JIM WILKIE

The recent arts policy review, written by former Edinburgh Festival director Sir Brian McMaster, has proposed that state subsidy of the arts should focus on the "pursuit of excellence" rather than the "fulfilment of targets". It's an old debate but, interestingly, McMaster also predicts a cultural renaissance - and the erstwhile Westminster Culture Secretary, who commissioned the report, James Purnell, has talked of "the reclamation of excellence from its historic elitist undertones if you just put money in and don't take decisions you undermine the argument of public subsidy".

Purnell has also spoken of working with Education Secretary Ed Balls to build cultural activity into the school curriculum - "the right to sport and the right to culture" - a suggestion that at least one journalist finds "slightly Soviet-esque". It remains to be seen if his successor in the job, Andy Burnham, strikes the same tone.

Someone who is fairly relaxed about all this, however, is Malcolm Singer. As director of music at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey - pupils of which embark on their annual Scottish concert visit next week - Singer deals with these issues every day of his working life.

The Yehudi Menuhin School was founded in 1963 in an attempt to create the conditions in which musically-gifted children might develop their potential to the full on stringed instruments and piano. It currently educates more than 60 talented boys and girls aged between eight and 18. In 1973, the school was accorded special status as a Centre of Excellence for the Performing Arts and, since 1975, pupils have been funded by the Department for Education, with parents paying only a contribution to the cost of their child's education, according to their means. It was apparently always intended that children should be able to attend the school once selected for their exceptional musical ability, whatever their parents' financial background.

It is, then, essentially, a state school, but unlike any other in the country. The idea was based on a concept that Menuhin himself saw working in - yes, you've guessed it - Soviet Russia. The public might be excused for an element of confusion. "Striving for excellence does not mean exclusivity," says Singer. "We are looking for children with potential and, in a way, we are like a special-needs school. Some children cannot thrive in standard education because it does not understand their passions.

"We are also feeding back into the community. Peripatetic instrumental teachers come in from local schools to study our methods. We offer composition courses to pupils from other schools for GCSEs and A-levels, and our older pupils will lead workshops elsewhere. And, believe me, all of this helps everyone concerned."

The inspirational idea of individual excellence benefiting the community at large is currently manifest in a number of places. World-class violinist Tasmin Little, who studied at the Menuhin school, has recently "done a Radiohead" and plans to offer her next recording as a free-of-charge digital download. And one does not have to look far within Scotland to see the pride the nation takes in the international success of Nicola Benedetti, another top-flight Menuhin alumnus. The commonsense attitude of most Scots seems able to accommodate both access and excellence more easily than voices from elsewhere might lead to assumptions about their attitude.

Nearer home, then, Menuhin described St Mary's School of Music in Edinburgh as his "younger sister school". Founded as a choir school of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh in 1880, its directors resolved in 1972 to follow the great man's example and create a school for specialist young musicians. Its current director of music is Francis Cummings.

"In England," says Cummings, "the Department for Education and Skills fully funds schools of musical excellence similar to ourselves. While the education of our pupils is state-funded, however, St Mary's itself receives no funding, and this makes it something of a struggle. We are a sort of hybrid - an independent school but publicly-funded - a bit likeJordanhill, I suppose."

St Mary's currently has 71 pupils and most come to it from state schools. Some pupils are choristers who receive cathedral bursaries, and others receive up to 100% government funding, depending upon parental income. Access for all is by audition, and successful pupils are then brought for a two-day stay during which they will be assessed informally. The school maintains that it tries to look at the whole picture: what access have children had to musical education; what is their potential; how well motivated they are and how will they manage academically - because this music school achieves good academic results as well.

Cummings naturally rejects the notion of elitism - "excellence, not exclusivity" is also his mantra - and this claim is supported by a very healthy attitude to Gaelic culture. The language is taught at the school and the current roll includes a number of native Gaelic speakers and instrumentalists who might previously have attended a conventional Gaelic-medium or traditional music school.

"Every Scottish city should at least have a vibrant musical culture. St Mary's means that Scotland can keep up with national and international standards and - unlike the Menuhin school - we also offer tuition in virtually every instrument. There's one pupil studying Northumberland pipes at the moment and one of our Scottish bagpipers is to perform at the National Association of Music and Dance Schools' 2008 showcase event. And standards are improving. I'm perhaps not convinced that all children have access at the moment, but there is undoubtedly better teaching available."


  • Pupils of the Yehudi Menuhin School perform at the Royal Over-Seas League, Edinburgh, on Friday, February 8; and Music at Strathgarry (near Pitlochry) on February 9 and 10. Pupils of St Mary's School perform at Christ's Kirk, Glenrothes, on Friday, March 7. On Wednesday, March 19, at St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, Bach's St John Passion will be sung by the Choir of St Mary's Cathedral with the Orchestra of St Mary's Music School and Dunedin Consort soloists.