If there's one thing that's been proven in spades this month, it's the power of music, and how well we can do it in this country. With the eyes of the world watching the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II, we fielded military bands, state trumpeters, bagpipers, organ voluntaries, choir anthems, hymns and new compositions not just outstandingly, but to a world-class standard. While the plans had been in place for years, the short rehearsal period and immense pressure made this week’s musical achievements all the more remarkable. Hans Christian Anderson wrote that when words fail, music speaks, and I think that this week gave a rare chance to prove that to the widest possible audience.
But it also highlighted the dichotomy of a government that is quite willing to promote national identity, talk of uniting a country and champion the ceremonies of tradition, yet has consistently underfunded and devalued music and the arts in general over many years. What would Monday’s proceedings have been like without the beacon of musicianship and musicality that was on display? Would it have been possible without our expert broadcasters and TV engineers? I was struck by a tweet on Monday by Thomas William Ruston, which said: ‘A funeral watched by 5.1 billion people owes itself to people trained in disciplines the government thinks is worthless: theology, poetry, music, camerawork and media.’
I think the reason is simple: successive governments largely comprising those educated within establishments that didn’t necessarily value the widest possible education, and who then pursued non-arts degrees or careers that do not overlap much with culture, unsurprisingly have held apparently little value for the Arts. A quick tot up of our current cabinet reveals 58 per cent have humanities backgrounds (including politics, philosophy, economics and history), 29 per cent of them studied sciences, one got a degree in hospitality management, one is a ‘businessman’, and one is a former Scots Guard. The one cabinet member with an arts background is Tom Tugendhat who, having studied Theology, is now in charge of our security; a position that I assume comes with little clout or overlap regarding the funding of music hubs, unless he has the ability to hack Arts Council England’s bank account and add a few zeros.
There have been, of course, welcome developments in the past few months, particularly with the National Plan for Music Education back in June, which sets out some exciting propositions for music education. The proof, however, is in the funding and resources that is made available from the government level to train music teachers (particularly music leads in primary schools), to diversify and enhance music provision generally and, dare I say it, to educate heads of schools about the power of music, and its potential to enrich and transform the lives of young people. Heads need to weave music deeper into the fabric of their schools and, like those that lead our country, need to champion it more as part of their duty to promote the value of the Arts in society. Having music in the nation’s consciousness this week – a vehicle through which solace and reassurance could be provided as emotions were processed – is possibly the most powerful demonstration to our leaders of music’s ability to speak to people, and of its value to all.
The beacon of musicianship and musicality on display to the world this week, and the high regard in which our country’s orchestras, choirs, bands, festivals and music establishments are held cannot be maintained unless we nourish and inspire the next generation of musicians across all genres and styles, and normalise the widespread presence of diverse and enriching music making in every school, supported by heads. The more we can change for music’s cause, the more that music can cause a change.
