An article by Charlotte C. Gill published in The Guardian last week titled Music education is now only for the white and wealthy has drawn the ire of music professionals for its “anti-intellectualism” and “romanticisation of illiteracy”.

A response by British pianist Ian Pace, critical of Gill’s article and intended for publication in The Guardian, has garnered more than 350 signatories to date, from musicians all around the world, including outgoing conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (and conductor-elect of the London Symphony Orchestra) Sir Simon Rattle.

In her article, Gill laments the deteriorating quality of music education in the UK, the deprioritisation of music education in schools and an increasing onus on parents to take up private music tuition for their children, which can lead to the exclusion of students from less privileged backgrounds. But it is not these points that have attracted the criticism of the wider music community.

“For a creative subject, music has always been taught in a far too academic way, meaning that theoretical knowledge is the main route to advancement,” Gill writes, claiming that musical notation is “a cryptic, tricky language – rather like Latin – that can only be read by...