Nicola Benedetti: Losing the fight for music education is 'utterly depressing'

11 July 2014, 17:51

The violinist tells Classic FM that creativity helps you face the world - and schools are sometimes losing the battle to teach it to young people

Star violinist Nicola Benedetti has hit out at the state of music education, explaining how a well-rounded creative upbringing benefits young people in more ways than just being able to appreciate classical music.

Speaking to Classic FM, she said: "I'm still at an age and a stage where I want to be unrealistically optimistic about what is possible. Sometimes it is utterly depressing that there are so many people that put their all into insuring creativity remains within schools and sometimes we just lose the battle."

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"Creativity is not something that stays within the arts," she added. "Creativity is about being able to problem solve, it's being able to face the world in your own individual way; to embrace that and to do it with confidence.

"If you have greater and more substantive quality creative experiences when you're younger, you're far more likely to be able to face the challenges of life in your own way, in a confident way."

Despite being a keen advocate for music education in schools, the violinist spoke out about the sheer amount of music in the world - and revealed exactly what she listens to in her free time.

"I don't know if you've noticed the amount of music that's on everywhere," she said. "I'm generally looking for some silence."