LSO chief warns that orchestras are getting posher
NewsDame Kathryn McDowell, managing director of the London Symphony Orchestra, has told the Times that fewer music lessons in schools will lead to a demographic change in orchestras when only those who can afford private tuition will take up music as a profession.
She said: ‘Many of the players in the LSO come from relatively modest backgrounds and learnt to appreciate and play music in school or community groups or from peripatetic music services funded by local authorities.
‘But we’re in danger of losing that pipeline of talent, that diversity, if music education isn’t appreciated as a core element of the curriculum and properly funded – and of course children from disadvantaged families will miss out most because they lack the opportunities available to their better-off peers.
‘The professional music scene is becoming steadily more like acting, where opportunities to learn and progress are increasingly restricted to those from better-off backgrounds and private schools.’
More here.
Posher people don’t become professional musicians. Less music education will necessarily lead to fewer orchestras after an appropriate time.
The LSO have always pretended they were posher than the other London orchestras but in truth they have had the usual mixture of players. She’s talking out of the back of her head (not for the first time).
She is saying literally that the LSO has the usual mixture of players. Did you even bother to read this very, very short article? Or are you talking out of the back of… whatever?
No, they haven’t pretended to be posher. In fact they used to be quite the opposite and seemed to enjoy their laddish reputation.
True. And congratulations on using ‘less’ and ‘fewer’ correctly (so rarely done).
Keep politics out of music! Classical music in the UK is perceived as elitist yet most musicians are from “ordinary” backgrounds. The LSO appears political nowadays.
Brexit, a political issue, has impacted on music so it’s very difficult to keep politics out of music…..
How do you define an “ordinary” background, exactly? Criteria that occur to me might include:
*grew up in a household of modest financial means;
*no parents nor close relatives in the music profession;
*did not attend a systematic élite music training programme (e.g.: junior conservatoire; specialist music school; national youth music organisation) during childhood.
But how much weight would you accord to such criteria, and how do you define such nebulous concepts as “modest financial means” (keep in mind that some parents will prioritise education so highly as to forgo other things to ensure that their children receive quality tuition), “close relatives” (keep in mind that it is rare for people to live locally to all of their relatives, and extended families can be very inconsistent as to who invests time and effort cultivating the aspirations and interests of the younger generation, especially if relations are not entirely… harmonious — excuse the pun!), “élite music training programme” (e.g.: is a county youth orchestra “ordinary”, for instance? Or perhaps, a more straightforward delineation could be based less on prestige, but more on contact hours of musical training per term-time week?)?
As others have said, there is no escaping the fact that the overwhelming majority of professional classical musicians will have had, of necessity, at least a decade (as an absolute minimum) of one-to-one tuition, which, if done properly, is unavoidably expensive. It is sometimes possible for the expense to be borne to some extent by taxpayer subsidy, philanthropy, scholarships, teachers undercharging, &c., but many of us in the profession question whether the “sometimes” and the “extent” are adequate and equitable. A related question is whether schemes for funding music tuition are engaging the best music teachers, who, quite rightly, tend to demand higher remuneration and a substantial degree of autonomy in how they work.
It would be interesting to see stats about demographics of those applying for/accepted at conservatoires. That would be a good indicator of the direction of travel in this regard.
Absolutely. I’m sure I’ve seen some in the past but can’t recall where!
Startling similarities with the report on cricket published today – thank heavens not the discriminatory problems, but everything written about training, educational funding and access for children is exactly the same. For ‘sold-off playing fields’ read ‘unavailable instruments and practice rooms’.
So, just like in France, then
Couldn’t agree more with Kathryn McDowell.
Brava Kathryn McDowell for getting to the nub of the problem, for years the conversations have been utterly predictable:
Orchestras: “It’s not our fault, it’s the conservatoires”
Conservatoires: “It’s not our fault, it’s the schools”
Schools: “It’s not our fault it’s the government”
Government: “This will all be fixed in our next strategy”^n
Meanwhile more funding gets diverted away from school music provision and into the music hubs. Classroom music will no doubt be next to move across.
It already is in the USA the children of the wealthy that can afford the best instruments, the best private teachers, the summer workshops (ie Tanglewood) the tuition for the name schools, etc.
What she says is absolutely on the money. The great irony here is that governments and funding bodies place ever greater demands on orchestras and other arts institutions to increase ‘diversity’, while the funding and initiatives for musical education and programmes in schools that would encourage such diversity is constantly decreasing.
I’m doubtful that many of the orchestral players, past or present, got there without paid-for private tuition even though lessons may have been offered in their schools.
Music lessons in public schools are more arts enrichment activity than anything else.
I’m sure commenters will offer counter examples, but they will be unusual cases.
Many professional UK orchestral brass players learnt in school and in their local brass bands.
What is ‘ arts enrichment activity’?
Capitalism with extreme left. Nothing to do, other than to change it. Otherwise everybody can talk as much as he/she/it wants.
I had six nightmare years at a relatively posh Benedictine monastery school. There was a ban on Bach being played in the associated Abbey because he was – horror of horrors! – a Prod.
However, Mammon triumphed over God when it came to weddings. Fearful of losing such lucrative business with this ban, absolution was given to Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desire.
For the past several years, many schools have been concentrating almost exclusively on STEM education — emphasizing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics and woefully neglecting the ARTS! Now, more and more, we are experiencing the disastrous cultural consequences of this curtailment of ARTS EDUCATION! What we need is more STEAM education to stem the tide of increasing “cultural illiteracy”!
My cousin, a professional trumpet player came from a working class background and went to the most socially deprived school in the area but they taught music. His dad worked multiple jobs to help him chase his dream and he managed to get a place at the Royal College of Music in London. Of course he worked hard as did his family to help him succeed but if the school didn’t teach music, would he have ever picked up a trumpet? By cutting music in schools we are mearly reinforcing the tired stereotypes of working class person does good on the football pitch etc. A country which doesn’t do it’s up most to encourage the talent of all its youth, regardless of means, is failing it’s people, in my humble opinion.
Funnily enough, the LSO always had a reputation for ‘spitting out’ conductors and players when they felt like it; the way they treated André Previn in the 70s is a prime example. I guess that’s one of the privileges of being a self-governing band. As for orchestras becoming ‘too posh’, I don’t know about that. Any musicians I’ve had the pleasure of working with, both amateur and professional, have never been ‘posh’ , in that sense.
Given that the Posh Party/Nasty Party (Tories) in power at the moment are legendary for slashing cultural budgets left, right and centre, I can understand the point being made here to some extent. Are posh people that cultured, anyway? I think not. Schools, Colleges and Universities and all musicians with influence need to come out fighting on this matter. The first step is to get rid of this ghastly government.
I’m all for posh white, middle class people in professional orchestras- a fingers up to absurd ‘woke’ culture which is destroying our society.