Earlier in 2015 a story ran in the U.K. press which revealed that it was Heather Mills who taught her daughter music, not her ex-husband, Sir Paul McCartney, because he cannot read music notation. McCartney and John Lennon left the job of notating their music for the Beatles to producer George Martin.
The news was received with frisson in some quarters, suggesting that a central goal of traditional music education, the ability to read music, was, self-evidently, unnecessary for a career, let alone a qualification, in music.
Given the ongoing threat to the funding of such music education in schools, it certainly gives us pause for thought.
Given the ongoing threat to the funding of such music education in schools, it certainly gives us pause for thought.
