Restricted playlists pose real threat to brass band and folk music
15 July 2010
Radio stations, TV channels and websites that offer teenagers nothing but pop, rock, hip hop and rap could eventually help to kill off brass band and folk music in the UK, two leading music educationists have warned.
A wider range of music used to be played by radio stations, say Professor Sue Hallam and Dr Andrea Creech of the Institute of Education, University of London. However, over the past 20 years there has been a marked increase in the number of radio stations and TV channels that target young listeners using very restricted playlists.
If this trend continues even classical music may need more support in future, Professor Hallam and Dr Creech predict in a book to be published later this week. They add that, ironically, playlists aimed at the young have become less varied at a time when portable media players such as the iPod make it possible to listen to a wider range of music.
"In practice this doesn't always happen, of course, because young people, unless they are introduced to a range of different musical traditions early, when they are still open-eared, can refuse to engage with any music other than their preferred genre," they say.
There are no easy solutions, partly because brass bands, for example, have also been affected by the decline of mining and other heavy industries. However, Professor Hallam and Dr Creech believe that those who produce and market music programmes and run music websites could do more to broaden young people's musical tastes.
"Classical music that is used in sporting contexts, to introduce TV or radio programmes, or accompany adverts becomes familiar and loses its stigma," they point out. "This approach could be adopted more widely."
Professor Hallam and Dr Creech are also concerned that fewer children want to learn classical instruments such as the violin, clarinet and flute, despite huge government investment in music tuition in schools in recent years.
They acknowledge that instruments do not go out of fashion as quickly as styles of music do. "Cave paintings from 33,000 BC show flutes being played. But that is no reason to be complacent," they say. "The impact of technology on music education has been profound, with some instruments becoming 'endangered' in schools while requests to play others, such as the electric guitar, electronic keyboards and kit drums, have increased dramatically."
Even so, music education in the UK is still arguably the best in the world, they add, and it makes a major contribution to the creative industries, which continue to play a crucial role in the economy.
"Music also has the potential to develop a wide range of transferable skills including those which are particularly desired by employers – for instance, teamwork, leadership, independent working and creativity," the Institute of Education researchers say. "Despite this, music is still perceived by many people as lacking in relevance for future employment. The music community needs to challenge that notion very vigorously."
Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations, edited by Sue Hallam and Andrea Creech, will be published by the Institute of Education on Thursday, July 15.
Further information from:
David Budge
020 7911 5349
07881 415362
Notes for editors
1. Music Education in the 21st Century in the United Kingdom: Achievements, analysis and aspirations, ISBN 978-0-85473-899-1, £23.99, paperback, 370 pages, can be ordered from all online book retailers or directly from John Smith's Education Bookshop. Tel: +44 (0)20 7612 6050. Fax: +44 (0)20 7612 6407. Email: ioe@johnsmith.co.uk. www.ioe.ac.uk/publications
2. The book has been published partly to mark Tune In - Year of Music, an initiative from the Department for Education that is aiming to encourage children and young people across England (from birth to age 19) to take part in more music-related activities during the 2009/10 academic year. Information about Tune In -- Year of Music events can be found at http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/tunein/join-in.shtml
3. The Institute of Education is a college of the University of London specialising in teaching, research and consultancy in education and related areas of social science and professional practice. The 2008 Research Assessment Exercise judged almost two-thirds of the work submitted by the IOE as internationally significant, and 35 per cent as 'world leading'.