This article explores the music school as a locus of musical production that is rarely subjected to critique. Departing from the viewpoints of Bruno Nettl (1995) who describes the music school as a society "ruled by deities with sacred texts, rituals, ceremonial numbers, and a priesthood", it is hypothesised that many of the questions put forward in his Heartland excursions (1995) still pose challenges to schools of music (or tertiary departments of music) in South Africa today. While the new musicology has taken local music scholarship by storm and turned its more traditional, formalist-oriented practices upside down, it can hardly be denied that this progressive discipline is still practised within institutionalised contexts that are heavily invested in the autonomy principle. Within the South African musical landscape, this is most true for those schools of music or tertiary music departments viewed as leading institutions. The aim, therefore, of this paper is to introduce questions relevant to a critical dissection of the dichotomy between the premises of a cultural or critical musicology, and the institution of the music school as a conservative "production of belief". Stephen Miles 1997: 744) -specifically in a country where musical pluralism is an important aspect of all tertiary education, namely, developing skills and knowledge that are relevant specifically to the complex demands of our multi-faceted society. Accordingly, the way in which the autonomy principle continues to reinforce the legitimacy of the idea of autonomous music will be investigated -a principle constructed so subtly that implicit supremacy is promoted most effectively through the unspoken practices of concert requirements, the emphasis on music competitions, faculty status, and other internationally recognised markers of musical prestige. This principle clearly underlies a pre-defined set of professionalised values forming the foundations of "successful" music institutions. However, finally it will be argued that music schools, in pursuing a truly critical mediation between music and society, should not engage only with questions of music's social meaning, but in particular with the question of how music comes to be socially meaningful.
In this article I shall attempt to demonstrate the application of an ideology-critical framework designed to give a comprehensive and differentiated account of textual ‘contradictions’ and ‘tensions’ in symbolic forms. Based on Johann Visagie's figurative semiotics of ideological discourse, this theoretical schema is demonstrated via an extensive analysis of the gospel rap video wrapped up by the African-American group Dawkins & Dawkins. As a metaphorically mediated enactment of contemporary-religious meaning, this instance of gospel rap is analysed as a forthright yet complex example of structural ambiguity. Allowing for a detailed reading of the semiotic layering surrounding and infiltrating all dimensions of this text, my interpretation problematises its reading as an uncomplicated, commercialised excursion into the pleasures of an embodied, danced religion. In both ‘highlighting’ and ‘hiding’ the layers of cultural meaning built into the metaphor of danced religion, wrapped up celebrates black religious identity without distancing it from underlying ideological formations associated with collective suffering and social injustice.
Hans Huyssen, a contemporary South African composer whose social consciousness is an essential facet of his work, stresses the importance of period performance practice as a rejuvenating and significant movement within Western art music. Regarding contemporary music as 'the period music of our time', it is his conviction that period performance practice and contemporary composition share the same goal, and moreover that a synthesis of their artistic ideals offers possibilities for responding specifically to the intricate challenges posed by the 'new' South African multiculturalism. Recent international debates on the nature of the Early Music Movement and Historically Informed Performance Practice (HIPP) have not yet entered into South African musicological scholarship. Yet Huyssen is firmly convinced that these need to become part both of current local musicology, and of the great diversity in South African art music's creative, reproductive and reception contexts. This article, in presenting some of the composer's views on the topic, attempts an appraisal of Huyssen's stance. It contextualises the relevance of the debate about performance practice for the crucial shifts in cultural consciousness currently taking place within South African art music composition. Of particular interest is its propensity for obscuring distinctions between the past and the present, and for accommodating the diversity in compositional styles that reflect an increasing multiculturalism within the local art-music scene. 20 MARTINA VILJOEN front. 1 While early manifestations of the movement concentrated on the performance of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music, more recently its proponents have extended their interpretations to include 'novel' readings of Classical and Romantic works as well. Although such recordings have been available on the local market for a considerable time, and some of the more exclusive radio stations have offered extensive coverage of historically informed performances, 2 to date there has been little support for the HIPP movement in South Africa. With the exception of a few individuals who were mostly trained overseas, little expert knowledge is available on the subject. Moreover, the absence of HIPP courses in the majority of tertiary curricula points to a notable hiatus within local music scholarship and practice. 3
The origin and development of the school cadet system in the Republic of South Africa is dealt with in this article. A historical revue is furnished as well as a perspective of the present system. Historiese agtergrondAlhoewel die ontstaan van die eerste sogenaamde kadetkorps tot die tweede helfte van die negentiende eeu teruggevoer kan word, het Simon van der Stel reeds by wyse van 'n kennisgewing 'n militere verpligting op aile seuns bo die ouderdom van nege jaar geplaas. Hulle moes naamlik voorbereidende opleiding ontvang in dril en skietkuns sod at hulle op sestien jarige leeftyd by die Burgher Militia (wat op 2 Julie 1687 gestig is) vir diens moes aansluit. Die kennisgewing wat op 22 Desember 1687 uitgestuur is, het onder andere gelui:"Verders is beslooten en ten meesten dienste deser Colonie eenparig goedgevonden de kinderen deser ingesetenen, te weeten de knegtjes van negen tot derthien jaren ouderdoms, aile Saturdagen's namiddag op de drilplaats in de wapenhandeling door den drilmeester te doen oeffenen, en deselve op 'n niewejaars dag onder haar vaandel te doen optrekken, op arb itrale boete by haar respective ouders te verbeuren, ingeval iemand sonder wigtige reden in gebreke blijvt daar te verschijnen." Die bestaan van die "Jongen Brigade" in die geboortejare van die Kaapse geskiedenis was egter nie die voorloper tot die huidige kadetstelsel nie. Ons kadetstelsel waarvan die eerste "korpse" in Natal en die Oos-Kaap gestig is, is 'n afstammeling van die kadetorganisasie wat in Engeland in 1860 ontstaan het. Dit is 'n interessante stukkie geskiedenis wat soos volg lui:Skoolkadette van vroeer jare, ultgevat In hulle kadetunlforms 38
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.