MILLENNIAL DISCOURSE
I was interested to read Al Summers’ take on the Francesca Carpos affair. New lines are always being written into the (unwritten) constitution that governs public discourse, and it is good that we debate what is and isn't acceptable. It is also unfortunate if useful advice is clouded by controversy stemming from the language that the advice is given in: but that is the nature of things. If the advice was given in terms that were fundamentally exclusionary, its author shouldn't have expected it to reach its intended audience (music students) through the fog of millennial discourse.
DAN FRIEND, LONDON
CREATIVE ECONOMY
I read with great interest the report carried out and published by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that showed that the creative industries are growing at a faster rate than the economy – twice as fast, no less, and with a record contribution to the economy as a whole.
The report was published just weeks before it was revealed that Wrexham councillors have voted to support cuts to music services, and an announcement that Bingley Grammar School is to charge pupils to take GCSE music.
I find it a wonder that the government, when faced with the DCMS's figures – a 29% growth from 2010 for the whole of the DCMS and the staggering £92 billion that the creative industries alone are worth – can turn a blind eye to the elitism and privatisation that is sinking its filthy claws into our children's education when it is so clear that without such education, the economy would be significantly worse off.
Wilful ignorance is a disease, and it is spreading.
ANON, INVERNESS
FURTHER AFIELD
A tour party from Dr Challoner's Grammar School, Buckinghamshire
I always love hearing about other teachers' and pupils' experiences on music tours. I'm a secondary school music teacher and the twice-weekly orchestra I run is a hugely enthusiastic bunch of people, ranging from the beginner to the late-intermediate. Our Tuesday lunch club and Thursday after-school club is always so much fun, and the pupils work so hard to make create such beautiful music that I always feel each annual tour has to be even more special than the previous.
Unlike some of the teachers in Rhian Morgan's feature (‘Take to the Skies’, January MT), we have never toured beyond Europe. We usually stick to France or Italy because we have made some excellent contacts there, and we have found – much like Helen Davies – that northern Italian audiences adore a live concert more than any others we have come across.
Going further afield – such as to the States, or even to Singapore or Hong Kong – is something that I have considered at great length. But then I have to think about the pupils’ experiences above my own: yes, it would be fantastic to take them to New York or Washington, and I have no doubt that they would love it. But, cost aside, with the smaller locations geographically closer to home I've often felt that the community feel really lends itself to the whole experience, and it's this – paired with being able to play on stage in a different country – that I want to give my pupils. ANON
