4BR Editor Iwan Fox catches up with Ralph Riddiough, one of the main driving forces behind a two year campaign to safeguard free musical tuition in schools in Scotland.

After petitions, representations and reports at the Scottish Parliament, the advent of the Scottish Elections on May 6th has seen the main political parties all pledge to ensure free tuition is provided to pupils across the nation — at a cost of around £18million a year.

Ralph is understandably delighted, but also issues a word of caution — that the devil of the detail of what is said in their manifestos may not quite be crystal clear.

In December 2020 it was reported that the number of students learning a musical instrument in Scotland was at an all-time low, having dropped by almost 5,500 since 2016/17.

The Scottish Government's education committee held an inquiry into musical instrument tuition in schools in 2018. The inquiry heard evidence from people affected by the charges, including music students, who gave an impassioned plea for charges to be cut.

However, a victory for long term investment in youth education music and for the work of Ralph and others such as John Wallace and others could be coming out of a ballot box at last...