Many parents are keen that their children learn an instrument, but it can be an expensive interest to take up. Numerous schools are struggling to ensure that all students have the opportunity to enjoy a musical education as funding continues to decline. St Christopher's – a popular co-educational in Accrington – is oversubscribed, with hundreds of students applying for fewer than 200 places per year. However, the school's teachers continually strive for the highest standards in all areas and have a strong reputation in the region and beyond for its broad curriculum and impressive academic results.
‘Music is not a facilitating subject for the Russell Group universities,’ explains head of the music department Helen Davies – an important factor at a school where many students gain places at top universities. ‘Unfortunately, this has had a detrimental effect on the uptake of music by students both at GCSE and A Level, and nationally we have seen a dramatic and worrying decline in numbers.’
The recent change to three years of teaching GCSEs has also taken its toll on students, and has stopped many students from choosing to study music in Year 9. This leaves students with only two years of compulsory music lessons in secondary school. Those who are able to study an instrument privately are also extremely fortunate, as many school budgets are squeezed so tightly that money that would have once been invested in instrumental lessons for students is simply no longer available.
As a result, a number of schools choose a ‘carousel option’, explains Davies, which means offering students six to ten weeks a year for studying performing arts, drama, and music education. At St Christopher's, the students have two hours of music every fortnight through to Year 9. Following this, when GCSE studies are already beginning to be taught under the new GCSE system, it is the students showing promise as a musician who can continue their musical education. These particularly committed and skilful students may have their music lessons, exams, and even trips funded by the school from the Pupil Premium budget. For those who aren't a part of this category, music education is by no means unattainable – all students at St Christopher's also have the opportunity to join a vibrant and varied array of choirs, bands, and groups, from folk and jazz bands to an orchestra and a full SATB choir – the Cantores.
Trips and tours, claims Davies, are a significant part of a student's music education: ‘Music tours can really establish a group within a department, thanks to the camaraderie they build being together for a week. They also are a brilliant way to keep music alive and kicking in schools. They have a huge impact on students’ learning, and also encourage them to join one of the bands or choirs so that they can participate. Some of our students have never been abroad in their life, never flown, and for them it's a massive eye-opener. They learn a lot from the discipline of the concert programme on tour and the social skills required to work as part of a team. The trips and visits are also culturally enriching for the students.’
Senior ensembles at St Christopher's perform concerts throughout Lancashire, but also further afield, and undertake a foreign concert tour every year. Music tours have long been an important tradition at the school. The choirs and bands are well-travelled, having toured to Paris, Belgium, Poland, Croatia and Malta to name but a few. The Cantores were even privileged enough to sing mass at the Basilica di San Marco in Venice.
‘Music teachers are increasingly telling us how they feel their subject is being marginalised and under-funded,’ says Club Europe's head of concert Lucy Szymonski, who has organised St Christopher's music tours for the past 18 years. ‘That's why it's important to us that our music tours are available to everyone, not just the privileged few.’ As a result, Club Europe now organises short rehearsal tours and music tours to several close-to-home destinations for groups on a tight budget. ‘Music tours to New York are wonderfully exciting, but a three-night tour to Belgium is equally enriching from a musical perspective. It doesn't matter where you are, performing to a new audience in a new setting in an ensemble that has really bonded as a group is magical.’
‘It's all about raising students aspirations,’ concludes Davies, ‘always driving them to perform to the best of their ability. Whether our music tourers choose to go on to study music at A Level and then at university or are just members of the choir or bands and orchestras in school, we look at it as important and valuable life enrichment for absolutely everyone’.
