Music education needs coherent plan

HAVING been closely involved in the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland (NYOI) since its inception in 1970, I can empathise with Anne Ralph’s disappointment at the decision of the board to amalgamate its two existing youth orchestras (Irish Examiner letters, April 23).

To decry this is, quite rightly, the response of the many people whose experience of the orchestra has been entirely positive and who value its place in Ireland’s cultural landscape.

However, as chairperson of the Forum for Music in Ireland, I am concerned that this response may serve to mask the underlying issues that are the cause of the problems cited by the board — eg, the “recruitment of sufficient players of the requisite standard to support two orchestras”.