The translation of cuatro learning in open and closed systems of transmission in Colombia: Towards an aural/oral approach in higher education - Thesis– PhD in Music Education UCL Institute of Education University College London Author: Andrés Samper Arbeláez Tutor: Professor Lucy Green May 2018 I, Andrés Samper Arbeláez, confirm that the work presented in this thesis is my own. Where information has been derived from other sources, I confirm that this has been indicated in the thesis. ____________________________________ Andrés Samper Arbeláez [email protected] 2 Abstract This study investigates the cultural and educational elements involved in learning the cuatro, a traditional Colombian and Venezuelan plucked four-string instrument. I set out to investigate the basis for an identification of two, what I call ‘transmission paradigms’. In one paradigm, learning takes place via relatively ‘open systems of transmission’. These occur in contexts such as family, friends, social gatherings, festivals and self-directed learning. They involve mainly aural/oral and holistic practices. The ethos is relatively unsystematic, random and strongly situated in extra- musical cultural practices. In the other paradigm, learning occurs predominantly in relatively ‘closed systems of transmission’. These are common in institutional settings, from the university to the private lesson. They tend to relate to learning that also involves a strong presence of imitation, but through graded exercises and pieces. The ethos is relatively systematic – based on isolation of knowledge, linearity, and tending towards fragmentation. In the first paradigm, both explicit knowledge (e.g. technical abilities) and tacit knowledge (e.g. feel and expression) are permanently at the centre of learning; with the second paradigm, however, one tends to privilege explicit knowledge since it is more easily isolated, objectified and fragmented. A mixed methods approach was used, combining interviews and ethnography. Interviews were conducted with 44 cuatro players from Colombia and Venezuela who had contrasting profiles in terms of age and musical experience. Participatory and non- participatory observations took place within open transmission paradigms consisting mainly of large and small group gatherings at festivals; observations were also conducted within closed paradigms consisting of classes and one-to-one lessons at music academies and universities. Analysis took into account three crosscutting categories: ways of learning and teaching, contents of transmission, and teachers and learners’ perceptions. The most relevant findings of the study are that, although there were a number of contrasting elements between the two transmission paradigms, there were also many areas of similarity; in addition, some areas, such as the use of notation, turned out to be less contrasting than I had expected. Most importantly, a variety of what I call ‘processes of translation’ occurred between them. 3 Moved by personal interest, cuatro players learn through musical paths that include, to differing degrees, both paradigms of transmission. All of the participants had been exposed to open systems of transmission settings, and at least 30 out of the 44 had also had some type of contact with closed systems of transmission. Open settings are usually embedded in socio-cultural contexts that enhance the emergence of intense processes of early music enculturation, while most closed systems of transmission settings evidence intentional efforts to establish explicit contact with cultural contexts such as active participation in music festivals. With the exception of universities and private tutelage, where individual lessons are at the centre of learning, most cuatro transmission takes place within collective spaces of music making. In general terms, cuatro transmission is based on imitation. Notation is usually subsidiary and open, in the sense that musicians usually invent personal codes. While in open settings of transmission learning is rather holistic, in closed settings transmission generally it does imply linear and logical simple-to-complex sequences. Musicians are very versatile in terms of their ability to play different instruments and their capacity to accompany dancing. Within all contexts there is some level of integration of performing, improvising, arranging and composing. Building on these findings, the present project puts forward a proposal for the teaching of the cuatro at local universities. Specific focus is placed on the idea of a ‘mestizo’ pedagogy that juxtaposes modern systematic approaches – which tend to be more of the closed type mentioned above – and local traditional aural/oral approaches in music transmission, which are more unsystematic and holistic in nature and are thus related to the open systems of transmission that were explored. This proposal suggests collective music making as a methodological axis of transmission within the university setting, and seeks to enhance the development of individual artistic voices, feel, celebration of music and vital contact with the cultural contexts that frame musical production. 4 Impact Statement I expect this project to have an impact on several levels. By one part, at universities in South America that are interested in teaching traditional music as part of curricula within methodologies that take into account the ways in which this music is transmitted in local contexts. In this sense, the research methods and the proposal brought up by this study offer a pertinent reference for further pedagogical exploration, including the production of new pieces of research that are interested in blending formal and informal ways of learning music in Higher Education. By other part, I expect to contribute with the outcomes of this project to enrich local literature in music education enquiring into the impact and challenges of incorporating traditional music in academic contexts. It also contributes to enrich literature devoted to post-colonial and decolonial enquiries in music education, with a support in situated empirical evidence of the type of epistemological clashes and possibilities that emerge between academic and aural/oral transmission of music in South America. The socio-cultural historical overview that I offer of joropo music and of cuatro, and the findings in terms of the relation between learning and situated cultural practices, also add to enrich local production in the field of ethnomusicology. In relation to the long-term goals of the project, I hope that the legitimation of the musical values of local cultures through universities will have an overall positive impact on the general social recognition of these cultural groups. At the same time, I am sure that this exercise of inclusion will have interesting results for formal academic contexts, both aesthetically and pedagogically. It contributes aesthetically because it broadens the available referents within higher education music programmes in Colombia while including, with strength, local traditional music in the curriculum, in this case from the Llanos region. In terms of pedagogy, it brings forward alternative ways of learning that might also be pertinent to the learning of other instruments, for example classical or jazz. In this sense, it constructively challenges the dominant pedagogic paradigm of universities while inviting institutions to allow the intentional juxtaposition of its logics with alternative paradigms of transmission. Finally, I expect to disseminate the findings of this project through regional and international forums of music education such as FLADEM (Foro Latinoamericano de 5 Educación Musical) and IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music). I also intend to share the results of the project with the art faculties of local universities, with agents in charge of the Colombian Ministry of Culture’s public policies, and in the local community centres of the regions where my study took place. 6 Acknowledgments First of all, I wish to express my gratitude to God, author of life and joy, for this research experience that has transformed my way of seeing music and pedagogy. He lives within the music that touches our hearts. I am indebted to Lucy Green, who generously guided me throughout this process. She offered valuable advice that was essential for the framing and development of my project. I admire her clarity and coherence. I also feel grateful to all the musicians who took part as participants of this study because they all shared with generosity their musical biographies and knowledge with me. I admire and honour their personal paths and artistic voices. I am thankful to my family for their material and emotional support. To my parents Ernesto and Sylvia, to my children Julián, María del Mar and Candelaria. And especially to my wife Sandra with whom I spent endless hours of conversation sharing my doubts and findings in search of advice. She has helped me to discover the tissue that connects life with art and pedagogy. Finally, I am grateful to Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia for having generously funded this PhD project. 7 Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Looking into cuatro pedagogies as acts of translation between systems of transmission ............................................................................................................. 12 Aims of the project .......................................................................................................... 13 Processes