The five bernarr rainbow lectures span a decade from the first, delivered by Baroness Warnock in October 1999, to the last, given in May 2010 by Professor Gavin Henderson. Drawing on his own considerable experience in music and the arts, Henderson's ‘Reflections and Progressions’ relate to notions of improvement: every new initiative is an upgrade.

Progress can imply change, but whether or not it is an improvement upon what went before is dependent upon individual values and philosophy, opportunities and, not least, resources. Many today who are committed to the fundamental rationale for music education, as set out in the Lectures, would find it hard to see progress as new structures emerge and resources markedly decrease. The halcyon days of music education may be seen through rose-coloured spectacles, yet some aspects of the current scene provide new and possibly more effective ways to achieve the universal goals in music education as articulated by the five lecturers, along with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies in his 2005 Royal Philharmonic Society Lecture.

The lecturers, and Rainbow himself, recognised an uneven provision for music from school to school and an overloaded curriculum in state schools. Concerns about all subjects were expressed by Prime Minister James Callaghan in 1976. This openly criticised the education system and signalled a political intention to have national standards of performance in state schools with the objective of ‘better preparing a workforce for industry and business’.