Music is being squeezed out in the state sector – and the government needs to take responsibility
Paul Smith
Friday, June 1, 2018
Paul Smith, chairman of the Choir Schools’ Association and headmaster of Hereford Cathedral School makes the case.
The Choir Schools' Association is privileged to lead schools that educate the choristers of world-renowned choirs. Their schools are often located in some of the most historic and beautiful cities in the country, supporting a choral tradition that extends back some 1,400 years. The historic gravitas that cathedral, church and chapel foundations impose upon its members make them special places to teach and learn. A sense of history, purpose, compassion and belief all help to shape and add to the ethos of these schools.
The aesthetic of the surroundings, and the importance and significance of the cathedral or church to the wider community, also imprints upon the school's character. Furthermore, cathedrals, churches and chapels can provide space and time as useful tonics to modernity, and are valuable allies to developing spirituality and mindfulness.
The majority of CSA members are independent schools, but the association also represents leading players in the state system and all have long recognised that they have a job to do beyond the interests of their own establishments.
The more state provision is cut, the greater the divide and the louder the shouts from those doing the cutting that the independent sector must do more to level the playing field. Of course independent schools have a duty to support social mobility, and that is why many of them were established in the first place, but that duty should not be viewed as some form of compensatory response to the actions of government.
Politicians, of all shades, seem hell bent on issuing ill-informed edicts, based upon lazy stereotypes, which purportedly seek to ensure the independent sector does its bit to justify charitable status. In my more controversial moments, I cannot help feeling that ‘charitable status’ is a red herring, a stick with which to beat the sector, while the real motive is to bully independent schools to help make amends for the ill effects of successive government imposed initiatives on the state sector. These initiatives have continually impaired the overall quality of state education, and undermined the efforts of hard-working teaching professionals.
We know that state school headteachers and their staff value music and the creative arts as much as we do. They recognise the benefits of providing children with a broad range of opportunities, and fully appreciate the effects that such opportunities can have on children's self-esteem. They know that music-making and singing have a multitude of positive effects on pupils and their learning. And yet, once again, we see the rug being pulled from beneath their feet so that the chances of state-educated pupils being introduced to an enriching, stimulating and fulfilling arts curriculum is being diminished as I write.
Instrumental music and choral singing should not be the preserve of the independent sector, any more than art or drama or sport should be.
I was a pupil at a comprehensive school where school plays and orchestras were widespread, and pupils learned to play instruments. This picture has significantly changed since then, with Ebacc educational reforms and financial cuts to county-level music provision starting to have the same ill effects on music – and causing similar levels of polarity between the independent and state sectors – as seen in the selling of school playing fields on competitive sport.
It is easy to see the value that all children gain from having the opportunity to engage in music. They love it, and it is marvellous to be part of an organisation, in the Choir Schools' Association, that up and down the country is working hard to bring the joy of singing and choral music to young people. My own school, Hereford Cathedral School, organises a Christmas carol service for hundreds of junior school pupils from across the county.
The school's director of music goes out to numerous primary schools and supports the staff in preparing the children to sing in the service. But the highlight every year is the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’. It is fantastic to see the concentration and focus on the faces of around 400 primary school pupils as they put their hearts and souls into Handel's masterpiece.
For more on the CSA centenary see page 32