Nation Building--One Child at a Time: Early Childhood Music Education in South Africa

The author first makes the point that the socio-political state of a nation is determined in a large way by the education of its youth, beginning in early childhood. Since music is so important to the South African culture, she insists that music education is essential for a healthy social environment. Music therapists are recognized as health professionals and music is similarly valued in the classroom, but lack of structure and accessibility deter integration of music in education. In addition, a tendency to adopt Western practices may eliminate musical traditions if they are not taught in schools. Woodward cites M. Xulu in claiming that there is also a bias toward "art music" and a devaluing of traditional music or "music of the people." The idea that music should be nonfunctional, abstract (some might even say absolute, but that's another argument), and intellectual rather than functional is a relatively recent Western idea that tends not to bother about everyday music that is actually valuable and central to culture.

Another problem in South African musical education is the lack of materials. If using a multicultural approach, the only readily available materials are for Western music--notation, instruments, theory, etc. which simply do not capture the essence of traditional African music.
Teachers, also, need to learn not only the music itself and the styles, but appropriate teaching methods which may differ from what they are accustomed to. The author posits that the best way to go about bringing change in South African early childhood music education is through legislation for the school systems, providing an educational foundation on which musical learning can be built.


I didn't have a huge reaction to this article, which seems very logical and frankly, much more bureaucratic than I was expecting for this sort of class. It makes sense though, to tie in a socio-political background, because the state of the education system both influences and is influenced by the socio-political state of a nation.

I am also glad to see that an emphasis on traditional musical forms is being made; the Western canonical tradition has taken over much of the musical world, to the loss of many rich and varied musical styles that are now seen as "wrong" or "not as perfect." With an expanding global society, it is increasingly more important to be able to keep one's cultural arts to preserve them for the next generation.