The charts illustrate the percentage of kids studying musical instruments and types of instruments studied in one part of the UK in two years, namely 1996 and 2006.
Overall, there was a significant change in the figure for children learning musical instruments. In addition, it witnessed downward trends in the percentage of acoustic guitar, violin, piano, and other types while the opposite was true for electric guitar, keyboard.
In 1996, the proportion of children learning musical instruments started at 56%, while the figure for not studying was much lower, at 44%. Over the next 10 years, it experienced a considerable increase by 32% in the percentage of learning. Meanwhile, only 24% of children did not study any type of instrument.
In 1996, the percentage of kids learning piano was the highest, at 30%, followed by a slight decrease by 3% in 2006. Similar trends can be seen in the figure for violin, acoustic guitar and other types which started at 14%, 6%, 4% respectively, after dropping slightly to 10%, 3%, 2%. In 1996, only 21% of kids chose a keyboard to study, before increasing dramatically to 9%, surpassing the figure for piano to become the highest figure, while the percentage of children learning electric guitar was at 14% in 1996, after which it witnessed a moderate growth to 16% over the next 10 years. The proportion of more than 1 instrument remained stable at 12% during the period.