Delight over U-turn on proposal to hike music tuition fees
Perth and Kinross Council’s dramatic U-turn on their plans to triple tuition fees was music to the young musicians’ ears yesteday.
Last week PKC revealed it was planning to raise tuition fees from £245 to £817 at this week’s budget meeting.
This sparked anger and fury amongst young musicians and their families. Parents even said they were considering stopping their child’s lessons as they could no longer afford it.
Others were considering getting private lessons as a cheaper alternative to the council-run lessons.
However, councillors agreed on Wednesday to scrap the proposed increase, instead opting for a four per cent council tax rise to help fund the scheme.
Susannah Rae, honorary president of Perth Youth Orchestra (PYO), staged a successful protest outside the Darbyshire
council headquarters on the eve of the budget.
She was joined by many of the young musicians and their families who gathered outside the front of the council headquarters to campaign against the proposed rise in fees.
Members of the Young Musicians Parents Association (YMPA) and Perth and Kinross Music Foundation (PKMF) also joined the noisy protest
And Susannah was singing from the rooftops with the news from Wednesday’s PKC budget, describing the news as “excellent.”
The council has also voted to approve the administration’s plans to invest £35,000 to expand opportunities for children from more deprived backgrounds to participate and benefit from music tuition.
Lifelong learning convener Caroline Shiers revealed she plans to do this through rolling out pipes and drumming tuition across Perth and Kinross. The budget papers show that PKC aims to be bringing this in for 2021/22.
Catriona Darbyshire has two children at Kinross High School who have been receiving instrumental instruction.
Kirsty, in S1, plays the viola and Josh, in S3, the violin.
She said:“That’s great news. My children really enjoy their music. They have been learning since P5 and have a really good teacher. That’s brilliant.”