Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti has launched her strongest attack to date on the lack of free music tuition in schools.

The 25-year-old secured a six-album recording contract after winning BBC Young Musician of the Year at the age of 16 and will perform at this year's Last Night of the Proms.

She said that children should learn that "we're better people if we work hard at something".

The violinist, originally from West Kilbride, spoke of her concerns for music tuition in an interview with the Radio Times.

"I'm fiercely furious about the provision of music in schools," she says.

"So many people up and down the country are trying to create a better foundation for musical education. But decisions have been made, especially in the light of funding cuts, that are, I think, catastrophic to our future as a nation."

Benedetti, who first had violin lessons at the age of five and left home at 10 to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey, said: "Now, more than ever, we need a cultural identity for youth in this country."

The violinist, a patron of the Big Noise music tuition scheme in Raploch, Stirling, added: "If children don't have very strong parenting and don't have an activity to replace the aimlessness that can go on after school, they end up accepting what's shoved in their face.

"Which is celebrity culture and this obsessive chasing to become famous. But famous for what?

"None of it is promoting anything of true substance or quality. It's not promoting the message that we're better people if we work hard at something."

Composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has also criticised the teaching of music in Scottish schools.

In all but seven of Scotland's 32 local authorities, children learning an instrument other than for Standard Grade or Higher music have to pay fees.