One in three adults regret giving up music, as A-level entries plummet

13 August 2026, 09:51 | Updated: 13 August 2026, 11:24

Brits aren’t learning music any more - but they wish they had.

One in three UK adults wish they had continued making or studying music when they were younger, new research has found, as provisional figures suggest another fall in A-level music entries.

A survey commissioned by chamber orchestra London Concertante found that 34% of adults – almost 19 million people – regret giving up music, from learning an instrument and singing to studying it at school or playing in a band, choir or orchestra.

This is even more notable among younger adults. Some 43% of 18 to 24-year-olds said they wished they had continued with music, rising to 45% among those aged 25 to 34.

Ahead of A-level results day on 13 April, provisional data showed just 4,635 entries for A-level music in England in 2026. This is down 4.9% from 4,875 entries last year and a 51% fall since 2008. However, just 3% of respondents say they wished they had continued with subjects including engineering, accountancy and finance, economics, business studies or law.

Read more: Music A-level students have halved in the last decade

The survey of 2,000 UK adults found that learning an instrument is the musical activity people most commonly wish they had stuck with.

A further 9% regret giving up singing, while 7% wished they had continued studying music as a subject or being part of a choir. Some 6% say they regret that they hadn’t carried on playing in a band, orchestra or ensemble. Interestingly, people in London were most likely to say they regret stepping away from music, at 45%, followed by those in Scotland, at 41%.

“Music is increasingly undervalued in education, yet it is also the number one thing people look back and regret giving up, ” said Chris Grist, artistic director of London Concertante. “People really do value music – it holds an incredibly important place in their lives.

“For years, we’ve placed enormous emphasis on STEM subjects. Of course they matter, but so do the arts.” Grist said schools and teachers played a vital role in introducing children to music, warning that this continuing decline in uptake could have wider consequences for the classical music sector.

In an attempt to bridge this culture gap, the former Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told Classic FM’s Dan Walker in 2025 that he was committed to making sure that “music counts as part of the curriculum”, with an £88 million funding package aimed at young people, to help them ‘re-connect’ with their communities in a range of activities, including music.