Traditionally, music education has been seen as a middle class luxury. Consequently, much excitement has been generated by the government’s ‘Music Manifesto’, which promises to involve many more children in music by getting them singing. But is this initiative so keen to include that it refuses to demand enough of pupils? The emphasis is on participation rather than musical appreciation or understanding – anyone can sing at least to a very rough standard, and TV shows like The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent have encouraged the idea that we all have hidden gifts. But is encouraging ‘creativity’ without providing a grounding in musical discipline (learning your scales!) ultimately doomed? Or might active participation in something like singing actually give children a better understanding than a more academic approach?
It is often said that music is the poor relation in schools, given less time and attention than literature or art, for example. But what does it mean to teach music as a subject? Should education for children with a musical vocation be radically different from that which is seen as essential for all? Should all children be taught to make critical judgements about music, or is it enough that they have fun with it?
 | John Street professor of politics, University of East Anglia; author, Rebel Rock: The Politics of Popular Music; ESRC researcher on the role of music and musicians in public action |
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 | Neil Davenport writer; head of sociology, JFS Sixth Form Centre |
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 | Orlando Gough composer; director of The Shout choir |
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| Chair: | |
 | Dr Tiffany Jenkins arts and society director, Institute of Ideas; sociologist; cultural commentator; author, Contesting Human Remains: Museums and the crisis of cultural authority |
| Dolan Cummings convenor, Battle for Politics; associate fellow, Institute of Ideas; editor, Culture Wars; editor, Debating Humanism | |
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| Cara Bleiman music student, University of Oxford; holder of Bayreuth Scholarship and Leask Music Scholarship | |
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| Sarah Boyes freelance writer and editor; assistant editor of Culture Wars; editor, Battles in Print 2010 | |
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 | recommended by spiked |
