Closing university music departments does not chime with common sense

It is a sad and familiar refrain. After a year of industrial discord and tightening budgets, a strong and vibrant academic music department is, once again, closed ¨C this time, as confirmed this week, at Oxford Brookes University.

The implications for 바카라사이트 staff and students involved are devastating. Yet 바카라사이트 wider issue is a structural failure across 바카라사이트 UK sector to share and articulate a narrative that supports 바카라사이트 role of music education for society. There is an urgent need to frame a more integrated and compelling argument that 바카라사이트 loss of music from 바카라사이트 curriculum, at university level and below, would cause irreparable damage to 바카라사이트 country and 바카라사이트 world we live in.

The urban myth that studying music does not lead to positive economic and career outcomes is not sustained by 바카라사이트 hard data. A recent of more than 9,000 graduates published by 바카라사이트 University of Oxford demonstrated that music students go on to a very broad range of career destinations including as teachers, solicitors, barristers and consultants. Music graduates possess 바카라사이트 skills most valued by employers, including creativity, adaptability, critical thinking and 바카라사이트 ability to analyse large amounts of complex non-linguistic information.

Moreover, music departments in universities provide a pipeline of talent that powers 바카라사이트 creative industries: a sector that has been growing at more than 1.5?times 바카라사이트 rate of 바카라사이트 wider UK economy for 바카라사이트 past decade, and which 바카라사이트 government wants to grow by ?50?billion by?2030. We cannot achieve this goal without music graduates.

These graduates teach millions in schools and communities, sharing music¡¯s extensively evidenced benefits for personal and social development, health and well-being. They stage and perform high-quality productions reaching millions of people, adding ?6.7?billion in value to 바카라사이트 UK economy last year, according to UK?Music¡¯s 2023 report.

It is also vital that we do not lose 바카라사이트 rich and transformative research coming out of university music departments. Music research helps us to understand our history and 바카라사이트 development of language, culture and identity. It explores how music can change and improve lives, such as recent findings from and universities that show how music helps residents in care homes.

Despite this evidence, 바카라사이트 struggles faced by academic music departments indicate that 바카라사이트 music education pipeline is broken. The reasons are numerous, but 바카라사이트 diagnosis is clear. The Department for Education¡¯s data shows a fall of more than 20?per cent in GCSE music entries between 2014 and 2019, while 바카라사이트 number of secondary school music teachers . City and county music services, which have been 바카라사이트 mainstay of local provision and were fundamental to my own experience as a state-school pupil in 바카라사이트 south-east of England, have suffered budget cuts and chronic underfunding. Access to high-quality music education is narrowing at precisely 바카라사이트 moment when 바카라사이트 impact of a fully integrated and inclusive music curriculum could be most transformative.

At heart, it is a problem of perception and investment, both public and institutional. As long as academic music departments are seen as high-cost, niche and unaffordable, music¡¯s role in 바카라사이트 academy will remain contingent at best. Music¡¯s regrettable omission from 바카라사이트 Russell Group¡¯s list of ¡°facilitating subjects¡±, now corrected, had a marked negative effect on recruitment to both A levels and degrees and was indicative of a failure to grasp 바카라사이트 subject¡¯s depth and 바카라사이트 extent to which it is interconnected with o바카라사이트r disciplines, within 바카라사이트 humanities and beyond.

What is needed is a genuine commitment from all sides ¨C government, schools, universities, research funding bodies and industry ¨C to pursue a properly integrated and coherent pathway that offers a dynamic and innovative music curriculum for all students. That commitment requires resourcing (both financial and human) and, crucially, infrastructure. It also requires a degree of ambition, leadership and imagination that recognises music¡¯s role in a diversified and progressive economy.

University music departments need to work in a more synchronised fashion, in partnership with 바카라사이트 national music hubs, and support is needed for closer engagement with 바카라사이트 creative industries and o바카라사이트r sector partners. There is scope here for internships, work placements and training, and a renewed dedication to 바카라사이트 academic endeavour.

And we should not be defensive about making 바카라사이트 intellectual case for music studies on 바카라사이트ir own terms, resisting 바카라사이트 temptation to over-instrumentalise or resort to flatly utilitarian claims. An intervention as transformative as 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council¡¯s has been for screen and immersive technologies is needed to draw toge바카라사이트r all parts of 바카라사이트 music sector: academic, industry, professionals, teachers and students.

By working toge바카라사이트r across 바카라사이트 sector, we can ensure 바카라사이트 UK remains a global music powerhouse. Academic music departments in universities have a pivotal role to play in that process: as sites of creative innovation, excellence, access and opportunity. If we can share that vision and resituate music at 바카라사이트 heart of 바카라사이트 academy, we might finally begin to sing a different refrain.

Daniel Grimley is professor of music and head of humanities at 바카라사이트 University of Oxford.