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Where the distance to a public music school is short, there are often particularly large numbers of people taking lessons. This is the result of the new study “Paths to Music” by the German Music Information Center, an institution of the German Music Council.
The study by the German Music Information Center (miz) uses a comparison of the federal states to show how far apart the teaching facilities are on average and how high the proportion of music students is in different age groups of the population. Across Germany there are 933 public music schools with around 21,000 places of instruction, which are attended by 1.5 million people. The music students are distributed differently across the federal states, not only in terms of absolute numbers, but also in terms of their share of the population. In Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, around 24 percent of children of primary school age attend a music school, while in Bremen the figure is 5 percent. The situation is more balanced among 10 to 14-year-olds. In most countries, the proportion of music students is between 8 and 10 percent. Baden-Württemberg is ahead with 16 percent.
High proportions of music students often correspond to short distances to the nearest school. To do this, the miz calculated the average distances between the places of instruction. Across Germany, in densely and moderately populated regions, they average 2 and 4 kilometers respectively. Here twice as many people are reached as in sparsely populated areas, where it is 9 kilometers (5.5 Miles).
Stephan Schulmeistrat, head of the miz, explains how the study came about: Young people most often come into contact with music through educational institutions – primarily through music schools or private teachers and general education schools. For the first time, the miz was able to relate differentiated data on the public music school system with population and settlement data and thus further underpin the debate about the importance of music school locations.
Matthias Pannes, Federal Managing Director of the VdM: The study underlines how important it is to have music schools close to home. It also shows the importance of cooperation with educational institutions in order to enable many children and young people to receive a musical education. North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg, where there are large support programs for elementary school students, show that development is going in the right direction.
Central results of the study:
1. Distances The national average distance between places of instruction: 4.7 km (3 Miles) throughout Germany, 9.1 km (5.7 Miles) in sparsely populated regions, 3.6 km in regions with medium population density, 2.0 km (1.25 Miles) in densely populated regions.
In Berlin and Hamburg, the average distance between two places of instruction is the smallest at 1.8 km (1.1 Miles).
Among the non-city states, the average distance is smallest in Baden-Württemberg (3.0 km/1.8 Miles) and North Rhine-Westphalia (3.4 km/2.1 Miles) and highest in Mecklenburg (9.0 km/5.5 Miles).
Most states are slightly above or below the national average (4.2 km/2.6 Miles in Hesse, around 5 km/3.5 Miles in Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Saxony; around 6 km/3.7 Miles in Bavaria and Schleswig-Holstein).
Comparing the sparsely populated areas, the average distance is highest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (14.9 km/9.25 Miles) and Saxony-Anhalt (14.6 km/9 Miles) and lowest in North Rhine-Westphalia (5.3 km/3.3 Miles).
2. Music Student Shares
The percentage of the population in the national average: 5.4% – up to 5 years, 16.7% – 6 to 9 years, 9.9% – 10 to 14 years, 4.6% – 15 to 18 years, 0, 2% – 19 years and older Among children of primary school age (6 to 9 years), the proportion of music students is highest in Hamburg (24.2%), North Rhine-Westphalia (23.5%) and Baden-Württemberg (23.0%). The percentage is lowest among elementary school students in Bremen (4.9%).
Of all federal states, Baden-Württemberg has the highest proportion of music students among the under 5 year olds (9.8%), the 10 to 14 year olds (16.2%) and the 15 to 18 year olds (7th .3%).
Most states are around the national average for 10 to 14-year-olds (Berlin, Bavaria, Hesse, Mecklenburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia around 9%, Saxony and Hamburg around 10%, Brandenburg 11.2%).
3. Background
In Germany there are 933 public music schools with a total of 20,922 teaching facilities and 1.5 million music students (as of 2019)
Bavaria has the most public music schools (218), closely followed by Baden-Württemberg (214)
Baden-Württemberg has the most educational institutions (5,216), i. H. Buildings in which music school lessons are given; this can in addition to Mu
Source: https://drumsundpercussion.de/artikel/kurze-wege-foerdern-die-musikalische-bildung