Sir, - As a child growing up in Dublin in the 1950s I expressed an interest in learning a musical instrument. Unfortunately, family finances did not permit even the modest fees charged by the then Municipal School of Music, let alone the provision of an instrument. When I was 12, my mother and I emigrated to the US, where school-time tuition and instrument were both free, and within a year I was awarded a scholarship to study with a specialist teacher. A further federal fellowship enabled me to study at the Cleveland Institute of Music for five years, resulting in a graduate diploma.
I have long realised that Ireland is a far from classless society when it comes to access to music performance. How many Irish children with my backround will get the opportunities I had? In a country whose economic health easily matches that of the US 30 years ago, the lack of public funds for music is to be deplored.
The provision of £6.1 million for the arts in primary schools might, on the surface, seem generous. Simple arithmetic proves otherwise. It amounts to less than £2,000 per school for all of the arts, including music, the visual arts, dance, drama, and literature. Although this is a step in the right direction, it still appears that no investment is going to be made in teacher training or the provision of specialist music teachers.
The proposed expenditure of £35 million on an academy of the perfoming arts would be a good idea if it were preceded by a structured approach to music education in all of our schools and allied to the necessary funding for both specialised teachers and equipment. Without such a structure, we are building a house without a foundation.
It is sad to think that the less well-off children of today face the same range of barriers that confronted me as a youngster. Talent is no respecter of wealth. Yet music remains denied to many in our society through the ruthless mechanism of economic exclusion. - Yours, etc.,
William Dowdall, (Principal Flute, National Symphony Orchestra), Effra Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6.