforce development. I feel that there are huge gaps in our workforce resulting in disparity between the sector's offer and the music that young people want to learn to play, create and participate in. The discourse around this often becomes polarised, leaving western Classical music educators fearing their decline and contemporary music practitioners feeling undervalued.

My view is that all music genres are important, and greater collaboration, understanding and respect is needed between teachers of different disciplines. Local music hubs may also need to blur Local Authority lines and share practitioners and opportunities in order to prevent talented teachers from leaving the sector. A focus on training and employment pathways for the sector also needs to happen, so that a more diverse pool of musicians and leaders are encouraged to work with us. We all know that the sector should be more representative of the communities we serve, and eventually some uncomfortable discussions around power, privilege and invisible leadership may need to take place to allow space for underrepresented groups.

MT: What artist/composer are you listening to on repeat this week?

JP: Postmodern Jukebox.

The Music & Drama Education Expo takes place on 23 and 24 February at the Business Design Centre in London. View the 2023 programme and register for free.