1995 — Page 368

Urban Council Proceedings 市政局議事錄 All AI Reviewed

Page 368 of 485

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

the Music Office in the past, I find that continuation of the existing services only implies that 'the Music Office will continue to be put on a drip'. This is because a few years before the Municipal Councils decided to take over the Music Office, there had been an extensive and substantial reduction in the services provided by the Music Office due to the cut-back in government expenditure. Some of the areas affected are as follows:

1. Music centres have been reduced from 8 to 5. Immediately before the reduction, planning was underway for the establishment of the ninth music centre in Hong Kong Island East so as to meet the demand.

The number of full-time instructors has been cut from 80 in 1989 to about 50 at present.

The estimated expenditure on instrumental music training and music activities for 1996/97 is 16 million dollars. However, after deducting the 70% to be paid to the Central Government as rent, actually only 4.8 million dollars are left. Nevertheless, before the cut-back of services, the funding for instrumental music training, music activities and trainees' overseas exchange programmes was 7.87 million dollars for 1989/90. Members may wish to know why there has only been a reduction of 150 classes and 500 trainees given the factor of inflation and the sharp drop in funding. In 1989/90, there were 794 instrumental music training classes with 3,737 trainees, and currently 641 classes with 3,231 trainees are still maintained. The reason behind this is simple. The quality rather than the quantity has been sacrificed in order to cope with the situation. Originally, there were 4 trainees in a class, but now some classes are combined together, i.e. two classes have lessons at the same time while the duration of the lesson is still 1 hour. In some cases, as many as 10 trainees attend lessons together and even the instructor finds it difficult to manage. There is another way of saving costs which is indeed causing worry. According to a recent survey, the market rate for hiring the service of an instrumental music instructor is generally about 400 dollars per hour. However, we are only paying the instructors 225 dollars per hour. Some instructors give lessons between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Wanchai, and teach again from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Shatin. They can only get 450 dollars for an afternoon's hard work. The reason why we are still able to recruit instructors is that they are just ‘giving face' to us. In addition, owing to their emotional attachment to the Music Office, some ex-trainees also come back to provide assistance without any regard for the pay. If the Municipal Councils still claim that they want to promote the art of music, they must demonstrate their sincerity and respect by solving the problem of the instructors' pay rates as soon as possible.

All publications and annual reports of the Music Office reveal that orchestral training is an integral part of the entire instrumental music training programme. In fact, many people who have made accomplishments in music were once members of the Music Office's orchestras. These people include

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Page 368 of 485 Page 368 of 485 82 HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL the Music Office in the past, I find that continuation of the existing services only implies that 'the Music Office will continue to be put on a drip'. This is because a few years before the Municipal Councils decided to take over the Music Office, there had been an extensive and substantial reduction in the services provided by the Music Office due to the cut-back in government expenditure. Some of the areas affected are as follows: 1. Music centres have been reduced from 8 to 5. Immediately before the reduction, planning was underway for the establishment of the ninth music centre in Hong Kong Island East so as to meet the demand. 2. 3. 4. The number of full-time instructors has been cut from 80 in 1989 to about 50 at present. The estimated expenditure on instrumental music training and music activities for 1996/97 is 16 million dollars. However, after deducting the 70% to be paid to the Central Government as rent, actually only 4.8 million dollars are left. Nevertheless, before the cut-back of services, the funding for instrumental music training, music activities and trainees' overseas exchange programmes was 7.87 million dollars for 1989/90. Members may wish to know why there has only been a reduction of 150 classes and 500 trainees given the factor of inflation and the sharp drop in funding. In 1989/90, there were 794 instrumental music training classes with 3,737 trainees, and currently 641 classes with 3,231 trainees are still maintained. The reason behind this is simple. The quality rather than the quantity has been sacrificed in order to cope with the situation. Originally, there were 4 trainees in a class, but now some classes are combined together, i.e. two classes have lessons at the same time while the duration of the lesson is still 1 hour. In some cases, as many as 10 trainees attend lessons together and even the instructor finds it difficult to manage. There is another way of saving costs which is indeed causing worry. According to a recent survey, the market rate for hiring the service of an instrumental music instructor is generally about 400 dollars per hour. However, we are only paying the instructors 225 dollars per hour. Some instructors give lessons between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Wanchai, and teach again from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Shatin. They can only get 450 dollars for an afternoon's hard work. The reason why we are still able to recruit instructors is that they are just ‘giving face' to us. In addition, owing to their emotional attachment to the Music Office, some ex-trainees also come back to provide assistance without any regard for the pay. If the Municipal Councils still claim that they want to promote the art of music, they must demonstrate their sincerity and respect by solving the problem of the instructors' pay rates as soon as possible. All publications and annual reports of the Music Office reveal that orchestral training is an integral part of the entire instrumental music training programme. In fact, many people who have made accomplishments in music were once members of the Music Office's orchestras. These people include Page 368 of 485 Page 368 of 485

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Page 368 of 485 Page 368 of 485 82 HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL the Music Office in the past, I find that continuation of the existing services only implies that 'the Music Office will continue to be put on a drip'. This is because a few years before the Municipal Councils decided to take over the Music Office, there had been an extensive and substantial reduction in the services provided by the Music Office due to the cut-back in government expenditure. Some of the areas affected are as follows: 1. Music centres have been reduced from 8 to 5. Immediately before the reduction, planning was underway for the establishment of the ninth music centre in Hong Kong Island East so as to meet the demand. 2. 3. 4. The number of full-time instructors has been cut from 80 in 1989 to about 50 at present. The estimated expenditure on instrumental music training and music activities for 1996/97 is 16 million dollars. However, after deducting the 70% to be paid to the Central Government as rent, actually only 4.8 million dollars are left. Nevertheless, before the cut-back of services, the funding for instrumental music training, music activities and trainees' overseas exchange programmes was 7.87 million dollars for 1989/90. Members may wish to know why there has only been a reduction of 150 classes and 500 trainees given the factor of inflation and the sharp drop in funding. In 1989/90, there were 794 instrumental music training classes with 3 737 trainees, and currently 641 classes with 3 231 trainees are still maintained. The reason behind this is simple. The quality rather than the quantity has been sacrificed in order to cope with the situation. Originally, there were 4 trainees in a class, but now some classes are combined together, i.e. two classes have lessons at the same time while the duration of the lesson is still 1 hour. In some cases, as many as 10 trainees attend lessons together and even the instructor finds it difficult to manage. There is another way of saving costs which is indeed causing worry. According to a recent survey, the market rate for hiring the service of an instrumental music instructor is generally about 400 dollars per hour. However, we are only paying the instructors 225 dollars per hour. Some instructors give lessons between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Wanchai, and teach again from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Shatin. They can only get 450 dollars for an afternoon's hard work. The reason why we are still able to recruit instructors is that they are just ‘giving face' to us. In addition, owing to their emotional attachment to the Music Office, some ex-trainees also come back to provide assistance without any regard for the pay. If the Municipal Councils still claim that they want to promote the art of music, they must demonstrate their sincerity and respect by solving the problem of the instructors' pay rates as soon as possible. All publications and annual reports of the Music Office reveal that orchestral training is an integral part of the entire instrumental music training programme. In fact, many people who have made accomplishments in music were once members of the Music Office's orchestras. These people include Page 368 of 485 Page 368 of 485

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Page 368 of 485

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

The number of full-time instructors has been cut from 80 in 1989 to about 50 at present.

The estimated expenditure on instrumental music training and music activities for 1996/97 is 16 million dollars. However, after deducting the 70% to be paid to the Central Government as rent, actually only 4.8 million dollars are left. Nevertheless, before the cut-back of services, the funding for instrumental music training, music activities and trainees' overseas exchange programmes was 7.87 million dollars for 1989/90. Members may wish to know why there has only been a reduction of 150 classes and 500 trainees given the factor of inflation and the sharp drop in funding. In 1989/90, there were 794 instrumental music training classes with 3 737 trainees, and currently 641 classes with 3 231 trainees are still maintained. The reason behind this is simple. The quality rather than the quantity has been sacrificed in order to cope with the situation. Originally, there were 4 trainees in a class, but now some classes are combined together, i.e. two classes have lessons at the same time while the duration of the lesson is still 1 hour. In some cases, as many as 10 trainees attend lessons together and even the instructor finds it difficult to manage. There is another way of saving costs which is indeed causing worry. According to a recent survey, the market rate for hiring the service of an instrumental music instructor is generally about 400 dollars per hour. However, we are only paying the instructors 225 dollars per hour. Some instructors give lessons between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. in Wanchai, and teach again from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Shatin. They can only get 450 dollars for an afternoon's hard work. The reason why we are still able to recruit instructors is that they are just ‘giving face' to us. In addition, owing to their emotional attachment to the Music Office, some ex-trainees also come back to provide assistance without any regard for the pay. If the Municipal Councils still claim that they want to promote the art of music, they must demonstrate their sincerity and respect by solving the problem of the instructors' pay rates as soon as possible.

1995 — Page 368

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