From its inception in 1971, the National Festival of Music for Youth has grown to become the largest regular platform for young musicians in Europe (over 700 entries in 1984, amounting to some 20,000 performers). Its development and growth has closely paralleled the rise of in-school instrumental tuition in England and Wales, and in recent years entries to the Festival have included activities from almost every aspect of music making by young people at all educational levels.

This article will outline from both statistical and observational bases the evolution of the NFMY, arguing that, far from merely reflecting trends in music education, it has become a positive means of influence.

The author has been privileged to hear all performances at national level since 1977 (with exceptions from 1982 when multiple venues and simultaneous performances were introduced). He has been present at most of the regional auditions since 1982.

What exactly is the relationship between notation and the music we hear? How has this relationship been affected by the development of first analogue and then digital recording of sound during the present century? This article looks at these issues from the point of view of a composer working with both traditional and unconventional notation and with recorded sound in the electronic music studio. The arguments present a very much condensed and simplified version of a discussion presented in the author's recently published book On Sonic Art.

The writer examines the development of improvisation in Britain and especially jazz. The administrative and political implications of improvised music are explored and problems are identified to do with the freedom and excitement of such music and the dangers of education in improvisation.

For seventy years of my life I have been a supporter of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music examinations: first as a pupil, going through Grades 1–8, and then the L.R.A.M., and then as a teacher, guiding my pupils through the grades and stopping at the diploma. So I have had many, many opportunities of evaluating the work of the examinations, and to a lesser extent those of Trinity College of Music, theirs appearing less frequently. What strikes me – after probing in my memories – is how little they have changed! Surely some new thoughts should peep through the pages!

The case is put for improvisation as the basis for world music, with special reference to flexibility of the blues and the gamelan. An overview of the impact of society on music leads to a general survey of the status of improvisation in pre-industrial Western European culture. Improvisation is contrasted with composition and consideration is given to the problems of providing education in improvisation without destroying its vitality and communicative power.

In the past, jazz musicians such as Miles Davis have had negative experiences of ‘straight’ academies and conservatories, and these institutions have been negative towards jazz. This may represent a conflict between creativity and recreativity. But as a teacher of jazz at the Guildhall School of Music the author is finding that this conflict disappears when students from jazz and classical backgrounds learn to improvise by the same approach. This approach works upwards from the harmonic basis of jazz, which in fact is the same as that of classical music. As, at the outset, both jazz and classical students often seem to lack a precise concept of underlying harmonic form, the author concludes that more needs to be done with harmony at an earlier stage in music education, and that jazz may be the best context in which for this to happen.

This article is based on research undertaken in adult education institutes of the Inner London Education Authority, and gives statistical details of students attending Music Appreciation classes. Their reasons for attending such classes, preferences for types of music attendance at performances, membership of musical societies and reading of books and articles on music are included. They were also asked to give details of their home listening, as this provides further proof of the commitment given to music by people who meet together once a week to learn about the subject.

From these personal details it should be possible for a tutor to devise a curriculum of interest which would stimulate adults to be more deeply involved in music-making.