Christmas has come early for Music Services and schools this year as the government announced a record rise in funding for music in schools and in local authorities. With regard to the Music Manifesto, Secretary of State for Education, Ed Balls announced "Every child from all backgrounds should have the chance to perform, play an instrument or sing and I want every school to become a musical school." Acknowledging the benefits of music performance for young people, he addded, "Every parent knows how much it means to their child to be involved in a school performance and the pride and inspiration it offers the whole family."
Of the £332 million investment in music education, £82 million will be allocated to Local Authorities to further fund and develop Music Services. This will also include the funding of choirs, orchestras and other ensembles within each area. A huge £40 million will be spent to buy brand new musical instruments for children to learn on and £40 million will also be spent on the national 'Sing Up' initiative. This will include the development of a national song bank with the aim of ensuring that singing is an important part of every primary classroom.
An important upshot of this announcement is that the hugely popular and well-recieved 'Wider Oppportunities' scheme will continue to be expanded over the next three years. In this programme, specialist music staff employed by the Local Authority work with schools to deliver instrumental and singing lessons to classes over the course of a year. Through this scheme, children who may not normally have the opportunity to learn an instrument have received lessons in singing, recorder, violin, guitar, percussion and brass.
These are exciting times for music educators across the country and the Adviser for Music Services in Wakefield, Geraldine Gaunt comments "I am delighted and reassured that we will continue to receive government funding for Wakefield Music Services. Not only does the announcement give us security of funding for three years, it allows us to plan a programme of music support with confidence and certainty. Over two thousand additional children have benefited from this year's Wider Opportunities programmes and many are opting to continue with instrumental lessons after the first year. These are exciting times and challenging times for music but I feel confident that with the talented and professional teachers who make up the Wakefield Music Service's team we will continue to be able to offer high quality musical experiences for the young people in Wakefield."
