Every child in the country should have a chance to learn how to sing or play a musical instrument, the organisers of a music scheme part-funded by U2 has said.
Music Generation, the national music education programme for young people, hopes that 10,000 children who would otherwise not have received a musical education will be able to do so over the next three years.
The band has contributed €5 million towards the €7 million cost. The rest will come from The Ireland Funds, an international charitable network.
The band stepped in after it emerged that a State-funded pilot in Ballyfermot and Co Donegal could not be rolled out nationally due to a lack of funds.
The money will go towards a series of local Music Education Partnerships which will involve established music teachers, musicians and administrators. Collectively, they will be able to offer music to schoolchildren either in or outside the classroom free of charge or at a significantly subsidised rate.
It is hoped to set up a dozen partnerships nationwide. Each must have the support of a statutory body, particularly a local authority or a VEC, to qualify for up to €200,000 in annual funding over the next three years.
The Department of Education and Skills has made a commitment to publicly fund the scheme after 2015.
Programme director Rosaleen Molly said Ireland was trailing way behind the European average with only 1 per cent of secondary school children receiving tuition in instrumental or vocal performance. The European average is between 6 and 8 per cent.
She described the lack of commitment to a musical education in Irish schools as “shocking” and refuted the widespread belief that music education is a luxury.
“Not only does it give you the technical skills of learning how to play an instrument, a music education gives you skills that you need for life, a great sense of confidence, discipline and team-working,” she said.
“The gift that U2 and the Ireland Fund have given to our young people goes way beyond musical skills. It is giving them an empowerment and a belief in themselves.”
None of the members of the band were at today’s launch. In a statement guitarist The Edge said they were lucky to have been in a position to have learned music at school. The band said the scheme would benefit children who did not intend to pursue money as a career option.
Project chairman Tony O’Dálaigh said the programme would not exist without the support of U2.
Dr O’Dálaigh spoke to the band when funding for the scheme was announced in New York during the summer and they were keen to replicate the type of musical education they were able to receive in Mount Temple Comprehensive School.
“They came from a school that was very liberal so it came as a shock to them that only 1 per cent have access to a musical education here,” he said.
