I have found, from personal experience, that the attitude that the school has in general ( from the board of governers downwards ) can affect the the actual and perceived standard of music taught to/ learnt by students.

Example, at my secondary school ( ages 11 - 16 ) music was very much an after thought. Not that there wasn't any money ( these were the heady days of the GLC who tended to throw money at schools for art programmes ) but it just never really got treated as a serious subject.

So it tended to be just a handfull of the 1300 girls in the school who got involved and a lot of those had private lessons and that seemed to make it a bit more elitist ( pardon my spelling ). In the end a large amount of reverse snobbery ( " they think they're better than us, they play instruments and sing in choir" ) made it highly unfashionable to join in these activities even as part of a class.

The unintentional, I'm sure, indifference to girls not getting involved in music, made sure that music became a rare thing to put any real effort into.

On the other hand, right next door in the boys grammer school ( literally about 100 yards away ) music was very much in the main stream of the school (my brothers both went there ). They had both an orchestra and a choir that toured and students were encouraged to perform at assemblies, anything from classical to rock ( electric guitars and all ). Plays with music, quite often written, arranged and performed by the students, not to mention at least one musical and quite often a panto, a year.

This was a school that was viewed as an ACCADEMIC success. Exam passes were very high and few didn't go on unversity.

What really pointed out the difference to me was one day just before christmas, both schools were working on assemblies for the festivities and I had just come from a rehearsal for ours and had a class to attend in the boys school ( they had merged our sixth forms, 'A' level classes ) . Out of a school of 1300 we had managed to get 20 girls willing to stand up and sing a short medley of songs from the season including "We wish you a merry Christmas". They were willing girls but with a limited amount of time and ability, our efforts were basic but reasonably enthusiastic.

I had a few minute to kill before my class and I heard music coming from the assembly hall in the boys school so I went and listened. Now this wasn't their proper choir ( I found out later ) just the second and third year boys who turn it was to do the assembly. To say they blew our version of "We wish you a merry christmas" away is an understatement I cannot qualify. They sang it in four parts, they sang the chorus in round, but most of all they sang it with a smile on their faces.

What can I say?

TTFN M'Lady P.