Classroom music lessons: Is the era of learning the recorder at school over? The instruments taking its place

• A report tracking UK music education trends has seen the number of children who play the recorder fall to new lows
• Other instruments like the ukulele are growing in popularity, signalling a potential shift in schools
• Most children say they enjoy their classroom music lessons
• But those who play instruments are still seeing two sharp drop off points during their school years

The windy whistles and birdlike burbling of the recorder, once a mainstay of classroom music lessons, appear to be slowly being replaced by a new tune.

The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) recently released its latest Making Music report for 2025. These reports have tracked the UK’s music learning trends for some 30 years now - and this year, the music education charity worked with specialist survey company Critical Research to speak to more than a thousand children, a thousand adults, and nearly two thousand music teachers.

The polling showed that more than four out of five (84%) of young people felt music was important for their mental health, and a whopping 90% enjoyed classroom music lessons. But the report also found that the number of children learning an instrument fell off steeply at two different points during their school years - something schools themselves may be able to play a part in preventing.

Which instruments children are learning has also changed over the last few years. There has been a particularly steep drop in children who knew how to play the recorder - once a classroom mainstay.

So are recorder lessons set to become a thing of the past? What other instruments are children learning in the classroom instead - and what do schools need to do to keep them playing? Here’s what you need to know:

Is the era of learning the recorder at school over?

According to the new report, the number of children learning the recorder - which many of those surveyed said had mainly been done in the classroom - has been plummeting for some time. This year has seen that trend continue. A decade ago more than one in four children (28%) played the instrument, but this has now dropped to less than one in six - just 16%.

Back in 2014, it was the third most commonly played instrument by children. In this year’s report, it has been outstripped by drums, and both electric and classic guitars. Bass guitars are neck-and-neck with recorders, while the amount of children who played the flute was now just one percentage point behind it.

Like other popular first instruments, it remains one of the most commonly given up. The recorder came in third, after the piano (16%) and the keyboard (13%), with 11% of those polled saying they previously played, “possibly because it is a common instrument offered and learned at school and then not learned afterwards”.

But the report said that this underlined the perception that the recorder was a “transition” instrument. “Learners may begin to learn using the recorder and then move on to other instruments as their interest develops.”

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What are children learning instead?

The decline of recorders in the classroom might not necessarily mean pupils are going without a musical education, however.

Although the piano and keyboard remain the most popular instruments children were learning to play, “largely because of their use in private and after school lessons”, the report found electric guitars, drums, flutes, violins and ukuleles all experienced an increase in the number of children playing them in recent years.

The flute in particular had seen a significant boost in young players, increasing from one in 20 learners in 2014 (7%) to around one in eight (15%) now playing the instrument. These shifts were likely down to new “trends in instrumental tuition at school”, the report said.

However, the number of young people learning music fell off sharply at ages 12 and 15, the report found, roughly lining up with the beginning of secondary school, and when young people sat their GCSEs and moved on to the sixth form.

ABRSM called for educators to take a closer look at how music was being taught in schools - to understand what they and community music organisations alike could do to support children who wanted to keep learning. The charity also called for more investment in music teachers, and for music to be prioritised in the education system - especially for its important role in fostering the creative expression and identities of young people.

Chief executive Chris Cobb said the young people they surveyed confirmed what academic research had always said - that engaging with music was good for their mental health and wellbeing. “The broader benefits of music education for cognitive development in other subjects shouldn’t be underestimated either,” he added.

“The tragedy is that the same research shows how young people disengage from music learning, both when they shift to secondary school and when they start GCSEs. The challenge facing us all is how we can support schools, and the communities around them, to help young people continue experiencing the benefits of music.”

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