Music is more than just a leisure time activity

There is a perception among some that, when considering the pressures on school funds

these days, a good quality music offering can be relegated to the “nice to have but not

essential” camp. Well, a survey carried out in August 2025 by Making Music (a UK

membership organisation for amateur music groups of all musical genres) may make them

think again!

It shows that the transferable skills members learned from studying music at school have

been well used in their professional life as well as giving them access to lifelong involvement

in music-making. Only 8% of respondents said that their music learning was not useful in

their chosen profession, and 28% of respondents said that they had used these

transferable skills in a STEM job (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).

The survey also gathered some useful comments from members, for example:

Participating in musical groups and learning to perform in front of audiences has directly assisted in making me confident speaking in meetings, with clients and leading presentations.

Music helped provide me with transferable skills usable within my mathematics degree, but many others going beyond — without it I would never have transferred to law and succeeded at the bar.

Playing in an orchestra or group is a great template for teamwork — as an individual you face huge technical challenges, but you need great awareness of how you fit into the overall team and what you are trying to achieve musically.

A summary of the results concerning the transferable skills that were improved by playing and learning music at school age is shown below:

• Practise and perseverance - 90% 

• Focus and concentration - 88 % 

• Listening and auditory skills - 86 % 

• Teamwork and collaboration - 85 % 

• Performance and presentation - 77% 

• Reliability and responsibility - 71% 

• Memorisation - 53% 

• Creativity and improvisation - 49% 

• Language and code reading - 33% 

• Use of IT and other technology - 6% 

Summarising, it shows that learning a musical instrument or to sing at school, as well as

learning about music and being exposed to live music, teaches young people many

skills that benefit them whatever professional route they subsequently decide upon.  

Making Music are concerned, as are we, that fewer children are now able to access

music at school, and they don’t get the first introduction and basic education they need

to obtain the benefits that flow from it. This is not only in terms of direct music making,

which often delivers lifelong enrichment, but also from these transferable skills.

Making Music’s survey was carried out in support of the Association of British

Orchestra’s campaign on music education #AnOrchestraInEverySchool — a national call

to ensure access to high-quality music education and creative subjects for all children

and young people, investing in music education and skills development. We heartily

support this!