Sing out and break the silence

Every pupil should benefit from music's power to change lives, argues Jesse Norman

The job of think tanks is to think the unthinkable. Sometimes the unthinkable isn't remote, though; it's under our noses. Take music, for example. Like language and mathematics, music is universal to human civilisation. Its power has been known since Plato's time. It is a world-leading UK industry. Yet music still lurks on the political periphery. It's time to move it to centre stage.

The research evidence is now clear-cut: music confers huge social, cognitive, emotional and therapeutic benefits on listeners and, especially, on those who take an active part in it. These benefits have long been understood for specific groups such as prisoners, babies and children, and those with mental or physical disabilities or dementia, but in fact they apply to everyone.

Music has beneficial neurological effects; for example, singing together releases oxytocin, which seems to increase feelings of trust between people. Music aids brain development and encourages creative thinking and problem-solving. It teaches people to work better in teams. It imposes a need for individual self-discipline and practice. It fuels aspiration and gives priceless insights into our own and other cultures. It can be intensely competitive or highly co-operative. It can flourish at any level, from the simplest nursery rhyme to the staggering virtuosity of a Paganini.

In Britain, music education has had a long history. After 1950 a nationwide network of music services was established to provide instrumental and singing teaching, instruments and sheet music. Local authorities were required to fund their music services, which worked within primary and secondary schools. There were also county bands and orchestras. Thus the way was fairly open for young people from all backgrounds to sing or learn an instrument. For some this might culminate in a professional career; for many more the result would be great learning and joy. But for all, musical performance would be something they owned and felt part of. Each music service was a little sistema in its own right.

Today, however, much of our music education is a mess. There have been valuable initiatives, and the government's recent Henley review is promising. But millions of young people, especially from the most disadvantaged families, still have limited opportunities to make music. Meanwhile music has been locked in a futile culture war in which it is depicted as an elitist activity open only to the few, rather than a massively empowering activity for the many. Anti-elitists should recall that Josef Haydn grew up in a poor rural Austrian household and was expelled from school for misbehaviour. Louis Armstrong grew up in Storyville, the New Orleans red light district, and learnt to play the cornet at a home for delinquent boys.

This culture war has been buttressed by a mythology of talent and "genius", which suggests that only a few people have the requisite ability to play, when the truth is that almost everyone has musical ability but that hard work and focused practice are what matter. There has also been a long stand-off between advocates of classical music and those of world music, jazz and other forms. The result is that our music services are struggling as these cultural factors plus the economic crunch undermine popular commitment to music education.

The contrast with sport is telling.

Different governments have long recognised the social value of sport. All agree that sport elicits huge popular passion, sets high standards that draw in young people, confers great physical benefits for those who take part and can help to create a happier and more inclusive society. The same is true of music, and more.

What's to be done? As a society we need to take music more seriously. Politically, that means more investment in teacher training, a renewed obligation on local authorities to fund their music services, and new funding from the post-Olympics National Lottery to promote choirs and orchestras, and to extend musical opportunities for adults.

Yes, this involves a new spending commitment. But the numbers are far less than might be imagined: £5-£6 per pupil per year, or say £60m-£80m a year to cover all primary and secondary schools, plus orchestras. That's a modest amount: just 4%-5% of the proceeds from the National Lottery. But music is not a wheeze; it is part of the wiring. So why not look at going large and doubling the funding for music education and outreach over the next five years? Music knows no barriers of class or income. Like the arts and education generally, it is one of the marks of a civilised society. Especially a big society.

Jesse Norman MP is author of The Big Society and a director of the Roundhouse performing arts enterprise