Bob Copland retweetledi
This row over five funded places at the Royal Academy of Music - reserved for state school pupils to “widen access”- definitely resonated with me.
Because I had a place to study music at 18 - with practical tuition at the Academy. And I bottled it.
Mainly because, as a working-class, state-educated kid- largely self-taught, only starting lessons in my teens - I felt completely out of my depth.
At an audition at the Birmingham Conservatoire, I met two students from Chetham's School of Music who said they were using it as “practice” for Oxbridge.
That level of confidence - and entitlement - felt worlds apart from my state school. Where I’d been lucky enough to get free lessons and instrument hire, after the director of the local music service heard me play at a primary school recorder festival and spotted something in me.
He arranged for me to have free lessons and instrumental hire on an orchestral instrument. So I'd be able to play in the district and country orchestras.
I had to learn the clarinet rather than the flute (which I wanted) because it was the only instrument available.
That was in the 90s. From what I can see, those kinds of opportunities barely exist now. When my daughter was at school, music education had largely become the odd term of “creative arts.”
So yes - I understand the intention behind the scheme. But focusing on five places at the end of the pipeline misses the point.
Even with the support I had, by 18 I already knew I couldn’t compete. One moment sums it up. A wealthy friend lent me a clarinet when my music service one was on its last legs - an incredibly kind gesture, I thought.
But when I returned it, he demanded to know why I hadn’t had it “serviced.” I didn’t even know that was a thing. And there’s no way I could have asked my parents for that kind of money - especially without warning.
Then there was the moment that finished me off.
I was chosen to play a solo at a prestigious county concert. Afterwards a young musician came up and said: “I’m better than you. I should have been chosen.”
And she was.
People often remarked on my musicality - but I knew I lacked the technical polish.
I knew then that being surrounded by musicians like that at degree level would crush what little musical confidence I had.
So I walked away - and studied English instead.
That’s the real gap. Not just money - but knowledge, expectations, ease.
If we’re serious about access to music, it’s not about who gets the final five places. It’s about who gets the years of tuition, support - and quiet confidence - needed to believe they belong there in the first place.
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