MUSIC should be safeguarded in the national curriculum at all costs, according to world-famous cellist Julian Lloyd-Webber.

The musician told East Lancashire students at a seminar that the subject had to be "fought for."

Mr Lloyd-Webber has launched a campaign to put pressure on Education Secretary Charles Clarke to stop music being squeezed out of an ever pressurised national curriculum.

Now the Department for Education has pledged that every child in Britain will get the chance to play an instrument for free.

Mr Lloyd-Webber, the younger brother of acclaimed composer Sir Andrew Lloyd-Webber, told students at St Wilfrid's CE School in Blackburn it made no sense to make music an "elitist subject" when the best composers of the past were all from the lower classes.

Music has been given less and less priority in the curriculum with teachers struggling to find time and resource lessons.

Director of Blackburn School of Music Paul Greenalgh said provision of music in schools was "at best patchy". But a lesson at the school costs around £26 an hour with instruments themselves topping hundreds of pounds.

Mr Lloyd-Webber warned that teenagers were regularly tuning in to pop music and more mainstream charts, which meant they were losing any touch with the classics.

The campaign is also backed by acclaimed musicians James Galway, Evelyn Glennie and Michael Kamen. Together they have adopted the name The Music and Education Consortium.

They have been petitioning the Education Secretary for the reintroduction of music teaching in schools and met with Mr Clarke last month.

He promised to address the shortage of teaching staff and equipment with additional cash and said he was considering persuading professional musicians to help in the classroom.

"I believe classical music is for everybody and not elitist," said Mr Lloyd-Webber. "We have a situation where parents who can't afford instruments or expensive lessons, can't give their child a chance to be musical, which is very sad indeed.

"We have been campaigning to try and get music into schools, particularly in primary schools, so people have access to play an instrument.

"When I was at school I was surrounded by the Beatles and Beach Boys but I came from a very musical background where friends and family were always playing music. Pop music is always there for young people. It is what they are told to like almost when peers and friends all share the same interests. But I think if there was a wider access to classical music it would be a saving grace."

Mr Lloyd-Webber also shared tales of travelling in the East and said it horrified him to see that the classics there were widely acclaimed, despite the vast majority of music coming from the West.