An Uncommon Approach…

I began my full-time teaching career in 1979 in the county of Bedfordshire as a peripatetic woodwind specialist. Since that time the teaching profession – including the instrumental service(s) seen by many as the last bastion of independence and free-thinking – has changed almost beyond recognition. My objections to one initiative in particular – ‘A Common Approach’ – in line with those of a friend and fellow student of the RCM are very strong indeed but far too extensive to waste time on them here. These kind of initiatives are not unique to music education – or, even, education in general – but are typical of the kind of viral, politically motivated interference by non-experts in our every day lives. ‘A Common Approach’ is the latest attempt by men in suits to systematise and codify instrumental teaching, as well as to continue overburdening instrumental teachers with mindless paperwork and is seen by many as nothing short of a complete waste of time – a load of expensively produced hot-air that has virtually nothing to say.

The following extract from a response to this criticism from the Department for Education and Skills should help convince teachers that despite the back-door imposition of ‘A Common Approach’ upon them by many music service managers they really should not feel obliged even to pay lip-service to it:

“I am sorry to hear to that you found the document, 'A Common Approach', so unhelpful.   It is one of many aimed at supporting instrumental music teachers and LEA Music Services in their work.  It is, none-the-less, an independent publication and, as such, has not been endorsed or promoted by this Government.  The Department for Education and Skills believes that individual schools are best placed to decide which teaching materials to use with their pupils, and the same applies to peripatetic music teachers.”

In other words ‘A Common Approach’ has no legal status and can only be regarded as an option for those teachers who really feel the need for the kind of information and ideas it presents. At best it may contain a few hints for inexperienced teachers; at worst it is an insult to the true professionalism and experience of a great majority of hard working musicians without whom the standard of music education in Britain would sink to the same low-life, popular-cultural depths to which too much of our society has already subscribed.

CJA, 2004

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