Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:41:44.086Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Singing Teacher's Role in Educating Children's Abilities, Sensibilities and Sensitivities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2015

Emily Achieng' Akuno
Emily Achieng' Akuno*
Affiliation:
The Technical University of Kenya, P.O. Box 52428-00200, Nairobi, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the Republic of Kenya, song is widely used to enhance the whole curriculum in lower primary classes. Song is used especially to aid recall and therefore teachers adapt tunes that children already know, inserting relevant words from the subject at hand. Despite this widespread practice, this form of singing in schools is not recognised by the same teachers as music training in the classroom, and so little, if any, effort is put into the actual music production. Teachers do not attend to the sound of the music, as the intention is to capture facts about various things, including the soil, the weather, numbers etc. and present them in a way that the young learners will quickly remember. This paper interrogates the process that 6–8-year-old children underwent as they moved from using song to learn facts (singing to learn), to developing multiple musical abilities and capacities (learning to sing), through participation in the Music for Literacy Development (MLD)1 project in selected schools in the Nyanza region of Kenya.

Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Music Education , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , November 2015 , pp. 299 - 313
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AKUNO, E. A. (1997) The use of Indigenous Kenyan Children's Songs for the Development of a Curriculum for Primary School Music in Kenya. PhD Thesis, Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames.Google Scholar
AKUNO, E. A. (2005) Issues in Music Education in Kenya. Nairobi: Emak Music Services.Google Scholar
AKUNO, E. A. (2009) An Anthology of Indigenous Kenyan Children's Songs. Nairobi: Emak Music Services.Google Scholar
AKUNO, E., ANDANG'O, E., IMBWELE, N., NEL, Z., OMOLO-ONGATI, R. & ONDIEKI, D. (2013) Musical arts for childhood education: case of selected countries in East and Southern Africa. A symposium presented at the 8th PASMAE ISME Regional Conference, Kampala, Uganda. 29 July – 1 August 2013.Google Scholar
ANDANG'O, E. (2009) Music in early childhood education: development of a multi-cultural music education programme. Unpublished PhD thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.Google Scholar
CAMPBELL, P. S. & SCOTT-KASSNER, C. (1995) Music in Childhood. New York, NY: Schirmer Books.Google Scholar
DIGOLO, B. O. (2003) Traditional Music and Innovative Communication: Synchronic Analysis of selected Dodo and Nyatiti Songs. Unpublished PhD thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.Google Scholar
KWAMI, R. M. (1989) African Music, Education and the School Curriculum. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of London, Institute of Education, London.Google Scholar
MULINDI, R. L. (1984) Music in Logoli Culture. Unpublished MA thesis, Queen's University, Belfast.Google Scholar
MUSHIRA, E. N. (2010) A Critical Analysis of Indigenous Kenyan Music Procedures: Developing the embedded pathway approach model for interactive learning for Secondary schools in Kenya. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.Google Scholar
MWANIKI, H. S. K. (1986) Embu Traditional Songs and Dances. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.Google Scholar
NTSIHLELE, F. M. (1982) A Study of Zulu Children's Songs. Unpublished BMus Dissertation. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Google Scholar
ONDIEKI, D. O. (2010) An Analysis of Kenyan Popular Music of 1945–1975 for the Development of Instructional Materials for Music Education. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.Google Scholar
OWINO, C. G. (2010) Development of a teaching method for Aural Musicianship. Unpublished PhD Thesis, Kenyatta University, Nairobi.Google Scholar
SIMAKO, J. (2009) The development of learning activities for teaching music using indigenous Tswana children's songs in Botswana primary schools: principles and practice. Unpublished MA Dissertation, University of KwaZulu-Natal.Google Scholar
WEINBERG, P. (1984) Hlabelela Mntwanami. Sing, My Child. Zulu Children's Songs. Johannesburg: Ravan Educational Books.Google Scholar
ZAKE, G. S. (1986) Folk Music of Kenya. Nairobi: Uzima Press.Google Scholar