THE principal of the country's top performing arts institution has hit out about £1million cuts being made to music tuition for young people across Scotland.

Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said that the "short-term cost-cutting" approach would have a long-term effects across the wider community.

Earlier this year, local authority umbrella Cosla was involved in a budget dispute with the Scottish Government, which proposed £350 million cut to local government's £10 billion budget.

And in March, a study by the Instrumental Music Teachers' Network identified nine councils which are cutting budgets for music lessons by a total of £1 million.

The network said one quarter of Scotland's 32 local authorities were raising charges for music lessons, with convener Mark Trayor saying that lessons were suffering "death by a thousand cuts".

However some, including Dundee and Midlothian, had scrapped charges in recent years.

Stirling Council also recently made a u-turn on doubling its tuition fees after a massive online petition, which included the signatures of violinist Nicola Benedetti and composer Sally Beamish.

Officials on Stirling Council had proposed that pupils receiving tuition through the council's Instrumental Music Service should face a jump in annual fees from £246 to £492, though council leaders said they would reject the proposals and had found a way to freeze the cost of the tuition.

During the protest there were concerns the cuts would impact on the Big Noise Orchestra project — which works with children in the deprived Raploch area — raising concerns about music becoming an elitist pastime.

Writing to the Herald, Professor Sharkey said the impact of cuts would be felt across the wider community, as well on the "talented young Scots" who may not reach the potential to attend world-class institutions such as the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

He said: "As a nation, to be vibrant and internationally competitive, we need out next generation to be able to take creative, intuitive leaps of the imagination.

"We need our young people to be agile and resilient and to have the concentration and discipline to pursue ambitions over the long term.

"In delivering on all of these goals, music tuition can play a major part. Indeed, we have long known the benefits musical studies provide towards developing the mind and towards supporting attainment in literacy and numeracy.

"We also now know the important role music and all the creative arts have in enhancing individual and community well-being."

He said he appreciated council leaders faced the challenge of balancing the books while meeting the complex needs of individuals and communities, but said it was "important to highlight the wider and long-term consequences of this short-term cost-cutting approach".

He added: "We at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland hope the level, frequency and quality of instrumental provision can be supported and maintained into the future to the benefit of thousands of young minds full of potential and to the nation as a whole."

A spokesman for Cosla said that the local authorities had to work within the budget limitations.

He said: "With a £350million cut, or 3.5% of the council budget, some things will have to give."

"All services will need to be looked at, but it is up to the individual councils how they allocate their funding."

He added: "Local councils will do their best to protect services based on local need and circumstances."