More pupils took part in instrumental music lessons in Scottish schools in 2024-25 than ever before, according to a report.

However, only five local authorities were able to provide lessons to all interested pupils, while most areas have waiting lists, with the level of demand “vastly larger than supply” in some authorities.

The report states: “The Highland Council had around 500 pupils on their waiting list, Dumfries and Galloway Council had a waiting list of 726, and Angus Council said this was 293 pupils. Both South Ayrshire Council and Renfrewshire Council indicated that around one-third of interested pupils could be provided with lessons.”

Demand has grown since the announcement in July 2021 of a policy to scrap music tuition fees, with fees removed for the first time at the start of the 2021-22 academic year.

The new findings come in the latest annual instrumental music survey - run by the local government body, the Improvement Service - and coincide with calls from a campaign group to ensure free access for all pupils in Scotland.

Rising uptake of music lessons

Key points in the Improvement Service report include:

• More pupils than ever before took part in instrumental music lessons in 2024-25, as 70,075 (10.1 per cent) of the school roll participated in lessons (a low point of 6 per cent was reached during the Covid pandemic in 2020-21).
• Only five local authorities were able to provide lessons to all interested pupils, with most areas having waiting lists, sometimes comprising several hundred pupils.
• Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation data shows that pupils from the most deprived areas of Scotland were proportionally overrepresented in instrumental music services.
• Instructor numbers grew for the fourth consecutive year, but only one additional full-time-equivalent instructor was added; each instructor now delivers lessons to a far higher number of pupils than in the past.
• The costs of delivering the service were £38 million; for the local authorities able to provide data for 2024-25 and 2023-24, costs decreased in both cash and real terms.

Meanwhile, Music Education Partnership Group, which campaigns for better music tuition in schools, has released a “national blueprint for music” in a bid to influence politicians before the Scottish Parliament elections in May.

It states that the “success in removing fees for instrumental music lessons and broadening the possibilities and reach of music education...has gone some way towards providing creative solutions to these problems”. However, it stresses that more must be done.

The group makes a number of demands, including for “fair and equitable funding that gets through to every child in Scotland, regardless of their postcode”, as well as “consistency and transparency in funding across all local authorities”.

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