19.10.18: Members of the House of Lords highlighted UK Music’s Talent Pipeline report during a debate on Music Education yesterday (Thursday).

Lord Black of Brentwood speaking in the House of Lords (Picture credit: guyblack.org.uk)

Lord Black of Brentwood warned of the decline in pupils taking GCSE music, saying that music is becoming the ‘preserve of the privileged few’.

He said: “UK Music estimates that for children aged 11 to 15, participation in extra-curricular music is down from about 75% in 2012 to 60% last year, partly reflecting the sharp decline in peripatetic teaching.

“If one needed evidence of how this erodes the pipeline, one has only to look at the even more shocking figures for A-level music, where there has been an inevitable decline of just under 40% in entries in England since 2010.”

Lord Black, who tabled the motion, added that ‘music-making needs a pipeline of talent’ and blamed the decline of students picking the subject on the EBacc.

Other speakers during the debate included Lord Lipsey, who said ‘the nation will pay an economic and a cultural price not worth paying’ if music disappears from our schools, and Lord Tim Clement-Jones, who said ‘music has a key role to play in social mobility’.

Our Talent Pipeline report showed that while the immediate outlook is promising, there is growing evidence of a looming crisis in the music industry’s talent pipeline – a pipeline that we rely on for future stars and one that is a vital part of our industry’s ecosystem.

You can read the full debate on Hansard here, and our Talent Pipeline report here.