Newbury's Hogan Music invests in the next generation

Support through primary and secondary schools programme

IN just a matter of weeks, town centre-based Hogan Music reshaped its entire business model to help grow the musicians of the future by supporting and investing in school music. With a strong belief in community responsibility, Hogan Music introduces the School Music Investment Programme and commits to financially supporting music in local primary and secondary schools.

Launched midway through the first lockdown in June 2020, the School Music Investment Programme combines Hogan’s long history of instrumental teaching expertise with financial support for schools, ringfenced specifically for music. Since September, Hogans has already donated over £850 to help support and resource local schools in the programme, and it has big ambitions to increase that figure to more than £2,000 by the end of the summer term.

“The pandemic has forced us to re-evaluate and look at what we hold most dear as a business – what our driving passion is. And we kept coming back to supporting school music,” said Hogan Music director Steve Christmas.

“It’s so important that we invest and keep music thriving in schools and so we remodelled the whole business with that in mind.

“The end result is the School Music Investment Programme which, through our peripatetic teaching expertise, helps to put money where it’s needed most – directly in the hands of schools. ”

THE number of students opting to take music at GCSE and A-level is in free-fall. Over the past decade, A-level numbers have halved to just 5,000 across the whole country, with the average class size of just three; an alarming figure that doesn’t bode well for the future. Hogans is playing its part in helping to buck that trend by supporting grass roots music making in primary and secondary schools; reaching out and engaging students who are not already learning an instrument or singing and investing in school-based music. It’s a programme that works for everyone; pupils receive great instrumental and vocal lessons knowing that they are supporting their school at the same time.

The inclusion team leader and music co-ordinator at Spurcroft Primary School, Thatcham, Mary Stagg, says: “Instrumental lessons are often seen as elitist and not accessible for a lot of families. We have a number of children who have lessons in several different instruments, but equally many families who, for whatever reason, think that instrumental lessons are not for them.

“Lessons have been well established at Spurcroft for many years from other providers, but we were drawn to Hogan’s School Music programme because of the unique aspect of it which is the give back. For every lesson, we get a percentage back.

“We are hoping once we are all back to normal to use this to give some of our more disadvantaged students a leg up on to the musical ladder. This could make a massive difference to self-esteem, aspirations and futures.

“I have been astonished how quickly it has grown to a not inconsiderable sum that we can use to subsidise lessons for some of our disadvantaged families.

“Hogans works well with our other providers, offering instruments that have a more contemporary feel, but still with the same exam pathway should children wish to go down this route. They have a fabulous teacher who the children have really taken to. It’s so nice when I meet them in the playground and they tell me all about their lessons.”

There isn’t a school in the country that doesn’t want to improve its music offering. Many schools, though, have their hands tied due to financial restrictions and needing to focus their limited budgets in other areas. Via the breakthrough School Music Investment Programme, Hogan Music has pledged to invest in school music and will continue to build on its commitments to help enable and support the future generations of music students.

Heads of music, music coordinators, headteachers and music teachers know their schools’ needs the best and so the decision of how to use the investment is entirely their choice; they are able to use the ring fenced investment in the way that will have the greatest impact for their pupils.

An annual report will be published outlining the impact that the School Music Investment Programme has had on music education locally.

Founded in Newbury in 1986, Hogan Music is an independent music service that provides innovative instrumental and vocal tuition complemented by its retail arm. Today, it has an impressive online retail and teaching presence and its 27 tutors teach more than 1,200 lessons a month helping to empower schools through its ground-breaking School Music Investment Programme.

As Steve Christmas says: “With education at heart of its’ work, Hogan Music is dedicated to growing grass roots music making and delivering a world class experience for the musicians of the future.”

Visit www.hoganmusic.co.uk to explore further.

School Music Investment Programme page - https://www.hoganmusic.co.uk/for-schools.irs