Ms Attracta Brady:

Even though we are from slightly different music genres, we all have the same basic ideas. The idea that we are developing the whole person is paramount to what we are doing. There is an old Chinese proverb that says children only need three things. They need somebody to love them, something to do and something to look forward to. If we put that into the musical sense, we see parents who invest in the child with their music and give the child instruments. The cost of a fiddle starts at €100 and the sky is the limit. It is an investment. In terms of something to look forward to, the children look forward to their outings, their musical performances, their friendships and events. We are talking about developing the whole child.

I come from the traditional genre. I am well able to read music but I learned how to play first, in the same way that children learn to speak before they learn how to read. Children learn how to speak at home and probably learn how to read a little bit before they go to school but they go to school to learn literacy. From our perspective, we look at an aural and emotional education because music comes from the heart. It deals with the whole person. It reflects the person. From the Department of Education and Skill's point of view, we are talking about regulation, legislation and support. The new junior cycle has no mention of traditional music in its music curriculum. Not only that, but for the child who wants to learn music outside of school there is an issue. There are thousands of such children. Children will be very well set to do 50% of their leaving certificate music through performance but in the new junior certificate they are not allowed to sit the exam unless they have done the subject in school, which means that if a student wants to sit the music exam and there is no music in their school, they are not allowed to do so. That is not fair to music students. It is something we could have addressed. I laughed at Deputy Danny Healy-Rae earlier when he talked about my memory and my numbers. That is my music training coming out.