The teaching musician: Trinity Laban teaching courses

It would be fair to say that music conservatoires in the UK have not always been considered specialist training centres for careers in music education. It is also fair to say that Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance has often done things a little differently from its London competitors.

Trinity Laban's senior staff are always keen to emphasise that they value elite performance as much as the next conservatoire, but are equally enthusiastic about taking ownership of their institution's unique identity. When it comes to preparing students for careers in music education, Trinity Laban certainly puts its money where its mouth is. For starters, it's the only conservatoire that has a formal Department for Education, itself something of a statement of intent. The Department's head, Tim Palmer, tells me, against a bracing Greenwich wind, that the conservatoire wants to shape the narrative in music education.