ABSTRACT
There are stories about how music came to be a foundation subject in the National Curriculum. Although in primary schools the commitment to all children’s music experience is a longstanding one, this commitment has been matched neither by provision, nor by training. The world phenomenon at the end of the twentieth century is not only that children and young people are, to differing degrees, surrounded by music, but that music is surrounded by other music in a similar way. As a result of international communication and travel systems music cultures now have a mobility across the world, and, through satellite broadcasting, immediate impact. While regretting the lamentable myopia of a view of musical culture which f ails both to perceive this dynamic and to conceive of its potential for promoting respect for persons and respect for cultures, and ‘respect for the cultural achievements of individuals in all parts of the world’.
