Page 122 - FULL BOOK Isata Kanneh-Mason Childhood Tales

A composer’s life in the UK is hard. For most of us, fees are too low, and organisations
are struggling to justify commissioning new work when they’re trying to stay afloat. It’s
increasingly rare to find young composers from working-class and diverse backgrounds.
The destruction of music education in our state schools, BBC job cuts, ACE’s funding
cuts (disproportionately affecting new music), and the general undermining of the arts
make the dream of a career in music seem unattainable.

We need people in classical music from all walks of life but we shut them out due to
their lack of financial privilege. Musical organisations need to focus their energies on
sourcing co-commissioners to fund their projects, spreading the financial responsibility
of the commission, ensuring a fair fee for the composer and guaranteeing repeat
performances. Who wants to live in a world where the only composers are those whose
parents can pay their rent? Gavin Higgins, composer

6. Nurture the grassroots, from choirs to brass bands

‘Music is a living, breathing art form’ – Jess Gillam with Manchester Camerata at the Wigmore
Hall. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

Growing up in Cumbria, opportunities to experience live music weren’t ample but I
picked up the saxophone at the Barracudas Carnival Arts Centre aged seven and I was
hooked. It was a place that embraced anyone who wanted to be part of dance, music or
stilt-walking. Music is a living, breathing art form and, often, once experienced never
forgotten. Letting young people be the music is often an ideal starting point.As with
sport, the ecosystem of our community relies on music being supported at every level –
from local choirs and county orchestras to symphony orchestras and brass bands. In a
fragmented world, we need these musical spaces to allow communities to come together
with a shared mission and so nurture the audiences of tomorrow. Jess Gillam,
saxophonist and broadcaster

7. Schools must go beyond the whole-class ukulele craze
Sustained investment in schools is at the heart of this, but it’s also about upending the
entrenched disparagement of classical music in wider society. “It’s not for me” has to be
turned into “I can’t live without this”. This has to happen from the earliest school years.
There should be free or inexpensive instrument tuition beyond the whole-class ukulele
craze (a dead-end for populating orchestras of the future).