‘Everyone Here Is Going to Have Bright Futures’

This chapter examines the contrasting ideas of musical standards of ability revealed by this study to explore how classical music is used to draw boundaries around social groups. Using close ethnographic description, it shows how musical ability is produced and recognized in and between musicians. This reveals a tension between the accepted idea among classical musicians that somebody’s musical standard varies according to who they play or sing with, and a firm belief in hierarchies of ability, which could reinforce social hierarchies such as gender. The chapter goes on to describe how musical standard was part of the rationale behind an exodus from a state-run music education programme by two of the groups in this study, following a wider trend of middle-class ‘exit’ from public services. Finally, it outlines a typology of three groups that shows how class and gender were highly formative in determining these young people’s pathways.