All children should have access to arts education | Letters

Readers respond to an article by Martin Kettle about the impact of educational inequality on Britain’s cultural sector

Martin Kettle’s article is spot-on (Keir Starmer is our most musical prime minister since Edward Heath. He must take up the baton for the arts, 18 December). The provision of musical education in state schools has declined in the last few decades, and although the pre-Christmas period may give us a chance to hear some lovely music, the reality is that most practising musicians are the product of private schools. Parents of state school pupils may cringe at their children’s performances, with few managing their instruments, and little evidence of input from qualified music teachers.

The obituary of Humphrey Burton in the same issue also highlights what we have lost over recent decades in the media, with the BBC Proms and a watered-down Radio 3 doing little to keep the country’s music culture alive. Kettle mentions Alan Bennett’s closing lines of The History Boys – “pass it on, boys” – which urge us to recognise the worth of what this country has inherited. Unfortunately, there is not much serious discussion of contemporary music culture in the Guardian either, to alert us to what is on offer nationally or regionally.