Mike Russell to hold talks on music tuition EDUCATION secretary Mike Russell will meet with several key music officials tomorrow in the next step towards implementing the government's plan to overhaul instrumental music tuition. He will visit the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow to meet its principal, Professor John Wallace, as well as David Green, chair of the Instrumental Music Implementation Group. The Scottish Government recently accepted all 17 recommendations from the group's report, which will see a series of changes to instrumental music tuition in Scotland being taken forward throughout 2014. This includes a major conference on the value of instrumental music tuition, more collaboration between instrumental music bodies and exploring opportunities for instrument repair apprenticeships. The report was prompted by Scotland on Sunday's long-running Let The Children Play campaign, which urges the scrapping of instrumental tuition fees in schools. The report also led to an immediate ban on charging children fees for sitting SQA music exams. Russell said: "Music plays a vital role in education and helps shape pupils" sense of social and cultural identity. Scotland already enjoys an excellent reputation in this area and the recommendations will enable councils, music organisations and other stakeholders to work together better to deliver the best instrumental music tuition available.