The Tutor Pages is certainly popular among musicians, so we’re really pleased to be featured this month by Music Teacher Magazine, which is the premier publication for music educators across the UK.

On account of our large bank of tutor articles and acclaimed e-book, the Music Teacher article describes The Tutor Pages as ‘useful and fascinating to browse’ and ‘more than simply an online listings service … a resource of real value’.

Music teachers may be interested to hear that Trinity Guildhall is offering a series of free presentations across the UK and Ireland on their graded music exams. Upcoming presentations are in Manchester, Truro, Exeter, Tunbridge Wells and Cambridge, and there’s even a series of free concerts showcasing the new piano and woodwind repertoire as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August.

This would be a good chance to find out about the Trinity Guildhall approach to music exams with their emphasis on performance, and also hear about aspects such as technical work, supporting tests (aural, sightreading, musical knowledge and improvisation etc), and teacher support.

Apparently, you’ll also be able to buy their publications at a discounted price.

Just visit www.trinityguildhall.co.uk/discover to register to attend an event, or to suggest locations for future events.

The video in question is below:

In a formal response, Gove said that the campaign “plays to a culture of fear that any adult who touches a child is somehow guilty of inappropriate conduct”. His open letter states:

“There are many occasions when it will be totally appropriate, indeed positively right, for teachers or tutors to be in physical contact with a pupil. It is entirely proper and necessary for adults to touch children when they demonstrate how to play a musical instrument, when they show how to play certain sports, when they are leading a child away from trouble, when they are comforting distressed or disconsolate children and when they are intervening to prevent disorder and harm.”

He continues:

“Teachers should be trusted to touch children without feeling they are somehow transgressing the rules of appropriate conduct. If we stigmatise and seek to restrict all physical contact between responsible adults and children, we will only undermine healthy relations between the generations. If we play to the assumption that any physical contact is somehow suspect then we will make children more suspicious of adults and adults more nervous and confused about their role in our society.”

You can read the full letter here.

Readers of this blog will be gratified to hear that Michael Gove’s response was precipitated by a groundswell of anger by music teachers in response to my post on the ABRSM forum on this subject. The reactions from music teachers hit the headlines last month, and the government obviously realised that a dose of common sense was necessary.

Among music teachers, there is a general sense that there was a lack of consultation, that the organisations’ campaign (however well-meaning) fuels paranoia, that the video itself is both unrealistic and patronising, and that those behind the campaign have completely failed to understand what is required in music teaching. I haven’t seen a single comment in support of the campaign.

If you’re interested, the ABRSM forum thread that started it all is alive and kicking, and you can read it here: www.abrsm.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=44570

Of course child protection is important, but, as James Forsyth mentioned yesterday in the Spectator, society cannot function without some degree of trust. Campaigns such as this damage trust between adults and children, while at the same time fail to provide any evidence of their potential effectiveness in reducing child abuse.

The RCM Woodhouse Centre has been one of our consistent supporters since we launched in early 2008, and I was really pleased to meet the students and graduates, not least those who are already using our services to find work.

As well as insightful presentations given by the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), the Musicians Answering Service (MAS) and others, four RCM alumni came to open a window on their current careers.

So, how does a musician become successful in today’s increasingly harsh economic climate?

From the four alumni presentations, two important lessons stood out for me:

• don’t limit your possibilities with a narrow view of success. As a musician, having a rigid idea of what success means for you is almost a recipe for disaster. All four RCM alumni demonstrated an openness to new challenges, and welcomed opportunities that were perhaps initially only in their peripheral vision. Despite the private ambitions they nurture, they haven’t closed their eyes to the bigger picture. Phillip Neil Martin, one of the speakers, demonstrates what’s possible: according to the PRS website, his work ‘crosses the divide from experimental concert music, electronics and installations to fashion, film and new technology, concept and artistic direction, regularly collaborating with fashion designers, filmmakers, architects, artists and dancers’.
• become an educator to complete the circle. Al Mobbs, one of the other contributing alumni, is a bassist, writer, producer, manager and label boss. But like his fellow presenters, he also put strong emphasis on teaching, education outreach and ‘giving something back’. The music business is a two-way street, and all four speakers acknowledged the phenomenon of planting seeds which will one day grow into opportunities. Not only does teaching keep you part of the community, it keeps you sharp and learning all the time from your pupils.

Looked at in this light, The Tutor Pages is another opportunity for musicians to get their names and their skills out there. It’s another chance to showcase  talent, and to become receptive to opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist. And with recent improvements allowing tutors to upload music and video files (see an example here), there’s never been a better time to sign up.

(Many thanks to Howard Felton and to Diana Roberts for organising this event, and to Maria Marchant and Robin Ashwell of the Sacconi Quartet who also gave talks).