Music teachers fear for income as energy bills soar

Music is vulnerable, teachers fear, as the cost-of-living crisis worsens, leaving schools and parents with difficult decisions about what must go so that spiralling energy bills can be paid.

Meanwhile, instrumental and vocal teachers running private practices from home are worried about their own bills as reducing energy usage in a home studio proves challenging.

Private singing teacher Abi is ‘very concerned’ about the rising cost of living. Having adjusted her pricing structure to accommodate ‘all incomes and situations’, she’s already experiencing a ‘real tightening’ of her own budget. 

‘I really need to raise my fees across the board,’ she said, ‘but I am too fearful to do this in case students can then not afford lessons and stop altogether.’

‘The harsh truth is that singing lessons are not a necessity when bill payers are assessing their outgoings,’ she added. 

‘A perfect storm’

A similar sentiment was expressed by headteacher Jayne Bartlett about in-school one-to-one music lessons, quoted in a BBC article. She said: ‘These lessons…are invaluable. But they are incredibly expensive, as you can imagine. It’s unaffordable for parents.’ 

Singing teacher Abi said she fears a ‘perfect storm’ this autumn: ‘Pandemic-based losses, several years of little to no increase in income due to the financial climate, and now energy costs.’

Last night, the new prime minister Liz Truss appointed Kit Malthouse as education secretary, the fourth in two months. School leaders are already calling on Malthouse to make financial support for schools ‘an immediate priority’.

‘Impossible decisions’

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: ‘Our members are reporting new energy bills of hundreds of thousands of pounds - more than 300 per cent increases in many cases.’

He added that school leaders are ‘being forced to make impossible decisions on what to cut in order to keep the lights on’. Meanwhile, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders Geoff Barton said that the 'dire funding situation' will 'result in cuts to educational provision unless the government provides urgent financial assistance'.

Despite music being on the national curriculum, some specialist music teachers delivering classroom music and extra-curricular activities are concerned that their hours may be cut as a result of these ‘impossible decisions’. 

In a Guardian article published last week, it was reported that ‘the curriculum will have to shrink to save money, squeezing out subjects like music which attract smaller numbers’. 

At the end of August, it was revealed that GCSE Music entries in England hit a new low this year, falling by 3.8 per cent in just one year.

Abi, who is already feeling the ‘toll’ on her health and wellbeing, said: ‘I am reminding myself every day that music is what feeds my soul and to keep going. Keep swimming.’