‘The Ten Percent’: Young people’s access to publicly-funded instrumental music tuition in England: findings from an idiographic geographical case study

This paper reports on research into the provision and take-up of publicly-funded musical instrument tuition by young people living in one English local government area (‘local authority’). A range of possible ‘hidden’ barriers to accessing this tuition have been explored, embracing geodemographic status, geographical distance between home and teaching sites, instrument size and weight, parental vehicle ownership, professionals' perceptions regarding pupils’ home location and environment, school culture, and ethnic/cultural background of participants. The case study local authority’s particular cultural and economic circumstances led to its instrumental music service receiving unparalleled levels of national government funding between 1998 and 2011. The then government’s intention for this funding was to address a perceived decline in schools’ instrumental tuition and to widen access. This came at a time of unprecedented political interest in all aspects of music making and learning. The provision of instrumental tuition within this particular district thus offers a valuable deviant, idiographic study of the impacts of this investment. Geocoded participant records and local-level data have been explored through the lens of spatial statistical analysis (e.g. location quotients, tests for spatial autocorrelation and distinct distributions, and local regression models). This paper offers a brief summary of some of the underlying geographical and socio-economic trends in patterns of access and participation that emerged over the period of time covered by the data.