Assessing ngoma-ness: a generic cross-cultural framework for African musical arts education

Abstract

This article focuses on teaching and learning contexts as well as assessment systems suited to African musical arts performance, but its findings are equally applicable beyond these contexts. Through the introduction of a generic evaluation system in the form of a re-contextualised authentic framework that is implementable outside its culture of origin, this study opens up the possibility for the development of other, similar generic global frameworks. What is illustrated here is a newly developed compatible and reliable framework that correlates an indigenous sub-Saharan African non-formal music education system with a global and formal music education. This framework is informed by Western and indigenous African philosophies, a synthesis of social and educational studies, as well as an exploration of the musical arts in sub-Saharan Africa through documentary research and deconstruction theory designs.

Developing Elementary School Teacher Competence in Making Music Learning Media Using Scratch Application: An Action Research

“…The music teachers' inspiration is also critical to their efficiency in teaching music in the classroom. Confidence, which is an indication of security emanating from grounding in a discipline, is also a motivator to the teacher (Akuno, 2019;Akuno, 2012;Human & van Niekerk, 2014;Njoora, 2015). Music teachers need good education to achieve subject matter mastery and face challenges when teaching.…”

“New Colonisers” Play in Postcolonial Music Education in Mauritius

“…Mauritius is part of the 90% of Africa colonized by European countries by 1917 [2]. Discourses in music education in most of these countries are about how indigenous music is struggling to find their way informal curricula, which is heavily laden with western music, established by the culturally hegemonic former colonizers [3][4] [5]. On the other hand, Mauritius, although an African country, presents a different situation where music education in public schools is mostly focused on Indian music, and I argue that this situation correlates with political, religious, and economic dynamics of control within the Mauritian society.…”