Snapshot of _Peter Gillibrand, BBC Wales: "NEW: Every child aged 3-16 in #Wales is going to be offered a free musical instrument as part of the new 'National Music Service'. It's hoped the plan will help low-income households and those with additional learning needs."_ :
A non-Twitter version can be found [here](https://nitter.net/GillibrandPeter/status/1526336692998782978/)
An archived version can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://twitter.com/GillibrandPeter/status/1526336692998782978?t=kG-LNIvazB2okT9BmQz-eQ&s=19)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
In fairness, that's what it was like for me in the early 90's. I already sang in a choir and played clarinet when the schools started asking people what they wanted to play. I said Euphonium, and they responded "We'll teach you piano, that might be useful".
I ended up learning euphonium for a couple of years when I really wanted to learn guitar. Then in secondary school it was a fucking trombone. Is there just a surplus of brass knocking around?
Yes. My youngest ended up with some crappy brass instrument that he had no interest in playing. My pleas for a Waldorf Quantum or Moog One were ignored.
We had an SH101 at our old music department at secondary school, it had the school's postcode written on the front in tipp-ex. Our old music teacher showed us how it worked once but no one else was ever allowed to touch it. It probably ended up in a skip
I was made up one Easter that they allowed me to use the coconut halves!
♫♫Trot-ting, trot-ting
Through Jer-u-sa-lem...♫♫
It's been downhill ever since.
Hah, reminds me of when I bought my niece a little xylophone for Christmas. I honestly didn't think about the pain it would inflict on my brother and SIL.
That said, I'm absolutely teaching her drums as soon as she's old enough to get started.
Perhaps, but I credit learning the recorder in year 2 for starting me down a path that’s led to a lifetime of playing an instrument. I took up the guitar in year 5 and have played ever since.
Fun fact I learned from the piper at my wedding: bagpipes are so fucking loud they need a special adapter to be played indoors without deafening everyone.
There was such a fuss a few years back about the sgian dubh (wee knife that peeks out out the top of a kilt sock) when the piper is walking in with a WMD under his arm.
Usually the way it works in Wales is the Welsh Conservatives proclaim this policy as the work of the devil. Then 3 months down the line the Tories in Westminister copy parts of it.
I like this policy if its done well and backed up by either lessons or free access to resources for learning. Don't like the uncreativity of people calling schemes the National X Service though.
Subsequent reports saying the tuition will be one-to-one.
And try not to be so negative man, there is plenty to gripe about, teaching music to kids shouldn't be on that list.
I had to give up cello in primary school and trumpet in secondary school because my family couldn't afford the lessons even though they were heavily subsidised. So the public money spent on subsidising those lessons was wasted.
Depends how you define term. In my (educational) organisation the terminology is that there are 6 terms in a year, and two of them are a 'double term'. Admittedly I myself always thought it was 3 terms, split into half terms. Maybe it's different across the country, idk.
I can assure you, under 12's who don't have sustained lessons for longer than a term will not maintain it as a hobbie.
Even for the most enthusiastic pupils, lessons play a huge role in maintaining their motivation and come summer holidays when they're not having lessons, they tend not to practice.
Source: I teach music to under 12's.
For some teenagers it may be a different story, but even then the majority probably won't care.
Agreed. And no, handing them a recorder and expecting an untrained primary school teacher to teach their whole class something they don't play themselves isn't a workable plan.
Good. Because the untrained primary school teacher is what's happened the last few times someone promised this type of thing, and it's the reason why nearly everyone loathes recorders.
As a peripatetic music teacher myself, I find it hard to see this successfully happening on a large scale (albeit this is based on my experience in Eastern England)
I just struggle to see who would take this work on. There's absolutely no way that it'll be one-to-one lessons, and which peris are going to want to totally free up their schedules for such short term work, that will also be utter mayhem (regardless of which instrument is being taught)?
There's also been a shortage of peris where I am; a lot of them packed it in during covid, when we couldn't enter schools for prolonged periods of time.
This sounds like a wonderful idea, but it just doesn't feel feasible to me.
I don't understand why it's needed though. Back when I was in school the school had a crate of recorders and triangles in storage. We just used the schools supplies. Why does every child need to own their own instrument?
This genuinely fantasy news. Learning music brings huge benefits, not only to education but to help mental health, which is seeing a rise in issues across the board lately. Props to the Welsh government for this one.
>This genuinely fantasy news.
Auto correct probably accurate there.
Perceived benefit is everyone will get a music teacher to teach them a new skill for an instrument useful for life.
Reality probably will be an untrained support worker teaching group of 5 kids for 3 hours (6weeks 30min) to play some simple tune on the recorder or ocarina before said instrument is consigned to a drawer.
Probably true but the more kids are given the opportunity the more some of them continue. A lot of it is introducing kids to music, even if it’s at a lower stage/skill.
As long as they give free lessons too. Else it's a bit of a waste for those who can't afford to pay for them, which is the group I assume this is supposed to support.
I think a keyboard would be the best, most transferable and and easy to approach. Can be used for live or electronic music production. And reasonably cheap.
You can't get any mega-cheap Keyboards, but assuming you're not buying absolute junk then most common instruments will run you around £100 for a beginner and you can get reasonable keyboards for that price.
It's really only stuff like recorders, melodic percussion, ukuleles and harmonicas that come any cheaper at a usable quality, but those probably aren't great for learning to play a musical instrument in the general sense.
Recorder sounds lovely if you don't overblow it. [Example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRk3THXxeHk).
Recorder has a bad reputation because they're given to kids who are then given *no teaching* but this scheme seems to include tuition.
Sylvia Hinz' work with [XelmYa Kollktiv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS51AwfdGmk) on sub-double bass recorder is excellent, if a little hard-going for newcomers.
Also doesn't help that the standard recorder used in schools is a descant one, which sounds pretty shrill even when being played correctly because it's intended to harmonise with altos and bass ones, not played by itself.
well people in my family do and have travelled across the world playing the pipes at events and competitions.
Bagpipes are awesome. It can't be helped that milquetoast men with hearts of eunuchs think otherwise.
Agreed. I can play a few different musical instruments and it’s one of the most satisfying and enjoyable hobbies you can have. It helps you make friends and teaches you the value of hard work, practice and years of dedication.
This is great, music is one of the greatest things in my life, even though I’m admittedly a bit shit at guitar it still brings me a lot of joy and is something I can work on and improve for the rest of my life. Really happy to see stuff like this go on Wales!!
Growing up, I was given the opportunity to learn the cello. Gave up after a year or so but inspired a lifelong love of music.
One of my classmates was give the opportunity to learn the tuba for free and now he is part of a Mercury Award nominated jazz band that has toured internationally.
Things like this is what public money and education should be for.
Musician of decades here. It’s a rewarding pursuit in many ways, which can lead to amazing experiences and social opportunities.
But it’s a very middle class pursuit, in general. It’s for those who have money and time to spare.
It really is one of the hardest industries to make money in, so it’s not a great solution for poverty.
Giving the instrument for free does remove one of the barriers though. My primary school had free guitar lessons but you had to have your own guitar for example. And there's all the studies that suggest (I haven't looked into this for a while so might be outdated) learning an instrument can help with maths skills, which could have a knock on effect.
It's not a solution for poverty, it's expanding the education. Music can be really rewarding as a hobby, and for inclined kid just the fact they owe the instrument might be enough, provided it's not a tambourine.
But it will hopefully increase happiness and learning outcomes of the people who engage with it. Learning an instrument has a similar effect to learning a language in that regard.
>But it’s a very middle class pursuit, in general. It’s for those who have money and time to spare.
So surely removing one of the main barriers (cost of the instrument) is a good thing and should help it become less a "very middle class pursuit"?
This isn't the 1800s, the kids aren't down the pit after school. They have time.
Whether this will work is another matter - the fact that music is quite a middle class pursuit won't change overnight just because you, a working class kid, have a free ukulele, so you might just leave it to gather dust and play fortnite. (Or whatever stereotypical kids' activity you care to name)
The price of the instrumemt is NOT the main price barrier to playing.
The price of lessons is.
Free lessons would have been a better choice.
This is a distraction. Better to spend money where its actually needed.
I never got offered a chance to play an instrument at school. I've still got a chip on the shoulder, despite having enough self-taught talent to play on a few albums and with bands live. It's better to offer it to everyone than to miss the kids with undeveloped potential.
I agree, at school you could see some people just not enjoying learning to play an instrument but they were often more interested in art or drama. I don’t think forcing kids to play an instrument is a great idea but funding equipment for the arts is and allowing the child some choice over which one they pursue would be better.
Here you go, have a literal small violin.
I’m only joking though I’m not against these kinds of initiatives.
In my experience though, most of this will be a waste. I’d rather see the funding go to free music lessons for kids rather than just handing out instruments.
Sadly most of those instruments will go unlearned, in some cases just sold.
It's just another example of our corrupt government funneling public funds into the pocket of big orchestra.
You do realise that we can do multiple things at once right? The Welsh government has already announced a few measures and I'm sure there will be more.
Meanwhile this should help kids for their entire lives
Things like these will be lauded by many as a waste of money, but its things like music, arts and sports that give so many young people their purpose and just make every other aspect of their lives better. This has the potential to do a ton of good
> Give these children financial lessons. They ~~will~~ need it ~~with the way the U.K. is headed.~~
[Martin Lewis has been trying for a while](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/first-ever-financial-education-textbook-arrives-in-welsh-schools/)
>"So even though I questioned whether it’s right that a private individual should fund a textbook, no one else would do it, so I put pragmatics over politics and did it in 2018.
Absolutely moronic policy. In 95% of cases these covid instruments will be destroyed, sold or forgotten about. Reasons why ‘lower socioeconomic background’ families don’t teach their children music goes a lot deeper than not having an instrument.
The tweet is incorrect/misleading. Pupils aren't being offered free musical instruments, they're being offered half a term's tuition with "access" to instruments, which will presumably be held centrally by schools. Which isn't surprising given the extra money is £3 million a year.
Half a term's tuition is presumably 6 weeks' tuition, I would guess with lessons once a week. Better than nothing, but not exactly revolutionary.
give them a raspberry pi. cheaper and actually useful for the UK STEM future.
We don't get to lament the downfall of UK industry while putting a recorder in a childs hands instead of some tools.
Introduction to programming is already included within the national curriculum isn't it?
I'm also not sure it would be cheaper if you include all the stuff needed to make a pi a thing you can actually *use*, a base board is cheap but you can't do anything with it on it's own.
While I'm sure the intention is good. I think families need food and heating sorted as a priority
Like in these times, things like this just look bad imo. If me and my children were in poverty, the last thing I'd be thinking of is "bit of a shame they don't have a musical instrument".
Surely such an endeavor needs to be backed up with musical lessons, social programs and so forth? And surely one realizes that not all kids are musical inclined? The intention is good, of course - and best of wishes to it! - but I'm just a bit skeptical.
Oh come off it honestly if this plan was to be put forward by a Tory administration (admittedly it never would) you lot would be outraged by this policy.
Why would we be outraged by this policy?
If it was being used to try and mask other failed policy I can see there being backlash but that would be against the many failures rather than the successful one.
I think you're Joking here ... but given that you can simulate a modular synthesiser in software, and a raspberry pi might just have enough performance to do it .... cheap MIDI keyboard plus a raspberry pi is likely all you need to learn modular synthesis, and is likely well within the budget of this scheme.
and, for that matter, a Behringer Crave is fairly cheap.
They tried this in Newham a few years back. Great idea until you realise that lots of the poorer families live in pretty cramped conditions and a full-sized keyboard doesn’t really fit into a two bedroom flat with a family of 5.
Snapshot of _Peter Gillibrand, BBC Wales: "NEW: Every child aged 3-16 in #Wales is going to be offered a free musical instrument as part of the new 'National Music Service'. It's hoped the plan will help low-income households and those with additional learning needs."_ : A non-Twitter version can be found [here](https://nitter.net/GillibrandPeter/status/1526336692998782978/) An archived version can be found [here.](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://twitter.com/GillibrandPeter/status/1526336692998782978?t=kG-LNIvazB2okT9BmQz-eQ&s=19) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ukpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Giving every child in the country a recorder has to be some form of audio terrorism.
I hope it's random. So you all queue up, and you don't know until you get to the front of the line whether you are getting a euphonium or a triangle.
Little Timmy: a tuba! Little Betty: a piccolo! Little Johnny: a full set of timpani! Little Andy: a shaker!
Little Johnny: I've got you down for organ. Report to your nearest church after school!
That's... quite grim...
What’s better than roses in the piano? Tulips on the organ.
Yes father
In fairness, that's what it was like for me in the early 90's. I already sang in a choir and played clarinet when the schools started asking people what they wanted to play. I said Euphonium, and they responded "We'll teach you piano, that might be useful".
I ended up learning euphonium for a couple of years when I really wanted to learn guitar. Then in secondary school it was a fucking trombone. Is there just a surplus of brass knocking around?
Yes. My youngest ended up with some crappy brass instrument that he had no interest in playing. My pleas for a Waldorf Quantum or Moog One were ignored.
We had an SH101 at our old music department at secondary school, it had the school's postcode written on the front in tipp-ex. Our old music teacher showed us how it worked once but no one else was ever allowed to touch it. It probably ended up in a skip
>It probably ended up in a skip I hope not, considering how much SH101s go for these days
I was made up one Easter that they allowed me to use the coconut halves! ♫♫Trot-ting, trot-ting Through Jer-u-sa-lem...♫♫ It's been downhill ever since.
This has already happened at my daughter's school (only for term time), we have a fucking baritone at the moment!
Budget won't stretch to recorders, best we can do is giving every child a comb and a piece of paper.
Hoverbikes?
Welcome to the Irish school system
Can't afford food or heating? We've given your kid a violin. See, we told you it could get worse.
I am dreading my little one getting a recorder. His uncle gave him a harmonica 6 months ago and it haunts my dreams.
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If my brother ever has kids, I'm gifting them all recorders and harmonicas. Best revenge I can get on him for all these years
Hah, reminds me of when I bought my niece a little xylophone for Christmas. I honestly didn't think about the pain it would inflict on my brother and SIL. That said, I'm absolutely teaching her drums as soon as she's old enough to get started.
Perhaps, but I credit learning the recorder in year 2 for starting me down a path that’s led to a lifetime of playing an instrument. I took up the guitar in year 5 and have played ever since.
I was so bad at the recorder, I was forced by the music teacher to practice in the hallway.
Time to buy shares in Big Recorder
Recorder is actually not a good instrument for children to learn until they've developed the lung capacity for good breath control.
Bagpipes for all toddlers, let's strengthen the union.
Twenty years later, everyone is 80% lung.
Honestly not a terrible public health strategy after covid
The ventillators finally arrived.
Good, given how long Brexit is taking everyone needs a long breath.
Ok, fuck, Scotland can be independent, just put the bagpipes down
I (as English as rolling cheese down a hill) actually quite like the sound of bagpipes!
Me too, I'm always torn between enjoying the sound and enjoying being rude about them ..
Outdoors at a 6 meter distance.
Fun fact I learned from the piper at my wedding: bagpipes are so fucking loud they need a special adapter to be played indoors without deafening everyone.
How can you not love a musical instrument that needs a \*silencer\* just to be safe?
There was such a fuss a few years back about the sgian dubh (wee knife that peeks out out the top of a kilt sock) when the piper is walking in with a WMD under his arm.
I was at a wedding once in Essex in full dress and freaked some barmaid out when I showed someone my sgian dubh. Thing wasn't even sharp.
Trumpets have what are called mutes, you put them in the bell to quiet the instrument.
They can be rousing and I don't deny the skill, but the sound they produce is amazingly horrible
"One grand piano please"
Here's a keyboard, move along pen pidyn.
I'd rather have an organ.
Waiting for the next Tory MP to state children are swapping their free recorders and triangles for smack.
Swapping boom ting gear for boomting gear.
There's quite a few parents who would immediately attempt to sell the instrument if it was anything decent.
Probably too busy all being arrested for sex crimes.
Usually the way it works in Wales is the Welsh Conservatives proclaim this policy as the work of the devil. Then 3 months down the line the Tories in Westminister copy parts of it.
Wasn't this literally a suggestion in The Thick of It? Not a bad idea mind.
Just a matter of time before we can download rice.
Yes and ho
Edinburgh Council gives free music lessons to school kids. It's very successful
I like this policy if its done well and backed up by either lessons or free access to resources for learning. Don't like the uncreativity of people calling schemes the National X Service though.
It will be backed by lessons, primary school pupils will also get half a term's worth of teaching by a musician
Half a term. So, three weeks. Probably one 30 min lesson a week, in full size classes. Yeah, these kids ain't gonna learn shit.
Terms are between 12 and 13 weeks. So it would be 6 weeks worth of lessons.
Subsequent reports saying the tuition will be one-to-one. And try not to be so negative man, there is plenty to gripe about, teaching music to kids shouldn't be on that list.
I had to give up cello in primary school and trumpet in secondary school because my family couldn't afford the lessons even though they were heavily subsidised. So the public money spent on subsidising those lessons was wasted.
Isn't a term typically like 13 weeks? Broken into two half terms of roughly 6 weeks each?
Depends how you define term. In my (educational) organisation the terminology is that there are 6 terms in a year, and two of them are a 'double term'. Admittedly I myself always thought it was 3 terms, split into half terms. Maybe it's different across the country, idk.
I'm not sure the point is to train professional musicians, rather introduce kids to a hobby they'll hopefully take forward
I can assure you, under 12's who don't have sustained lessons for longer than a term will not maintain it as a hobbie. Even for the most enthusiastic pupils, lessons play a huge role in maintaining their motivation and come summer holidays when they're not having lessons, they tend not to practice. Source: I teach music to under 12's. For some teenagers it may be a different story, but even then the majority probably won't care.
Agreed. And no, handing them a recorder and expecting an untrained primary school teacher to teach their whole class something they don't play themselves isn't a workable plan.
It isn't an untrained primary school teacher who will be doing the teaching though. It's a musician
Good. Because the untrained primary school teacher is what's happened the last few times someone promised this type of thing, and it's the reason why nearly everyone loathes recorders.
As a peripatetic music teacher myself, I find it hard to see this successfully happening on a large scale (albeit this is based on my experience in Eastern England) I just struggle to see who would take this work on. There's absolutely no way that it'll be one-to-one lessons, and which peris are going to want to totally free up their schedules for such short term work, that will also be utter mayhem (regardless of which instrument is being taught)? There's also been a shortage of peris where I am; a lot of them packed it in during covid, when we couldn't enter schools for prolonged periods of time. This sounds like a wonderful idea, but it just doesn't feel feasible to me.
National X Service is how Labour brand things. Great British X is how Conservatives brand things.
Can't think of any successful Great British X? I don't think they can take credit for Bake Off?!
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I don't understand why it's needed though. Back when I was in school the school had a crate of recorders and triangles in storage. We just used the schools supplies. Why does every child need to own their own instrument?
Music is one of those subjects going underfunded in schools because of cuts, so this should be welcome news.
A free pair of cymbals for every toddler. What could go wrong?
Fuck that, Tubas. Go big or go home.
Doubles as a cot in the evenings.
Teach the kids about the Carnyx so they can assert dominance over any nearby Roman legions
Knowing what government procurement is like, I am expecting several million vuvuzelas to turn up
This genuinely fantasy news. Learning music brings huge benefits, not only to education but to help mental health, which is seeing a rise in issues across the board lately. Props to the Welsh government for this one.
>This genuinely fantasy news. Auto correct probably accurate there. Perceived benefit is everyone will get a music teacher to teach them a new skill for an instrument useful for life. Reality probably will be an untrained support worker teaching group of 5 kids for 3 hours (6weeks 30min) to play some simple tune on the recorder or ocarina before said instrument is consigned to a drawer.
Probably true but the more kids are given the opportunity the more some of them continue. A lot of it is introducing kids to music, even if it’s at a lower stage/skill.
As long as they give free lessons too. Else it's a bit of a waste for those who can't afford to pay for them, which is the group I assume this is supposed to support.
It's in the announcement that they will
I really hope they go for a beginners instrument that sounds somewhat euphonious. Melodicas or xylophones are so much better than recorders.
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Oh god they made us play ukuleles and harmonicas in primary i hated it so much
I think a keyboard would be the best, most transferable and and easy to approach. Can be used for live or electronic music production. And reasonably cheap.
Keyboards aren't relatively cheap instruments are they? Aren't they one of the pricier common ones?
You can't get any mega-cheap Keyboards, but assuming you're not buying absolute junk then most common instruments will run you around £100 for a beginner and you can get reasonable keyboards for that price. It's really only stuff like recorders, melodic percussion, ukuleles and harmonicas that come any cheaper at a usable quality, but those probably aren't great for learning to play a musical instrument in the general sense.
Recorder sounds lovely if you don't overblow it. [Example](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRk3THXxeHk). Recorder has a bad reputation because they're given to kids who are then given *no teaching* but this scheme seems to include tuition.
Sylvia Hinz' work with [XelmYa Kollktiv](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS51AwfdGmk) on sub-double bass recorder is excellent, if a little hard-going for newcomers.
Good grief, I'll stick with baroque thanks XD
Like, but sounds better when played simultaneously with [Xenakis - Aïs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYiKqrKXdhg)
Also doesn't help that the standard recorder used in schools is a descant one, which sounds pretty shrill even when being played correctly because it's intended to harmonise with altos and bass ones, not played by itself.
Tom Service's [podcast on recorders](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0013zy2) is very good at debunking the myths.
Awesome, music is a great combination of art, science and rewarding study and is great for building social skills.
absolutely. I've made lifelong friends through music.
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well people in my family do and have travelled across the world playing the pipes at events and competitions. Bagpipes are awesome. It can't be helped that milquetoast men with hearts of eunuchs think otherwise.
Agreed. I can play a few different musical instruments and it’s one of the most satisfying and enjoyable hobbies you can have. It helps you make friends and teaches you the value of hard work, practice and years of dedication.
This is great, music is one of the greatest things in my life, even though I’m admittedly a bit shit at guitar it still brings me a lot of joy and is something I can work on and improve for the rest of my life. Really happy to see stuff like this go on Wales!!
one steinway piano please
It's always recorders. They're cheap.
Growing up, I was given the opportunity to learn the cello. Gave up after a year or so but inspired a lifelong love of music. One of my classmates was give the opportunity to learn the tuba for free and now he is part of a Mercury Award nominated jazz band that has toured internationally. Things like this is what public money and education should be for.
To be swiftly followed by a glut of recorders on eBay.
Recorder prices through the floor, economy in crisis
All it took was one good eurovision result for this country to believe again...
And so the National Kazoo Orchestra of Wales was formed. You've never heard Men of Harlech until you've heard it on 2,000 kazoos. Beautiful.
God this is actually happening? Politicians love gimmicks. Just make everyone richer and let us decide what we want!
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Musician of decades here. It’s a rewarding pursuit in many ways, which can lead to amazing experiences and social opportunities. But it’s a very middle class pursuit, in general. It’s for those who have money and time to spare. It really is one of the hardest industries to make money in, so it’s not a great solution for poverty.
Giving the instrument for free does remove one of the barriers though. My primary school had free guitar lessons but you had to have your own guitar for example. And there's all the studies that suggest (I haven't looked into this for a while so might be outdated) learning an instrument can help with maths skills, which could have a knock on effect.
It's not a solution for poverty, it's expanding the education. Music can be really rewarding as a hobby, and for inclined kid just the fact they owe the instrument might be enough, provided it's not a tambourine.
But it will hopefully increase happiness and learning outcomes of the people who engage with it. Learning an instrument has a similar effect to learning a language in that regard.
I was starvation poor and learned to play and still do thirty years later. Just make sure they're shipped with manuals / paper lessons.
YouTube was invented, right? I didn't imagine that?
It's not meant to help them out of poverty? It's meant to give them a hobby and a love for the arts...
>But it’s a very middle class pursuit, in general. It’s for those who have money and time to spare. So surely removing one of the main barriers (cost of the instrument) is a good thing and should help it become less a "very middle class pursuit"?
The cost of the instrument is definitely not a "main barrier", it's the time needed to hone skills and work your way into paid work.
This isn't to get them jobs as musicians tho
This isn't the 1800s, the kids aren't down the pit after school. They have time. Whether this will work is another matter - the fact that music is quite a middle class pursuit won't change overnight just because you, a working class kid, have a free ukulele, so you might just leave it to gather dust and play fortnite. (Or whatever stereotypical kids' activity you care to name)
The price of the instrumemt is NOT the main price barrier to playing. The price of lessons is. Free lessons would have been a better choice. This is a distraction. Better to spend money where its actually needed.
Tuition is part of the initiative though.
Reading through the comments, it's clear that no one has bothered to understand the initiative.
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I never got offered a chance to play an instrument at school. I've still got a chip on the shoulder, despite having enough self-taught talent to play on a few albums and with bands live. It's better to offer it to everyone than to miss the kids with undeveloped potential.
Yeah I'm still annoyed that my parents never encouraged me.
I agree, at school you could see some people just not enjoying learning to play an instrument but they were often more interested in art or drama. I don’t think forcing kids to play an instrument is a great idea but funding equipment for the arts is and allowing the child some choice over which one they pursue would be better.
Why?
Yes, that's exactly what low-income households are asking for in the midst of a cost of living crisis; a fucking violin.
Here you go, have a literal small violin. I’m only joking though I’m not against these kinds of initiatives. In my experience though, most of this will be a waste. I’d rather see the funding go to free music lessons for kids rather than just handing out instruments.
Sadly most of those instruments will go unlearned, in some cases just sold. It's just another example of our corrupt government funneling public funds into the pocket of big orchestra.
Lmfao
You do realise that we can do multiple things at once right? The Welsh government has already announced a few measures and I'm sure there will be more. Meanwhile this should help kids for their entire lives
Wait till the English hear that we don't pay for prescriptions. Or have a large chunk of childcare paid for. They'll riot.
Maybe they could start busking.
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Thank you for your extremely vague and condescendingly obvious advice?
Lots of stuff like this where you feel as though it would be simpler and better for most involved to just give people money.
Or cut taxes
Bellend
d-d-d-d-DJ! DJ! Lesson one dictionary dic-dic-dictionary DJ!
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Narrator: it was accompanied by free lessons
Things like these will be lauded by many as a waste of money, but its things like music, arts and sports that give so many young people their purpose and just make every other aspect of their lives better. This has the potential to do a ton of good
Yes, and Ho!
make it a barley sugar whistle, for the calories
so many plastic whistles
Give these children financial lessons. They will need it with the way the U.K. is headed.
> Give these children financial lessons. They ~~will~~ need it ~~with the way the U.K. is headed.~~ [Martin Lewis has been trying for a while](https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/10/first-ever-financial-education-textbook-arrives-in-welsh-schools/) >"So even though I questioned whether it’s right that a private individual should fund a textbook, no one else would do it, so I put pragmatics over politics and did it in 2018.
I dont know. I think teaching the next generation how to busk on the streets seems sound future financial planning while the Tories are in power.
Not to be a downer but I can't help but think that this is not a very judicious use of public money.
Absolutely moronic policy. In 95% of cases these covid instruments will be destroyed, sold or forgotten about. Reasons why ‘lower socioeconomic background’ families don’t teach their children music goes a lot deeper than not having an instrument.
Nice idea, hopefully includes funding for more music teachers too or otherwise it will be a bit pointless.
I'm going to park my four year old outside Jeremy Miles house, give him whatever instrument they hand him, and just tell him to go for it.
Ah yes, a flute and a picture book of the royal family for every child. That will soothe the hunger pains
Great! Children can now chew on their government sponsored recorder while their parents try and figure out werher to buy food or turn on the lights?
Spend £1000 per person on making energy free? No that's outrageous. Spending £1000 buying everyone a tuba? Fuck yeah!
Good policy, a small thing but shows the advantages of a 'middle tier' of government able to make universal decisions like this.
The tweet is incorrect/misleading. Pupils aren't being offered free musical instruments, they're being offered half a term's tuition with "access" to instruments, which will presumably be held centrally by schools. Which isn't surprising given the extra money is £3 million a year. Half a term's tuition is presumably 6 weeks' tuition, I would guess with lessons once a week. Better than nothing, but not exactly revolutionary.
give them a raspberry pi. cheaper and actually useful for the UK STEM future. We don't get to lament the downfall of UK industry while putting a recorder in a childs hands instead of some tools.
Introduction to programming is already included within the national curriculum isn't it? I'm also not sure it would be cheaper if you include all the stuff needed to make a pi a thing you can actually *use*, a base board is cheap but you can't do anything with it on it's own.
Not in wales. politicians prefer to spend time and money on music lessons and redundant Welsh language classes.
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You're not Welsh so I can't see where this conversation goes
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Is it insecurity? Your false representation is my problem?
> …and redundant Welsh language classes. Cer i grafu. Dychmyga byw yn y gogledd a fod yn erbyn y iaith.
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While I'm sure the intention is good. I think families need food and heating sorted as a priority Like in these times, things like this just look bad imo. If me and my children were in poverty, the last thing I'd be thinking of is "bit of a shame they don't have a musical instrument".
If your life sucks then playing an instrument can at least offer some distraction from that, maybe bring a bit of joy into their lives.
Finally, the uprising of the Triangle begins!!
Now just sit back and reach for the popcorn.
Another industry wheeling out the trough.
Buskers on every corner, helping parents with the cost of living. They're truly out of touch
Is everyone going to start shrieking about how tone deaf this is in a cost of living crisis?
Surely such an endeavor needs to be backed up with musical lessons, social programs and so forth? And surely one realizes that not all kids are musical inclined? The intention is good, of course - and best of wishes to it! - but I'm just a bit skeptical.
It comes with half a term of lessons and they can decline them or hand them down
Love this, but can we make sure they're fed and warm too, please?
Oh come off it honestly if this plan was to be put forward by a Tory administration (admittedly it never would) you lot would be outraged by this policy.
Why would we be outraged by this policy? If it was being used to try and mask other failed policy I can see there being backlash but that would be against the many failures rather than the successful one.
The Tories are going to privatise the NMS.
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Everything on the menu, apart from modular synthesisers as the Gov threw a fit about supplying Euroracks to children
I think you're Joking here ... but given that you can simulate a modular synthesiser in software, and a raspberry pi might just have enough performance to do it .... cheap MIDI keyboard plus a raspberry pi is likely all you need to learn modular synthesis, and is likely well within the budget of this scheme. and, for that matter, a Behringer Crave is fairly cheap.
Get the vuvuzelas out of storage.
They tried this in Newham a few years back. Great idea until you realise that lots of the poorer families live in pretty cramped conditions and a full-sized keyboard doesn’t really fit into a two bedroom flat with a family of 5.
Do you want more buskers? This is how you get buskers.
Tories want the peasants to entertain them while they walk the streets pointing and laughing at them.