COURSES FOR COMPOSERS

Clare Stevens investigates the opportunities offered to budding creatives by the UK's schools, universities and music colleges

- Clare Stevens

One of the most remarkable aspects of the recent Coronation of King Charles III was the quantity of music commissioned specially for the occasion - not to mention the genuine diversity of styles represented by the chosen composers, who themselves were diverse in gender and ethnic origin to a degree never before seen at a British coronation. The result was an inspirational musical morning that must have made quite an impression on any budding composers who were watching. If you have a child or a pupil who has an interest in studying composition, you may be wondering what options are open to them at schools, colleges and universities around the UK.

The question of whether music in general, let alone classical music or composition, can be studied seriously in the state sector is currently under debate, with fewer and fewer primary schools being able to afford to employ music specialists and the numbers of students taking GCSE or A-level Music falling. Even in the independent sector there is evidence that parents are increasingly urging their children to focus on subjects relating to science, technology, maths and engineering in order to ensure their future employment in careers more lucrative than the arts, which means schools may not have enough potential candidates to justify offering curriculum music beyond GCSE.

That aside, partnerships between performing organisations and schools offer some remarkable opportunities for creative music-making that may spark enthusiasm, such as Birmingham Contemporary Music Group's (BCMG) 'Listen Imagine Compose' programme, which began in secondary schools in 2010 and has just concluded two years of work in five Birmingham and three primary Bristol schools, aimed at improving the quality and frequency of composing by pupils.