THE price of a musical education may be a worthwhile investment, but it is not always an option for those who cannot meet the large finanical committment. 

Following the new wave of grammar schools launching in the UK and findings from The Sutton Trust study revealing only 2.7% of entrants to such schools being entitled to free school meals, the gap between social background and a long-term musical education is also up for discussion.

Felix McGonigal, musical director at Ealing Junior Music School, Twyford CofE High School and William Perkin CofE High School, has seen many students across her three schools and noticed that money is still an influence.

Among her own students there is a clear trend in having a secure financial backing and being able to pursue a long-term musical education.

The 48-year-old from Hammersmith said: “If you come from a more diverse ethnic background then you are less likely to hit a path in music that would lead you on to playing a musical instrument.

“Obviously, there are exceptions, but I would still say that is the case.

“At Twyford, I would say 20% of students will come in already playing an instrument and it is ethnically mixed, but it’s not as mixed as it should be when you compare it to the demographic of the school.”

The struggle to continue musical lessons due to a lack of finance is a topic Mrs McGonigal feels passionate about.

“There is no doubt that music still requires a large financial commitment. So you still do get that divide, but I spend a lot of my time trying not to make that the case,” she said.

Mrs McGonigal has set initiatives to counteract this unfortunate trend, with bursary schemes offered at Ealing Junior Music School and two weekly music lessons, that involve playing an instrument, offered to the 204 ethnically diverse year 7 students that enrol at William Perkin’s.

“We’ve taken this idea of wider opportunities and made it our own thing,” she added.

Barbara De Biasi, 29, from Morden, founder and director of Fireworks Music School which provides classes for many pupils in Ealing said: “Some students do have to stop lessons due to financial reasons or because a parent loses a job, but we try to do as much as we can.

“We will give students a 30-minute lesson at £23 or 45-minute lesson at £29. We try and encourage pupils from a poorer background to take up music.”

Mrs McGonigal spoke about the financial care that goes behind providing a child with a musical education.

She said: “It’s really hard to put any kind of demographic on it, but I think it’s to do with whether you’ve got established roots or not, if you’ve got established roots in the British way of life.

“If you’ve bought into the whole London aspirational thing, where you go and do 50 million things.

“If you have parents that are brought into that way then they are likely to have had an encounter with music and so will their children.”

But alongside the parents who can financially invest in their child’s musical education are the parents who struggle.

“There is still so much to do, and it comes down to money. It always comes down to money,” she said.

As parents continue to juggle their finances to pay for their child’s musical tuition, the need for more music schools to acknowledge the important role money plays in a musical education continues.