Instrument Tuition Part 2

21 Mar 2010 in Music

Round and round the garden…

JELICA GAVRILOVIC shares further concerns on where the current round of proposed cuts may lead

SO MUCH can happen in a few days, and it seems our Council is thinking about not only fiddling with music tuition cuts in coming months, but also the Highland young musicians groups too.

Bruce MacGregor

Ironically on the same day I pick up a tweet from Learning and Teaching Scotland about the UN Articles on the Rights of the Child (see link below for a rather dry attempt at sharing the articles with young people). I read through them and think, just a minute, all the creative stuff has been ‘trimmed’. One Article that stands out in particular is number 31 which in the true Convention says participating countries will….

1. Recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.

2. Shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activity.

In the above publication, the words have a more tepid feel, but the revamp ends with the phrase: “Your council can provide you with details about leisure activities in your area”. And I wonder that if music tuition/education/participation is going to be slayed in council cuts again in this recession as happened in the nineties, where will our kids go for details about activities relating to music? I also wonder if our Council is aware of the Convention and their duty (several actually) within it. If I find it hard enough now getting information – what will it be like in two years’ time?

Strangely, music tuition is a spend that many councils are fond of axing, and when I start to think why, I can only think of one reason. Councillors must be scared of kids with instruments. A scary minority group capable of creative civil disobedience if they are allowed to carry on playing their instruments through hard financial times – which of course the kids with instruments didn’t make happen in the first place. Why else would councils want to axe this type of provision?

Things are moving already on the Rock School front as an Inverness business is working on bringing exam-status to the city which will, for many, save on travel to other regions. Their Rock School syllabus is beginning to build as well. We have yet to ascertain whether reduced fees on tuition and grading can be attainable for families on low incomes. But we can assume that the answer would be probably not.

And tutors are also doing their bit globally to help with music tuition. Bruce MacGregor has joined the YouTube fraternity (see link below) giving tips on bowing techniques and will no doubt develop an all-round tuition package in months to come. There are a few examples in America of freelance tutors making online provision of materials, live and recorded tuition, and an all-you-can-consume for $17 dollars-a-month deal with a Suzuki-qualified pair of guitar dudes I’ve come across. The market is expanding and people want to consume.

This still doesn’t deal with access and equality for all in our immediate environment. Nor do we know exactly what music education is for the age 3-to-18 pupil. Or specifically what the common thread is, how it joins up from nursery to primary to secondary and what the expected outcomes are. For those of us who are ear-people, formal education can seem dull and trite. Do we need to shift the Feisean into schools to shake it all up? I don’t know!

But regardless of what goes on at school, university presents us with another agenda altogether. How do we make it all flow in one direction? Surely we can ensure that our children can get from A to Z without the eternal triangle syndrome.

One of my nephews, who teaches film studies said to me: “The reality, Auntie, is that we are now living in the era of sci-fi. Soon I won’t need to be in the classroom. I’ll be able to appear like Princess Leya, when you push R2D2’s button, but I won’t vanish immediately. And I’ll be able to teach you anything you want to know, because although you’ll see a 3D hologram of me, the teacher will be R2D2.”

I can’t write my response to this here – but you know what I’m thinking! Live music playing and listening experience is vital. Thank you for your emails and I’d love to hear from more guitar folk.To sign the petition to save Highland Youth Music, go to the link below.