Today, I’m talking to David Francis, Lead Officer at Music Partnership North in Northumberland.
Music Partnership North is the regional agency through which the Government’s plan for music education is delivered. David is an enthusiastic advocate for music education. He works with schools and outside formal education structures to support and facilitate music learning for young people. Many smaller schools and individual aspiring musicians look to these services for help with learning to play an instrument.
The way the Government supports music education is currently undergoing change. Music teaching suffered a devastating decline when the Conservative government of 2013 excluded music from the core curriculum for state schools. But the past 6 - 7 years have seen a reversal in policy and, despite repeated tweaks, the future for state-funded music education is now looking brighter as long as the new proposals can be translated into action on the ground.
David and I met in an office in County Hall in Morpeth. You will hear, right from the start, that the road repair services were in full swing.
In this conversation, we mention a YouTube video by Bobby McFerrin in which the singer demonstrates that an audience can estimate pitch. You can find it here:
We also mention Jacob Collier, so I’ve included a link to one of his videos in which he leads an audience in singing:
