Introduction

A reading of this report should suffice to demonstrate how much really good music education is being provided in and out of school. The NMC and the Music Education Council (MEC) delight in this annual opportunity to underline the inspirational music-making which Music for Youth showcase at other times of the year. It is also gratifying to report that after a short gap the Department for Education & Skills have re-instated their grant-in-aid of this scheme and that through the Scottish Arts Council’s Youth Music Initiative (YMI), music in Scotland is blossoming in all sorts of exciting ways. The cloud in the sky is sadly over Wales, where the Assembly persisted with the 35 per cent cut in the Music Development Fund. For the first time in the history of this scheme we received only one submission from Wales. We suspect there is a connection.

As implied above, the standards in this year’s submissions are high. Our only reservation centres on how little data was made available to us of tracking of pupils through the Whole Class Vocal and Instrumental Teaching (WCVIT, previously known as Wider Opportunities) programmes. And in that wider connection, we hope all those with responsibilities for delivering the Key Stage 2 music curriculum will take advantage of the DfES funded CPD programme, which Trinity Guildhall/Open University will be launching in January 2007.

Our association with the PRS Foundation (PRSF) continues with Caerphilly and Cornwall again singled out for recognition. We have also welcomed Jazz Services’ participation in the scheme, though in this inaugural year they didn’t feel able to make an award. They have however welcomed evidence of a growing interest in jazz education on the part of several schools and music services.

As always we pay tribute to:

• those elected representatives and school governors who demonstrate their belief in the value of music by ensuring always that the music education for which they have a whole or part responsibility is properly resourced;
• the heads of music services, advisers, instrumental tutors, classroom music teachers, advisory music teachers, head teachers, chief officers (who used to be known as education officers) and the young people themselves.

We follow our normal practice of drawing attention also to those entries, which, while not this year featuring among the awards, nonetheless represented worthwhile submissions.

[ Download the 2006 report in Acrobat PDF format for easy printing ]

[ Photographs by courtesy of respective LEAs ]

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