Learning music in Gloucestershire
– young people’s views
July 2015
Music is very important since it helps
express emotions and everyone should
learn it
Year 8, Pitville School
I don’t believe there are enough
opportunities in Gloucester for young
people to develop new skills or existing
ones and I’d like to see more of that
Social class and finance are the biggest
reason that many kids do not learn an
instrument, lessons cost a lot of money
and many cannot afford this and so do not
ever get the chance to be involved
Year 11, Fairford School
Year 11, Beaufort School
Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub, Colwell Arts Centre, Derby Road, Gloucester GL1 4AD
T 01452 330 300 E [email protected] W www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk
INDEX
1. Six key points we have learned: executive summary p1
2. About the report and the research
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
2.4.
About the research
Why was it commissioned?
About the sessions in schools
About the e-survey
3. Results
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
3.7
p4
p6
How easy is it to make/learn music in Gloucestershire?
How important is music to young people?
How are young people making/learning music – do they enjoy
learning music in school?
Would they like to have a say about music education in
Gloucestershire?
Drivers
3.5.1 Getting involved
3.5.2 Staying involved, progressing
Barriers
What young people would like to see happen?
4. Appendices
p10
Consultation overview from Participation Team
E-survey: report on results
2
1.
Six key points we have learned: executive summary
NB: The sample size for this research was 180 young people: 94 in workshops and 86 via online survey
1.1
Music is important to young people in Gloucestershire – but there’s a
discrepancy between their passion for music, and their ability to make
music, as well as for some students, their enjoyment of learning in school.
84% of young people consider music to be important to them and a significant 56% of those
surveyed wanted to give their views on music education in the future. Yet only 52% say they make
music, and nearly one in three say they feel they missed out on the opportunity to make music.
54% says there’s something they’d like to do in music but don’t currently.
1.2
As music educators, we could be doing better to harness this passion
The average score from students of how easy it is to make/learn music in Gloucestershire was 6.
And although the majority said they enjoyed music lessons in school, 31% said they were OK and 10
% didn’t enjoy it much or at all. Interestingly, half say they didn’t learn music in school (16% are
self-taught, 11% are taught outside of school).
1.3
It’s no surprise that cost and time are the two main barriers – but so is a lack
of suitable opportunities.
One in five cited cost as a barrier and a similar amount cited not having enough time. The next
most common response was ‘I don’t feel able to make music’. More than one in five weren’t
playing because either ‘there aren’t opportunities in the type of music I want to make’, or ‘I’ve
never found anything I’d like to do in music’, or ‘lack of places to make music’.
1.4
Young people are overcoming this with singing, and self-directed learning
using music technology, rap and beatboxing, and YouTube videos.
More than a third said they were singers; the next most popular were strings and piano/keyboard
(each played by 19% of young people) and music technology (16%). 16% are self-taught.
1.5
However, they want more diverse opportunities, at all stages of their youth,
in and out of school
Only 15% start music at secondary age: yet they say it’s important they have a chance to try
different ways of making music, try different instruments, at all ages.
In terms of developing in music, they want to teach themselves (one in five) or learn in a group
(one in five) – slightly fewer (14%) want one-to-one lessons. For non-musicians, group lessons
were equally or slightly more important, but one-to-one lessons were slightly less important.
Given that a number of studies have shown (eg The Importance of Music to Adolescents, North,
Hargreaves, O’Neill, 2010) that adolescence is a time when music becomes increasingly important
to young people, it’s important that opportunities to make a start in music (as well as to progress in
different ways) are available at secondary age, not just primary.
1.6
Young people acknowledge that schools are critically important in enabling
access to music and want them to do more
This is not just through classroom music, but importantly, in giving platforms for young people to
perform, build confidence and self-esteem. They want to see schools encouraging young people to
take up music/try a range of instruments/ways of making music – and a common request was for
after school music clubs that involved both instruments and music technology.
3
2.
About this report and the research
2.1
About the research
This report is the culmination of a series of participatory consultation workshops in secondary
schools and an online survey of young people aged 11-18.
The aim was to find out young people’s views and experiences of music education in
Gloucestershire - both those who are actively learning and making music, and those who aren’t;
and those who have followed all sorts of different progression routes, through formal education,
non-formal and informal.
The results will be used to inform Make Music Gloucestershire1’s future strategy, and to highlight
issues of importance to music teachers, school leadership teams, and music educators working
outside of schools.
The research took place between January and May 2015 and involved 180 young people: 94 in
workshops and 86 who responded to the online survey. It included young people in mainstream,
special and alternative provision schools; those who made music and those who didn’t; and pupils
from a wide range of backgrounds.
The work was planned and led by Gloucestershire County Council’s Ambassadors for Vulnerable
Children and Young People (part of the Participation Team) and commissioned by the
Commissioning Team of Make Music Gloucestershire, the county’s music education hub.
The Ambassadors are a group of young people aged 16-22 years who are specially trained in
participatory consultation techniques and in working with other young people, and who themselves
have experienced being supported by children and young people’s services from the County Council.
We’d like to extend particular thanks to Alice Ciereszko, Ambassador, for her work in producing the esurvey, collating the consultation information, and analysing some of the statistics.
2.2
Why was it commissioned?
Up until now, the only direct involvement of young people in the Hub has been that there is a place
for one young person on its advisory group. However, the Commissioning Team wants to ensure
that young people have a stronger voice in the development of the Hub now, and in the future. We
wanted to find out about:
Drivers and barriers
What encourages young people into learning music - ie beyond classroom music? What stops them?
What could we do to break down some of those barriers, to enable more young people to make music?
Experiences of music education
What’s good and what can be improved?
What would help them to progress further/better – in terms of improving their abilities, or
exploring new progression routes?
What would young people like to be able to do in terms of music making/learning that they can’t do now,
or couldn’t in the past?
2.3
About the sessions in schools (see Appendix for a session outline)
1
Make Music Gloucestershire (MMG) is the county’s music education hub - a network of schools, individuals and organisations working together to
make sure music education reaches as many children and young people as possible, and makes a difference to their lives and futures. See
www.makemusicgloucestershire.org.uk
It is led by the County Council, working alongside a small commissioning team (responsible for strategy, communications, funding and outcomes),
advisory group and a new strategy group, meeting for the first time in July 2015. The Hub is funded largely through a grant from the Department for
Education (DfE) administered through Arts Council England (ACE).
4
These involved 45-60 minute participatory consultation sessions for between 8-25 young people in
each of four mainstream secondary schools, one Special school and one Alternative Provision
school which were as follows:
School
Severn Vale
All Saints Academy, Cheltenham
Sir William Romney
Deer Park, Cirencester
Belmont School
APS, Forest
Total number
Number
of pupils
16
17
19
23
16
3
94
% Pupil
Premium
26%
33%
20%
20%
62%
29%
The session was devised by the Ambassadors for Vulnerable Children and Young People and
facilitated by two Participation Officers and two Ambassadors.
2.4
About the e-survey
An e-survey was made available via a page in the ‘Young People’ section of the Make Music
Gloucestershire website, and promoted:





to the Heads of Music in the schools involved in participatory sessions
to the Heads of Music and school heads via MMG’s schools e-newsletters
on social media via MMG’s Facebook and Twitter accounts (including direct requests to
organisations working with young people in Gloucestershire who follow MMG)
via a paid-for ‘boosted post’ on MMG’s Facebook account
through the added incentive of a prize draw to win one of six £25 high street vouchers
The survey was devised by Ambassadors, based on a brief provided by Make Music Gloucestershire,
using the ‘U engage’ electronic consultation tool used by Gloucestershire County Council.
5
3.
Results
Information from the e-survey is included in lilac boxes.
3.1
How easy is it to make/learn music in Gloucestershire?
On average, students in the consultation sessions gave this a rating of six on a scale of 1-10.
3.2
How important is music to young people?
Survey question: How important is music to you?
84% of young people in Gloucestershire consider music to be important to them. 65% said that
it was very or quite important, and the rest said it was ‘averagely important’.
It is significant that more than a third (39%) of non-musicians said music was ‘quite’ important
to them – similar to the results for musicians – and yet they’re not involved in making music.
3.3
How are young people making/learning music – do they enjoy learning
music in school?
Survey question: Do you play a musical instrument (if so, which), sing, rap, beatbox, DJ or make
music using music technology? How were you taught to play and make music?
52.3% said that they made music, and 47.7% said they didn’t. Singing was by far the most
popular method of making music (involving 34% of respondents) – perhaps not surprisingly given
its accessibility, followed by strings (19%), piano/keyboard (19%).
Self-directed music such as music technology (16%) and rap/beatboxing (12%) were more
popular than traditional instruments such as woodwind (9%) and brass (8%).
Only around half of respondents said that they had learned in school, either in main class lessons
(20.6%) or outside main class lessons (25.3%). 15.8% were self-taught, while more than 11% are
taught outside of school. 8.9% are taught by their parents, and 4.1% use internet tutorials.
More than half of young people said that there’s something they’d like to do in music, but don’t
currently. Guitar, singing and piano/keyboards were some of the most popular, although the
sample sizes for these responses were small as there were such a variety of suggestions.
Young people are more likely to take up music at primary school age than secondary with only
15% starting at secondary age (this was backed up by consultation session results). Given that a
number of studies have shown that adolescence is a time when music becomes increasingly
important to young people, and given the answers to other questions in this survey, this
indicates a gap and a need for more needs/interests-based provision.
Survey question: How much do you (or did you) enjoy music lessons taught in the classroom?
Most young people enjoyed music in school (57%) but 31% said they were OK and 10 % didn’t
enjoy it much or at all. Given that 84% say that music is important to them, there is clearly a gap
between their experience in school, and their enthusiasm and interest out of school.
3.4
Would they like to have a say about music education in Gloucestershire?
A significant 55.8% of all respondents said that they would be interested being more actively
involved in giving their views in the future.
6
3.5
Drivers
3.5.1 Getting involved
Survey questions: What made you get involved with music? Does anyone in your family play an
instrument, sing, rap, beatbox, DJ or make music using technology?
Not surprisingly, if a family member plays an instrument or makes music, young people are
more likely to get involved, and stay involved. Although parents and friends are cited as equal in
importance in encouraging involvement, far more musicians than non-musicians were in
families where someone sang (31% compared with 9%) or played an instrument (34% compared
with 23%).
Consultation questions: What encourages people into learning music - i.e. beyond classroom
music? How did you start making music and why? / What and who inspired you?
The consultation results backed up the survey results in terms of the influence of family and
friends, and an additional influence mentioned was teachers boosting young people’s confidence,
reassuring them they can sing/play well. A number of young people mentioned using YouTube
videos to teach themselves.
Joined school choir for fun inspired by mum and dad and other family members
I started singing because one of my teachers said that I sing quite good. I started doing it often.
Learnt using the Internet on YouTube.
Just wanted to have a go at it. I started making music by combining notes together.
3.5.2 Staying involved, progressing
Consultation questions: What has kept you involved and able to progress? What about things
that go on in school – does it help, could more be done to encourage more young people?
In terms of staying involved, common themes (in addition to enjoyment) were:
Learning new things/ challenges - “I try pieces that are way above my level so that I make big process. I
really enjoy it” and “working towards exams and the next grade”
Family and friends – “Watching my brother practice guitar and taking drum lessons at school and
practicing at home”
Support from music teachers “Cause it was really fun and my teacher really supported me”
Achievement - “I’m good at it”; “Winning the national youth brass championships of Great Britain”;
“Passing exams”; “I’m good at it and love performing. I get money from busking and gigs”; “Progressing
in musical talent.”
Other - “A lot of Dubstep music inspired me to play tunes like them. I like combining music.” “Being able
to listen to music and feel strongly about the lyrics inside the songs kept me wanting to style and create
things in the same way.”
In terms of whether schools activities help or more could be done, the common themes were:

Performances and competitions were seen as a good way to show talent and raise self esteem
(but some young people don’t see themselves as talented, as one quote from the e-survey
demonstrates – see front page)
 There is enough of this going on but the one thing they would improve would be to have more
choice of instruments both at school and in competitions. They would also like more
opportunities to try instruments – particularly non-musicians:
‘More instruments to be taught at school’
‘Free tester trials to play an instrument so you can decide if you want to continue or not.’
‘I think there could be a bigger range of instruments.’
 Music clubs after school were also mentioned regularly – including instruments and making
music on a computer and with apps
7
3.6 Barriers
Survey question: What stops young people / prevents them from making music
(choose from: there aren’t opportunities in the type of music I want to make; there aren’t any places where I
can make music; there aren’t enough musical groups available; transporting my instruments; cost of
instruments and lessons; I don’t feel I’m able to; I don't have enough time; I’ve never found anything I like to
do in music; I’m not interested; other)
If you have a disability, does this stop you from learning/being involved in music?
One in five young people aren’t making music because of cost, and a similar number cited lack of
time. Nearly one in three feels they missed out on an opportunity to make music.
The next most common response was that they ‘don’t feel able to make music’ (14.2%). Small
numbers said (around 7% each) that there aren’t opportunities in the type of music they want to
make, places where they could make music or they’d never found anything they’d like to do in
music.
67% of disabled respondents said that their disability stops them from being involved with music.
Consultation questions: Do you feel restricted at all/what’s difficult about being involved in
music?
Consultation questions focused more on barriers to progression, rather than barriers to making a
start in music. There were a wide range of responses, but as with the survey, cost and time were
two of the common themes, with the addition of confidence/persistence:

Money and transport – young people say that lessons can be very expensive and their
parents can’t afford them and/or to buy instruments and then to transport them.

Time – young people said that it is difficult to go to school and do school work and try to
balance this with music practice, especially around exam time.

Confidence and persistence – stage fright/lack of confidence, and perseverance particularly
in the face of mistakes were mentioned frequently and one person mentioned lack of
encouragement from parents/teachers.
You have to be persistent, it takes a long time
Sometimes you get bored with the type of music or tunes that they’re playing
Confidence
Distance for lessons
Taking my instrument from and to school
Not having a drum kit at home – use the school’s but can’t practice at home
It can be expensive / don’t have the money / Not being able to buy own instrument
The internet provides good lessons but at a price and some don’t have internet
Musical instruments are sometimes not available
Peer pressure
Finding people to play with in a band
It’s difficult to be shy and get noticed, So many people have talent; it’s hard to stand out as
someone worth time
8
3.7
What young people would like to see happen
Survey questions: How would you like to develop further in music?
Consultation questions: What other opportunities would you like to see for young people? What
could we do to break down some of those barriers, to enable more young people to make music?
It is significant that making music in groups and self-directed learning is important to young
people as a means of learning music – as important or more important than one-to-one lessons.
One in five said they wanted to teach themselves (20.9%) or take part in group lessons (20.1%);
15.5% said they wanted to join other musical groups, a similar proportion to those who’d prefer
one-to-one lessons (14%), closely followed by 12.4% who’d prefer to learn via the internet.
There was an acknowledgement of the need to support ‘niche’ activities ‘such as duets and
orchestras’.
For non-musicians, group lessons were equally or slightly more important, but one-to-one
lessons were slightly less important, and joining a music group significantly less important.
Students in the consultation who were not learning/making music, emphasised that they wanted to
see opportunities being for all ages, and for opportunities to try out instruments (suggesting a need
for young people to be encouraged to start at different points in their school life), and that schools
should be involved as it’s where young people are most likely to be reached.
Some of the common themes from across the sample were:
Schools being more involved
Venues where young people can practice music
I think the government should build a special place for people to practice music
Community projects to make our own tunes that are age specific
More opportunities outside of school for bands
Community music centre / Music centres (a strong view in Deer Park, Cirencester)
Somewhere to go to learn musical instruments that is cheap - £5-10
This was also an issue in rural Forest of Dean for bands
Free instruments
More bands and singers - people like performances – concerts/competitions
More trips! (in reference to a school trip to see a concert)
More workshops and shows
Taster sessions so young people can try out different instruments – for all age groups.
Would like to have a music technology club
More music lessons
A number of people also stated that they would like to make Dubstep music, do beatboxing,
and drums were very popular. Electric or acoustic guitar were also popular
9
4
Appendices
1
2
Consultation overview from Participation Team
E-survey: report on results
10
11
12
1. Consultation overview from Participation Team
Aims:
 To consult with young people who are actively learning and making music and those who aren’t.
 To find out young people’s views about their experiences and how they think they could be
improved.
 To consult on how young people would like to give their views and feedback on an ongoing basis.
 To find out the barriers for young people to learn and make music.
Timescale:
 The consultation process ran from January – May 2015, to include the planning process and writing
of reports.
Methodology:
We devised a consultation with young people which
 Was participative, fun and engaging to obtain their views
 Provided statistical information which can be used by MMG
Young people were of secondary school age (11-18 years) and in mainstream schools, Special schools and
Alternative Provision schools. Pupils were a mix of young people from different backgrounds, Years 7-13,
some who made music and some who didn’t and some who received Pupil Premium money.
1. Participative consultation sessions in schools
 A 45min-60 min participative consultation session in four mainstream secondary schools, one Special
school and one Alternative Provision school
 The interactive consultation session was devised by the Ambassadors for Vulnerable Children and
Young People and facilitated by two Participation Officers and two Ambassadors
 Sessions included between eight and 25 young people
 The session included playing ‘Uptown Funk’ by Bruno Mars to encourage young people to identify
different ways of ‘making music’ and to introduce the session
 Outline of Consultation session in Appendices
NB: Actual results were provided as a separate report and further analysis, and so are summarised in the
main body of this report.
2. E-survey Questionnaire
 An e-survey was devised by Ambassadors using the ‘U engage’ electronic consultation tool used
by Gloucestershire County Council
 The Ambassadors ensured that the survey was young person friendly
 E-survey links/information and paper questionnaires were emailed to 10 mainstream schools,
three Special schools and three Alternative Provision schools (as decided by MMG) and asked
them to ask a sample of young people to complete and return the survey
 We asked that the e-survey was promoted by a lead teacher or Head of Music in the school
(contact information obtained by MMG)
 The e-survey was also promoted by the Ambassadors and MMG through social networking sites
and the MMG website
Statistical results were provided as a separate report - the narrative summary of results in narrative form is
provided in section 2 of this report.
Resources




Participation Officer (lead for MMG consultation) – Lyn Green
Participation Officer – Philip James
Five Ambassadors
Make Music Gloucestershire - Anita Holford
11
2:
E-survey: report on results
Profile of those completing the survey
Age: The survey was targeted at anyone of secondary school age, ie 11-18, but most were from the
younger age groups (nearly 75% from years 7 and 8).
More than half of respondents were in Y8 (51.2%), followed by 23.3% in Y7, 10.5% in Y12-13,
8.1% in Y9, 5.8% in Y11, and 1.2% in Y10.
Gender: There was a roughly equal split of genders: half of respondents were male (50%), less than half
were female (46.5%) while 3.5% did not respond.
Disability: 7% of respondents (six people) said that they considered themselves to have a disability.
School: By far the largest number of respondents came from Pitville School (41.9%), followed by
Balcarras School (17.4%) and Tewkesbury School (12.8%).
Archway School, Pates School (2.3%), St Peter’s RC High School and Ribston Hall School each
provided 2.3% of responses (2 respondents each). 1.2% (1 respondent) each came from
Bournside School, Beaufort Co-operative Academy, and Beech Green Primary School, Chosen
Hill School, Cleeve School, Farmors School, The High School for Girls, Maidenhill School,
Prospects School, Thomas Keble School, Sir Thomas Rich’s School, Winchcombe School.
Other factors: Two respondents were in care; two had a disability and seven said they didn’t want to
answer the question about whether they were in care, a care leaver, or have a disability.
Musicians/non-musicians: There was a roughly equal split between musicians and non-musicians. 52%
said that they play a musical instrument, sing, rap, beatbox, DJ or make music using music technology;
48% said that they don’t do any of these.
How important is music?
Music is important to young people in Gloucestershire. 65% said that it was very or quite important, and
if we include those who said it was ‘averagely important’ this means that 84% consider it to be
important.
It is significant that more than a third (39%) of non-musicians said that music was ‘quite’ important to
them – similar to the results for musicians – and yet they are not involved in making music.
More than 65% of all respondents said that music is either very important (30.2%) or quite important
(34.9%). 18.6% said it was average, while 12.8% said it wasn’t very important, and 3.5% said it wasn’t
important at all.
Musicians: 51.1% of musicians2 said that music was very important to them, 31.1% that it was quite
important, 11.1% that it was average, 6.7% that it wasn’t very important, and 0% that it wasn’t important
at all.
2
‘Musicians’ are those who said Yes to question 7: Do you play a musical instrument, sing, rap, beatbox, DJ or make
music using music technology?; ‘non-musicians’ are those who said No to this question.
12
Non musicians: Only 7.3% of non-musicians said that music was very important to them, 39% that it was
quite important, 26.8% that it was average, 19.5% that it wasn’t very important, and 7.3% that it wasn’t
important at all.
Nearly 50% of respondents answered our final question which was ‘Is there anything else you’d like to tell
us about your experience of making music?'. Among the answers give were:










I don’t believe there are enough opportunities in Gloucester for young people to develop new skills or existing
ones and I’d like to see more of that.
I was so annoyed when my original music lessons stopped and what is more annoying is that people keep
seeing that I have talent but I cant (sic) get lessons to enhance that talent because they cost too much.
I love singing in Gloucestershire Youth Choir.
It has made me happy, especially in musicals as I like acting and singing.
It was fun.
That it is fun and existing (sic) and I cant (sic) go with out (sic) singing on (sic) day!!
Music is very important, since it helps express emotions, and everyone should learn it.
It makes you feel alive - I love music because it makes you feel.
Brass bands movement has been a great way of learning to socialise with all ages and genders. Cirencester
Band has even provided an overseas tour.
Music is basically my life so give me more chances to share it.
Ways of making music
52.3% said that they made music, and 47.7% said they don’t. Singing was the most popular form of
music making – perhaps not surprisingly given its accessibility – and self-directed music making such
as music technology and rap/beatboxing was more popular than woodwind and brass.
More than half of young people said that there’s something they’d like to do in music, but don’t
currently. Guitar, singing and piano/keyboards were some of the most popular, although the sample
sizes for these responses were small as there were such a variety of suggestions.
Young people are more likely to take up music at primary school than secondary with only 15%
starting at secondary age. Given that a number of studies have shown that adolescence is a time
when music becomes increasingly important to young people, and given the answers to other
questions in this survey, this indicates a gap and a need for more needs/interests-based provision.
Type of instrument
We asked, ‘If you play instruments, which of the following do you play?’ The choices were brass, folk/world
instrument, piano/keyboard, percussion, string, woodwind, not applicable, other. We also asked ‘If you
sing, rap, beatbox, DJ or make music using music technology, which of those do you do?’ Singing was by far
the most popular, followed by strings, keyboard and music technology:
Sing
Strings
Piano/keyboard
Music technology
Rap/beatbox
Woodwind
Brass
Other
DJ
Percussion
Folk/world instrument
34%
18.7%
17.8%
15.6%
11.5%
9.4%
7.5%
5.6% (but no details provided)
4.2%
2.8%
1.9%
We asked: ‘Is there anything in terms of music making/learning that you would like to do but don’t do at
the moment?’. 53.5% responded and the most popular suggestions were learning how to play the guitar
13
(10 people), singing (9), piano/keyboards (7), drums/percussion (3), string instruments, wind instruments,
and ukulele (2), and computer music/editing music, and rock choir (both with 1 response).
Starting age
We asked ‘How old were you when you first started learning or/and making music?’ The vast majority of
respondents (nearly 85%) started learning before the age of 11 and only 15% learned when they got to
secondary school age. Just over half of respondents (54.7%) said they were between 4-10-years-old; 30.2%
were under 4, and 15.1% said they were between 11-15-years-old. No respondents started learning or/and
making music between the ages of 16-18.
However, the question will need to be more clearly worded next time as this could be interpreted as
anything from making music as a toddler to having lessons. Therefore it isn’t useful to extract data from the
responses.
Method of learning
We asked ‘How did you learn to play/make music - at school with the rest of my class, at school (lessons
outside of main class lessons), internet tutorials, outside school one-to-one, outside school in a group,
parents, self-taught, other?’
Surprisingly, only around half said that they had learned in school, either in main class lessons (20.6%) or
outside main class lessons (25.3%). 15.8% were self-taught, while more than 11% are taught outside of
school. 8.9% are taught by their parents, and 4.1% use internet tutorials.
Drivers
Not surprisingly, if a family member plays an instrument or makes music, young people are more likely
to get involved, and stay involved. Although parents and friends are cited as equal in importance in
encouraging involvement, far more musicians than non-musicians were in families where someone sang
(31% compared with 9%) or played an instrument (34% compared with 23%).
We asked, ‘What made you get involved with music?’ The choices were friends, inspired by an idol, parent/
carer, school teacher, sibling, other family member, other. Parents/carers (20.5%) and friends (18.9%) were
mentioned most as the reason people got involved with music, followed by schoolteacher (13.1%) and an idol.
We asked ‘Does anyone in your family play an instrument, sing, rap, beatbox, DJ or make music using music
technology?’ The results confirm that family influences are a factor in encouraging involvement in music:
Someone plays an instrument
Someone sings
Someone DJs
Someone raps/beatboxes
Someone makes music tech
No family players
All
30.1%
23.6%
4.9%
4.9%
6.5%
28%
Musicians
33.8%
31.3%
6.3%
7.5%
8.8%
12.5%
14
Non-musicians
23.3%
9.3%
2.3%
0%
8.8%
55.8%
Developing further
It is significant that making music in groups and self-directed learning is important to young people as a
means of learning music – as important or more important than one-to-one lessons. For non-musicians,
group lessons were equally or slightly more important, but one-to-one lessons were slightly less
important, and joining a music group significantly less important.
When we asked, ‘How would you like to develop further in music?’, one in five said they wanted to teach
themselves (20.9%) or take part in group lessons (20.1%); 15.5% said they wanted to join other musical
groups, a similar proportion to those who’d prefer one-to-one lessons (14%), closely followed by 12.4%
who’d prefer to learn via the internet.
Musicians: 19% expressed a preference for group lessons, 24% other musical groups, 16.5% one-to-one
lessons, 22.8% teaching themselves, and 16.5% using the internet.
Non-musicians: 22% said they would like to develop further via group lessons, 2% would join other musical
groups, 10% would prefer one-to-one lessons, 18% would teach themselves, and 6% would use the
internet.
Learning instruments
More than 66% had learned an instrument in the past: 20.9% for up to 3 months, 10.5% for up to 6 months,
12.8% for up to 1 year, and 18.6% for 1 year or more. 37.2% had not learned an instrument.
Musicians: 71% had learned an instrument. 24.4% had played for up to 3 months in the past, 11.1% said up
to 6 months, 11.1% up to 1 year, 24.4% for 1 year or more, and 28.9% said No.
Non-musicians: 54% had learned an instrument. 17.1% of non-musicians who said they had played an
instrument for up to 3 months in the past, 9.8% said up to 6 months, 14.6% up to 1 year and 12.2% for 1
year or more.
Barriers
One in five young people aren’t making music because of cost, and a similar number cited lack of time.
Nearly one in three feels they missed out on an opportunity to make music.
The next most common response was that they ‘don’t feel able to make music’ (14.2%). Small numbers
said (around 7% each) that there aren’t opportunities in the type of music they want to make, places
where they could make music or they’d never found anything they’d like to do in music. Taken together
the latter total 21% though.
67% of disabled respondents said that their disability stops them from being involved with music.
Almost equal proportions stopped learning between aged 4-10, and aged 11-15.
We asked respondents to answer ‘At what age did you stop learning’ if they had said Yes to the ‘have you
learnt an instrument or played in the past’ question, and would therefore have expected only 54% of
respondents to answer this question. However all respondents answered the question.
43% said they stopped learning an instrument or playing at under 4 years-old (a few more than those who
said they’d never learned); 23.2% between 4-10-years-old; 25.6% between 11-15-years-old; and 8.14% said
between 16-18-years-old.
15
Musicians: 48.9% had stopped at under 4 years-old; 15.6% at 4-10-years-old; 26.7% at 11-15-years-old;
8.9% at 16-18-years-old.
Non-musicians: 36.6% at under 4 years-old; 31.7% 4-10-years-old; 24.4% 11-15-years-old; 7.3% at 16-18years-old.
We asked, ‘What stops you from learning or being involved with music?’ Cost of lessons and time were the
factors most often mentioned:
Cost of lessons
Time
Don’t feel I’m able to
Not interested
Not many opportunities
In the type of music I
want to make
There aren’t places
where I can make music
Never found anything
I’d like to do in music
Not enough groups
Available
Transporting instruments
All
20.9%
18.6%
12.4%
10.9%
Musicians
20.3%
14.9%
13.1%
1.4%
Non-musicians
21.8%
23.6%
10.9%
23.6%
7%
9.5%
3.6%
6.2%
9.5%
1.8%
6.2%
4.1%
9.1%
1.6%
2.7%
2.7%
0%
0%
We also asked ‘What is the biggest factor preventing you from being involved in music?’ This was an open
question where respondents could add any number of responses, and the wide variety of responses makes
this difficult to draw conclusions from, but once again cost and time were regularly mentioned.
We also asked ‘Do you feel like you missed out on an opportunity to learn music’ and 29% of respondents
said Yes (26.7% of musicians and 31.7% of non-musicians), while 58% said No.
Disability factors
7% of all respondents said that they consider themselves to have a disability (six people). Of these, 67%
(four people) said that their disability stops them from learning or being involved with music.
We asked all respondents, “What stops disabled children and young people in Gloucestershire from
learning or experiencing music? The choices were: no resources, disability stops the child or young person
physically, other. Nearly 43% of all respondents said no resources, while 31.6% said the disability stops the
child or young person physically. 25.5% said other, and answers included: nobody is into learning music; I
don’t know; social class and finance are the biggest reason (sic) that many kids do not learn and (sic)
instrument ...; the attitude that disabled people are incapable of doing what able bodied people can.
Enjoyment of music in school
Most young people enjoyed music in school (57%) but 31% said it was OK and 10 % didn’t enjoy it much
or at all. Given that 84% say that music is important to them, there is clearly a gap between their
experience in school, and their enthusiasm and interest out of school.
We asked, ‘How much do you (or did you if you stopped) enjoy music lessons taught as part of the
curriculum in the classroom?’ Nearly 57% said they enjoyed the lessons (37.2% enjoying them and 19.8%
16
enjoying them very much). 31.4% said the lessons were OK, while around 9% didn’t enjoy the lessons.
Perhaps, not surprisingly, none of the musicians said they didn’t enjoy music lessons at all:
Not at all
Not very much
OK
Enjoyed
Enjoyed very much
All
4.8%
4.8%
31.4
37.2
19.8
Musicians
0%
0%
26.7%
42.2%
31.1%
Non-musicians
9.8%
9.8%
36.6%
31.7%
7.3%
Finding out about opportunities to learn and make music and giving feedback
Young people in Gloucestershire are keen to have a say in the future of their music education. A
significant 55.8% of all respondents said that they would be interested in being more actively involved in
giving their views in the future.
Of these, 71.1% of musicians and 39% of non-musicians said they were interested in being more actively
involved.
When asked ‘How would you like to find out about opportunities?’, the results (from the options given,
listed below) were as follows:
Website
Posters
Social media
Email
Text message
Phone calls
21.8%
18%
17%
15.4%
12.6%
10.6% .
When asked, ‘How would you like to give us your feedback in the future?’, the results (from the options
given) were:
Email
Website
Social media
Text message
Phone calls
Posters
27%
21.9%
15.3%
13.9%
10.2%
6.6%
17