International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews Vol.7 No.1, April 2017; p.24 – 34, (ISSN: 2276-8645)

REVAMPING THE UNPOPULARITY OF MUSIC AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT IN THROUGH INDIGENIZATION: A PROPOSAL

M. C. ANYA-NJOKU (Ph.D) Department of Music University of Nigeria, Nsukka Email: [email protected]

Abstract A research carried out at some Federal Government Colleges in the Education Zone of Nigeria (Anya-Njoku, 2014) affirmed that music education fell short of students’ expectations. Students’ exposure to music was limited and contents of lessons disparate from what they appreciate as music. Making bleak their hope and expectation of being functional and useful members of their society via the study of music. The teachers disclosed that western-oriented curriculum and their western-oriented training are major impediments to equipping Nigerian learners for careers in music. Through empirical processes to propose for the upgrading of the number and usage of indigenous instruments and repertoire in schools and colleges for better appreciation and application of musical knowledge and skills for the teachers, the learners, the profession and the society. The writer recommends seminars and workshops at both the state and federal levels to sensitise music teachers (especially the teachers of the new Cultural and Creative Arts Curriculum) on the pedagogical potentialities of indigenous instruments and repertoires.

Introduction Educational programmes are expected to equip the learners to become responsive citizens of their societies. People nurtured and groomed to play their parts in the drama of the society in which they live according to the dictates of their chosen careers. As a cultural manifest, graduates of music programmes are expected to feature prominently and effectively in the musical culture of the society. In other words, granted there are various areas of specialization in the field of music study- theory/composition, musicology, performance, education, technology, production, among others; Africa’s music pervaded society expects school music graduates’ impact in the various musical accompaniment of daily, ceremonial, ritual, festival and entertainment activities. The society expects that music graduates from the schools should be able to contribute their quota to the musical culture like graduates from the other disciplines in the school system. Medicine has produced all the categories of medical personnel needed in the health sector- surgeons, paediatricians, opticians, orthopaedics, gynaecologists, nurses etc. Pharmacists are producing drugs from local and imported resources to meet the prescriptions of the Doctors for the cure of their patients. Home Economists/Food and Nutrition graduates have succeeded in modifying all most all the local foods-types into modern dishes (local, continental, and so on) fit for all categories of fast-food joints, restaurants and hotels. The proliferation of fast-food joints all over the towns and cities give credence to the attainment of the goals and objectives of their programmes in the schools. The list could go on. Sadly, though, music education in Nigerian schools has failed to produce the expected upshots. There is no visible evidence of musical exposure on the learners from the basic education levels to the tertiary level either as music in education or music as a subject (Okafor, 1988:9). The singing, dancing, and/or playing of improvised instruments that children are expected to bring home from schools which should prepare them for greater tasks in the field of music is non-existent. Similarly, investigations on West African Examinations, NECO and JAMB records reveal that music has the lowest enrolment ratio of all the school subjects in Nigeria (Anya-Njoku, 2014). According to the study, most of the students at the secondary schools refer to music as the “white man’s subject” because the music teachers have not been able to make music come alive in the classrooms. They are proffered theories without practice- music lessons without the sound of music, regrettably, when music examples are used, they are English songs that have no bearing to the musical background of the learners. Likewise, a survey of the educational backgrounds of selected prominent popular musicians in Nigeria disclosed that ninety-seven per cent (97%) of them did not study music as a career in schools. Rather, they learned their craft informally as apprentices to senior artists or from ‘friends’. These are the people who make the music the society needs

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International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews Vol.7 No.1, April 2017; p.24 – 34, (ISSN: 2276-8645) and fill their pockets with money made from music while the school music graduates scamper for teaching employment in private schools for five thousand naira salary per month. There is a problem. This problem is not from the graduates but from the music education profession. This profession in Nigeria is still under the aegis of colonization. The system is propagating the music tutelage system of the colonial masters which they operated just to raise performers who provided their types of music needed for entertainment, parades and religious services. In this system of music education, they taught the learners to play their form-controlled music, rudimentary theory, performance ethics and practices; instruments and repertoires. This system and objectives were vividly portrayed by Vidal (2008:5, 30) in these words: Local schools were founded and they served as reservoir for recruiting boys at divine service ... Singing classes were organized for children of mission houses ... Nigerian children continued to learn English man's music to the detriment of indigenous music. . . The objective of missionaries was two-fold. Firstly, it aimed at propagating the British Christian religious system and secondly, it aimed at spreading the Anglo-version of European musical tradition and culture. Our people learned the art and were able to supply the necessary music for the musical needs of their masters. Fifty five years after independence our schools are still producing graduates for the colonial masters who have gone back to their country with their musical needs. The issue here now is that the music education profession unlike other professions in the country is yet to accept independence. While school music education produces teachers and church musicians, jobless people from other professions tap into the rich rhythmic background of African music and furnished with modified traditional system of education (apprenticeship system), have taken over the musical position meant for the music graduates in the society. The situation is aptly expressed by Emeka (2006: 12) Let us consider for a moment the place and contributions of these people (academic musicians) to music educational social commitment in Nigeria. The curricular of the music schools in Nigeria tilt very heavily in favour of western art music, less in favour of popular music and little in favour of traditional music. When this is projected on to the multiplier process of teachers, pupils, and pupils-turned teachers and still more pupils, we see that the imbalance tends towards perpetuation. When we place this against the minimal appreciation of classical music in Nigeria as a whole, we find that the masters of this idiom (classical music/education) cannot really help in massive social commitment to the study of music. The verity of the above testament in the situational description of school music education in Nigeria is indubitable. The questions then are: does it mean that Nigerian music educators have not realized that their graduates turn back to schools? Does it not bother them that their products are not servicing the musical culture as the society expects? Are they not aware that music is a people’s art and so culturally bound? Or are they retaining the western system because concepts in the form- controlled music of Europe are easier to master and/or manipulate than the more intricate and wholesome African concepts? Are Nigerian music educators oblivious of the inadequacies and plight of their job-hunting graduates all these years? Is the profession not worried that the music industry/scenes in the country are devoid of school music graduates but a haven of drop-outs of other professions? Many scholars have reacted to some of these questions at different forums and journals. Nzewi (2007:117) and Okafor and Okafor (2009:18) reported that the curricular are western and that those who underwent the programme were wrongly oriented and trained to rely solely on Western concepts and models of music and music education. This fact is reiterated by Abiodun (2008: 80) who decried that our school music programmes produced many ‘African-Western Musicians’ who after training as pianists, flutists, violinists, etc. are still the apostles of such western instruments in all over the places in Nigerian classrooms and music industry. The resultant effect is that Nigeria musical instruments are not taught in Nigeria classrooms since their teachers and educators have little or no knowledge about the teaching and the musical practices. These among other reactions indicate that individuals are irked by the situation of the profession. Their submissions clearly indicate that the school music programmes are still western-oriented in process and product. They also agreed that music education should be society-oriented so that the graduates of Nigerian school music programmes would be able to serve Nigerian music culture while fending for their selves through music. This paper advocates a remedial action through the indigenization of the curricular of all the tiers of the nation’s educational strata, instructional strategies and materials- instruments and repertoires, and the re-orientation of serving music teachers so that the teaching and learning processes will

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International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews Vol.7 No.1, April 2017; p.24 – 34, (ISSN: 2276-8645) be akin to what obtains in the society. This way the learners can be guided by the musical presence in their communities outside school hours to better achievements. In other words, active participation in the communal musical activities will buttress what they learn in school; direct their choice of specializations; abate stage fright and prepare them to participate in music making as a cultural manifest. We must never forget that innovations should be built on well-established foundations. The nationalistic spirit made many music masters write master pieces from the musical idioms of their cultures; why should our schools use their repertoires as the ideal for our children in the classrooms? There is an urgent need for the music educators to advocate for curricular that will benefit the musical heritage and culture of the tax payers whose monies pay their salaries by equipping their children to leave the school work-ready.

Theoretical Framework In the course of the research on Teachers’ involvement in the unpopularity of music as a school subject in Nigerian schools (Anya-Njoku, 2014) students revealed that the music instructions and types of music they meet in the classrooms are far from what they know as music and their expectations of music lessons. The teachers on their part confessed that what they were taught at teacher-training is far from what they are expected to teach in schools. This confirms Nzewi’s (1983:94) opinion that “what transpires in music education courses in our colleges and universities is a most dishonest hoax: lame lecturers leading blind students into mental-spiritual quagmire". The implication of the opinion above is the apparent mediocrity of the music teachers due to the poor and very little preparation they were given at teacher training institutions to handle African/Nigerian music in the classrooms. Consequently, there is an urgent necessity for policy makers and the implementers to come to terms with Swamwick (1988:10) assertion that Pupils are inheritors of a set of cultural values and practices, needing to master relevant skills and information in order to take part in musical affairs. Teachers (should be) confident to pass on their knowledge and skills within these boundaries with the impact of actual music-making and music- taking relating to experiences outside of school. The reference above attest to the fact that every society has its own principal music, and knows and responds to their music with a kind of common understanding, in the way they communicate through their own language (Nettl, et al, 2001:6). Thus, the colonial masters relived the fact that music is a “cultural expression determined, moulded, interpreted, and dressed or coloured by culture and cultural environment of the people” (Okafor, 2005:120). In other words, they were foreigners and so could not appreciate our traditional music because the experiences necessary for its appreciation were lacking. Therefore, perceiving only “queer scales, outlandish intervals, weird singing, and ear-shattering instruments” (Greenway, 1997), they proceeded to provide music that matched the taste imposed on them by their culture. Music instructions were organized to indoctrinate the learners into the European musical culture. The effect was singers and players who could not defend the rationale of the ‘how’s’ and ‘whys’ of their performances since they were forced to assimilate and accept a system that should have on them the same excruciating effect the traditional musical traits had on the colonial masters for which the traits were discarded. Moreover, whatever music they were able to make was solely for the benefit of the colonial masters, the society at large could not partake in them because of the fundamental difference in the choice of underlying musical elements of the two musical cultures. The heartbeat of African music is rhythm. Africans stress rhythmic complexity and the concept of improvised variation while western music explores pervasive system of harmony and form. Moreover, the alterity in the instrumental resources of the two cultures is also clear indicia of the disparity in the musical tastes of the two societies. Furthermore, whereas to the westerners music should be an “enjoyable auditory experience” (Nettl, et al, 2001:6 & Greenway, 1977:18), Africans view music as an inclusive element and way of life and living. Therefore, It is evident that whereas our indigenous music was so “unpleasant as to give them physical pain” Greenway (1997), theirs were so dulled and over-formalized to lure us to sleep at noonday. Consequently, the colonial masters’ system of music education and its Nigeria-coated version can never produce the type of music graduates Nigeria needs to function effectively in her music culture because the process has remained incompetent to align the learners to their musical culture. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a review of all school music curricular in all the tiers of the Nation’s educational system bearing the society in mind. The learners who are guided from the known to the unknown will not only be active participants in the classes but stand better chances of getting labels for what nature endowed them with and integrate new concepts as they come on the sure foundation of what they already know. In other words, this proposition will enable learners internalize the ideals of their society and confronted with new ideas, they will be in better standpoints to assent to modifications,

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International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews Vol.7 No.1, April 2017; p.24 – 34, (ISSN: 2276-8645) innovations, changes, and even the abdication of the undesirable ideas and elements of the society’s music. Moreover, studying music from the society’s cultural values and practices will provide then all the incentives they need to be active participants in their cultural ceremonies, thereby paving the way for those who are billed to pursue music as a vocation to have steady progress. The Beginning of and State of School Music Education in Nigeria Many scholars and schools of thought proffered various definitions for education according to their philosophical backgrounds, for the purpose of this discourse, the writer wishes to adopt the classical definition given the Council of Churches at her conference in 1947. They defined education as The process by which the community seeks to open its life to all the individuals within it to enable them to take their part in it. It attempts to pass on to them its culture, including the standard by which it would have them live. Where that culture is made to impose it on their younger minds, where it is viewed as a stage in development, younger minds are trained both to receive it and improve upon it (accessed 28/03/2013). This definition is reaffirmed by Sadker and Sadker (2005:132) in their definition of education as “the system through which a country transmits matches and advances its own views of history, its own values, its self-interest, and its own culture”. From the two references above, a definition for music education could read; the process through which the society transmits her musical knowledge and values to her citizens to enable them to participate in, advance and improve on them as the need arises. As a cultural phenomenon, each society creates the kind of music it needs for its particular rituals and cultural events, to support its social system, and thus, to reflect its principal values. Reiterating this fact, Nettl, et al (2001) declared that “ each society has its own principal music, and the members of a society know and respond to their music with a kind of common understanding , in the way they communicate with their language. . . and which it evaluates by its own criteria” (p.6). Therefore, music education in the schools needs to be built on the musical needs of the society first, before introducing foreign concepts. Music, which is the most articulate, expressive, communicative and vibrant of all the arts that makes physical, mental and emotional appeals to human beings has been a viable agent for socialization and education in Africa. This utilitarian art form has been propagated because it is the embodiment of personal to societal emotions, values, sentiments, norms, ideas, philosophies, policies, and so on in our societies. The traditional system of music education ensured the provision of manpower for performances, preservation and promotion of the music in the traditional societies. The system of education which still exists in various forms in both the rural and urban centres operates the apprenticeship method of training in which the learner is attached to the home or office/workshop of his/her teacher until graduation. The success of this system of education manifested in the rich musical cultural heritage of Africa- the songs, dances, vast array of instruments, music ensembles and music instrument technologists. (Little wonder, popular artistes embrace the system to sharpen their talents and stage their acts). The prominent position of music as a veritable cultural force was brought under pressure by the advent and activities of the European colonial masters. The impact of their presence was summed up by Akpabot (1986) in the following words: “A revolution in a given society involves change in the behavioural patterns of the people… In Nigeria, the advent and activities of colonialists and foreign trading companies greatly eroded indigenous cultural values… in education, religion, and social interactions causing a change in societal behavioural patterns” (p. 86). Nigerians came under the influence of the type of education, religion, trade, travel and technological advancements which have broadened man’s socialization to the extent that many people of the world have been exposed to the clues that aid the comprehension of cultural traits of other people and places. This encounter marked the commencement of formal education in Nigeria. Formal education has honestly helped in the development of the nation’s structures, institutions and manpower in many areas of life and living. Unfortunately, this system marked by guiding learners to memorize facts and figures they do not comprehend has continued to exist in many subject areas in Nigerian schools especially in music education. Whereas this system worked and succeeded in many disciplines like the social sciences, it has continued to fail in music education because unlike those sciences, although, music is a universal phenomenon it is not a universal language. In a nutshell, musical appreciation and application are succoured principally on man’s innate tendencies. Everything about music: concept, content and performance portray it as art of the people, by the people and for the people. All musical works are most often identified by and ascribed to cultural groups, especially in Africa, before efforts are made to acknowledge the individual composer. Thus, music and culture are interwoven. As a cultural phenomenon, each society creates the kind of music it needs for its particular rituals and cultural events, to support its social systems, and thus, to reflect its principal values. Musicians are expected to create and perform music

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International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews Vol.7 No.1, April 2017; p.24 – 34, (ISSN: 2276-8645) that is aesthetically suitable to meet the musical needs of society based on its prescribed idioms and conventions. This accounted for why the initial contact and impression our indigenous culture and music had on the European colonizers and missionaries was chaotic. The colonizers were confronted head on by the fact that music is culture-specific in terms of concept, construct and usage. Their inability to comprehend and appreciate our music led them to declare our music barbaric/pagan. They discarded the music, musical instruments and the traditional pragmatic and wholesome system of education which they replaced with an educational process meant to provide the assistants/personnel needed in governance and for the production of the type of music that will suit their taste based on the labelling processes of their mother-culture. The products from their instructions were put to use in church and state as singers and players of music that did not have aesthetic appeal to the performance practices of the society. They merely sang/played as a point of duty because the training was actually one of the outlets for the Europeans’ plot to “uproot the African people from their religious and cultural past, without any effort to integrate and preserve the positive aspects of their traditional culture and religion” (Onwuchulum, 2013:9). Unfortunately, this marked the beginning of formal music education in Nigeria. A programme where the learners were neither entrenched in the culture of their societies nor into the foreign culture because the education they were exposed to was a shallow process where they were encouraged to memorize information necessary for their engagement as players and singers in the religious, state or social activities of the colonial masters without the understanding of the basics of the profession. This system of music education has continued to be the practice in all the tiers of the educational strata of the nation. The continued effect of this system is aptly reflected by Nzewi (2007) in the following text; Considering that any who have received some disciplinary training whatsoever were wrongly oriented and trained to rely solely on western concepts and models of music and music education… The training of modern African music educators is stuck in the dark ages of western music education it has copied in which most music teachers are not equipped to bring about a re- generation of African heritage (p. 117). The blame on colonization for the inability of school music education to produce the required manpower for the promotion and development of the musical culture has been addressed by many other scholars. Okafor and Okafor (2009) decried that The formal system of music education can be said to exist in the post-primary and the tertiary institutions. Here, music was more general and more western … the curriculum aid more stress on western music and music of Euro-American cultures than African music and music of other groups… the curriculum is well designed to produce a musician of the world and the musician of the world (can) not become a musician of the Nigerian society … people who are of international standards, at least in theory, but who are not exposed to the cultures of the peoples (p. 18). From the references above, one can deduce that the music education practised in Nigerian schools is not suitable because its western-educated teachers and western-oriented curriculum have not been able to uphold our musical culture and so cannot promote an honest re-generation of same. Our music cultural heritage is fast fading away like most languages in Nigeria. Above all people from other professions who embrace a modified form of the pragmatic system of traditional music education with practising musicians sharpen their talents, visit the studios and come forth as super stars while music graduates wield certificates seeking for government employment. The table below buttresses this point.

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SELECTED POPULAR NIGERIAN MUSICIANS AND THEIR PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND

S/N STAGE NAME BIOLOGICAL NAME EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND 1. David Adedeji Adeleke Business Administration 2. Chidinma Ekile Sociology 3. D’banj Oladapo Daniel Oyebanjo Mechanical Engineering 4. Micheal Collins Ajereh Business Management 5. Mawumi Omowumi Megbele Law 6. J. Martins Martins Okey Justice Mass Communication 7. P. Square Peter and Paul Okoye Business Administration 8. John R. Njenna Office Management & Tech 9. Ayodeji Balogun Ibrahim Dropped from L. C. U. 10. Yemi Alade Lawal Geography 11. Asa Bukola Elemide Music 12. Tuface Innocent Ujah Idibia Business Administration 13. BankyWest Olubukola Wellington Engineering 14. Flavor Chinedu Okoli Izuchukwu Studied drums- Sound city 15. Azubuike Nelson Chibuzor Public Administration 16. Mbuk Iyanya Onoyom Business Management 17. TerryG Gabriel Oche Amanyi Choirboy/Mother 18. Olamide Adedeji Mass Communication 19. Tiwatope Savage-Balogun Business Management 20. Enitimi Alfred Odon Sec. School 21. Frank Edwards Frank Ugochukwu Edwards Lessons from Father 22. Sinachi Osinachi Kalu Physics 23. Ty Bello Toyin Shokefun Economics 24. Lara George Omolara George Law 25. Mr. Incredible Jude Abaga Business/Economics 26. Duncan Mighty Duncan Mighty Okechukwu Audio Engineering 27. Kingsley Chinweike Theatre Arts Okonkwo 28. Patrick Nnaemeka Okorie Uncertain 29. IIIbliss Tochukwu Melvin Ejiofor Political Science 30. Naeto C Naetochukwu Chikwe Biology & Economics 31. 9ice Alexander Ajifola Law 32. Dr Sid Sidney Onoride Esiri Dental Surgery 33. Aituaje Aina V.Ebele Iruobe Social Work 34. Waconzy Anyanwu Obinna Kelvin Project Management 35. Sound Sultans Olarenwaju Fasasi Geog. & Reg. Planning 36. Chinyere Udoma Chinyere Udoma Mass Communication 37. Eldee Lanre Dabiri Architecture 38. Harry Songs Harrison Tare Okiri Sec. School 39. Kiss Daniel Oluwatobi D. Anudugbe Water Engineering 40. Niyola Eniola Akimbo English Language 41. Timi Dakolo Timi Dakolo Communication Studies 42. Augustine Miles Kelechi Online Music 43. Solidstar Joshua Iniyezo Sec. School 44. Brymo Olawale Ashimi Zoology 45. Muma Gee Iyumane Gift Eke Political Science 46. Rugged Man Micheal Stephen Political Science 47. Sasha Anthonia Yetunde Alabi Law 48. J’odie Joy Odiete Eseoghene Mass Communication 49. Uche Agu Uchechukwu Godstime Agu Law 50. Rapdibia Omeje Ebuka Music

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51. Olu Maintain Olumide Edwards Adegbolu Accountancy 52. Marshal Morgan Cynthia M Ikponmwenosa Uncertain 53. Wande Cool Oluwatope Wande Ojosipe Curriculum Studies 54. Vildee Ngwu Victor Economics 55. Eva Elohor Eva Alordia Computer Science 56. Raflee Rapheal Ugong Agric. Science 57. Dj Xclusive Rotimi Alajija Physics/Comp Science 58. Niger Raw Okechukwu Oteke Uncertain 59. Paushak Zamani Zoology 60. Femi Kuti Olufemi O. Anikulapokuti Father’s Influence

This table was built by randomly picking sixty pieces of the papers containing names of popular musicians from a carton. The result is self-explanatory. Out of the sixty subjects, only two (1.2%) undertook a level of formal education in music as a course of study; three (1.8%) were influenced by musical parents; while the remaining (97%) studied music informally from performing musicians or studios based on the needed skill. There are indications that many of them could boast of their songs only while the studios provided both the accompaniments and the accompanists. The table above gives an insight into the state of school music graduates in Nigeria. Going by Nigeria’s quest for a “functional education that will be relevant, practical and comprehensive for her needs (FGN, 2004:7), it is quite glaring that “school music programmes in Nigeria have failed to equip learners with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes in music that will foster the interest and ability of the learner to be useful to himself and his society musically” (Anya-Njoku (2007:56). Although some people may argue that there are other areas of specialization in music besides performance, this write-up maintains that there is no solid evidence of the success of these areas in Nigeria. We still look forward to when the breakthroughs of the musicologists will leave their institutions’ libraries and get into the markets; similarly, we look forward to when the compositions of our art-music composers will move from school auditoriums and churches to the streets. There is an urgent need for redress so that the musical culture will be saved from total extinction by relating school music to the community’s musical culture so that music education, like other disciplines will start generating trained personnel to meet the needs of the society. Musically, if learners are aligned to their cultural heritage before being exposed to foreign cultural traits and practices, there will be increased learning because learning from known to the unknown will incorporate practical demonstrations on how we do it, and learners can build vocations with constant practice and guidance from parents and relations outside the classrooms. Theory without practice is the bane of the school music programme in Nigeria. The Substratum of School Music Education in Nigeria and the Resultant Unproductivity The record of a preliminary survey on the professional background of some popular musicians in the country above is a clear indication that school music education in Nigeria with only 1.2% has failed to generate the needed personnel to maintain, preserve and advance the musical culture. Many scholars have affirmed the challenges and inadequacies of the programmes in books, journals and other publications. Nzewi (1983); Okafor (1991); Faseun (1993); Obidike (2001); Idolor (2001); and Ekong (2008) among others noted that the music curricula in Nigeria are western oriented. Joel (2000) added that both the activities and materials for teaching were western. While Agu (1990) posited that “virtually all the song types recommended for learning have nothing to do with the future growth and need of the Nigerian students” (p.3). Similarly, Nnamani (2007) alleged that “virtually no department of music in Nigeria is known to give instructions in indigenous musical instruments” (pp. 119). Most of the scholars however agreed that the instrumental supplies comprised of mainly western instruments. These instruments are reported also to be either too old or insufficient for the much needed practices for effective music education. In summary, Vidal (2008), enunciated that The absence of instructional materials and trained teachers in western classical music tradition coupled with absence of relevance to Nigerian cultures and tradition made it difficult if not totally impossible for many interested candidates in music to offer music as a subject at school certificate level (p. 11). Vidal’s position was confirmed in a study carried at some Federal Government Colleges in the country (Anya-Njoku, 2014) in which data from interviews, classroom observations and questionnaires revealed that the major reason why learners choose Fine Arts over music as components of Cultural and Creative Arts is because the music teachers are not able to sustain students’ interest in music in the various classes. Teachers teach what the curriculum and external examinations syllabi prescribe without practical; because for them, it is more important to complete the work for a particular term and give examinations to retain

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International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews Vol.7 No.1, April 2017; p.24 – 34, (ISSN: 2276-8645) their jobs. However, it was evident that they were teaching the way they were taught. They could not give the practice they did not get at the teacher- training institutions. The students on their parts were bold to say that music is “the white man’s subject”. According to them, there is no semblance between what they are taught with what they know as music and expected in music study. The lack of music ensembles (choir, dance, band, etc.) and musical illustrations in classes is responsible for the unpopularity of music as school subject and as an element of general education. From the foregoing discourse, it is obvious that the condition of music education in Nigeria has been a matter of concern to music scholars, and that all the recommendations they made have not redressed the situation. Therefore, it has become imperative to identify the exact problem of school music education in Nigeria. Our policy makers ignored the fact that reference to music as a universal language is a fallacy because the proper understanding and appreciation of any musical work is enabled either by the position of the receiver as a member of the society where the music emanated from and who has the knowledge of the labelling processes of her/his culture; or by a learning process which has placed the listener in the position to appreciate the inherent elements in the piece of music as a work of art generally or with regards to that particular society. Therefore, music is a universal phenomenon but not a universal language. In a nutshell, musical design, appreciation and application are succoured principally on man’s innate tendencies. This accounted for why the initial contact and impression our indigenous culture and music had on the European colonizers and missionaries was chaotic. All they reportedly perceived were only “queer scales, outlandish intervals, weird singing, and ear-shattering instruments . . . (As) unpleasant as to give them physical pain” Greenway (1997). Thus giving credence to the assertion by Swanwick (1980:90) that it is undeniable that our perception of and reaction to music is influenced by the position it seems to occupy in a value framework.

The crux of the problem Nigerians who showed prospects for high calling in music were given the opportunity to study music in various institutions of learning in Europe. Most of them were selected either from church choirs (that is on the platform of Christianity), or taken from members of some colonial ensemble; it is therefore likely many of these pioneer scholars ‘dropped’ the cultural values of their societies before they embarked on the programmes. Some of them studied in music institutions while some studied music under Anthropology. They came back to form the pioneers and policy makers for school music education in Nigeria. The blame on colonization for the inability of school music education to produce the required manpower for the promotion and development of the musical culture is unfair. When the colonial masters were leaving, there was neither law nor treaty that those trained here or those educated abroad must produce/practice/perform only western oriented music or the music they were playing for them as colonialists. Similarly, there is no record of the bond bearing the order that they must promote western musical traits instead of African idioms the educational institutions. Vidal (2008:13) noted that the legacy resulting from our contacts with European Christian religion and culture created individuals who are bi-cultural which resulted in bi-musicalism. The big question is: “how come the western aspect of their bi-musical experience swallowed or suppressed the African aspect”? It is a matter of choice. They are aware of the need to relate school music to the community’s musical culture by aligning learners musically to their cultural heritage first before exposing them to foreign cultures since music education, like other disciplines is expected to generate trained personnel to meet the musical needs of the society. Typically, they have chosen to remain Western-Africans, the ones Nzewi (1999) portrayed aptly as Africans (who) have recklessly abandoned their human essence and cultural values while gobbling up the modern publicity-hoisted cellophonic cultures of Western thoughts and life styles . . . these are suffering from unrelieved mental disequilibrium as well as identity submersion syndrome – a pathological case of modern self-mental-enslavement (Nzewi, 1997). The music curricular they produced for the nation’s school systems which reflect their ideologies are alien to the nation’s traditional music practices; therefore, the resultant effect is that this profession has so far produced scores of prominent musicologists, thousands of music educators, scores of performers who are proficient in western oriented music (which appeal only to people exposed to western culture somehow), insignificant technologists, and a music industry that is occupied principally by people who never wrote their names on a school music class register. Conclusion Our musical cultural heritage is fast fading away like most languages in Nigeria.

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Western-educated teachers and western-oriented curriculum have not been able to uphold our musical culture and so cannot promote its advancement. Music is a cultural phenomenon. In Africa, it is not just an art per se but a part of life, therefore, music education should be built on the foundation of the society whose members are supposed to be equipped thereby to become responsive members of the society musically. The reaction of the colonial masters as noted above is a clear indication that music is culture- bound. The disparity between African and Western music is captured by Nzewi (2012) The term music in (western) circles is recognized as a discrete sonic category of creativity . . . in Africa, the sonic phenomenon, music, is recognized but not normally conceived, rationalized, presented and analyzed as an isolated creative/performative enterprise. It is an integral of a holistic creative-performative synthesis of the sonic, the choreographic, the dramatic and the material-art siblings . . . In its original integrity and justification as a performative phenomenon the musical arts (of Africa) expressed a culture’s philosophy of life (p.3).

The reference above clearly discloses the contrast in the conception of music between the two cultures: whereas western culture conceives music as a sonic phenomenon that is to be enjoyed, Africans view music as an expressive cultural phenomenon loaded with its philosophy of life which is appreciated in the context of its presentation. In Africa, it is conceptualized as a series of actions linked to particular people, moments or contexts which reflect the past and present values of the people; unlike in the western culture where music is conceived as a “reproducible sound object that can be, and is, isolated and abstracted as a thing in itself. Recordings and written scores facilitate thinking about music as an object that can be purchased, consumed, collected and copyrighted” (Nettl, et al, 2011:173). Similarly, the difference in the choice and application of musical elements is evident in most music genres of the two cultures. This disparity has been expressed by some eminent scholars. Greenway (1997) noted that In Africa where much of the cultural energy is channelled into developing the incipient rhythmic force, an infant strapped on the mother’s back absorbs both the sound and rhythm as she goes about her chores and reproduces same as soon as s/he walks. In western world this natural sense is quickly imprisoned within form and the child learns music as a discipline if s/he learns it at all (p.1). In the same vein, Nettl, et al, (2001:13) posited that “Western music developed its pervasive system of harmony . . . (while) African peoples stress rhythmic complexity and the concept of improvised variation”. Furthermore, form in indigenous African music transacts humanity and contextual objectives whereas form in western music is rationalized and discussed solely in discrete musical terms anchored on mood contrasts (Nzewi, 2012:9). Therefore, considering the differences in the conception of music by the two cultures, it is quite evident that the imposition of western-patterned music education has been foolhardy .School music education in Nigeria failed to produce favourable results because the aesthetic nature of music demands personal commitment of the teacher to the musical background of the learners/society since “the formal programme of teacher education is mounted on the foundation of embedded images and conceptions shaped by personal, cultural, institutional, and historical forces” (Weber and Mitchel, 1995). Therefore, if what formal teacher education does is to fertilize the musical experiences imprinted by life and school and channel the connate tendencies for proper use in the classrooms (Cole and Knowles, 1993:459, and Brand, 2002:29), music education in the schools cannot produce desired results since the foundational knowledge was abandoned and the new structure/ideas are alien thus upholding Nzewi’s (2007) assertion noted earlier in this paper. The consequence is that the learners are unable to absorb the lessons because they cannot place them in the context of their inherited knowledge; just as the teachers cannot deliver since they are handicapped by their inability to operate from and build on the foundational knowledge of the learners. Popular musicians’ appreciate the rhythmic basis of African music; and discerning that strong rhythm naturally incites dancing or a sort of movement; while melodic predominance induces listening; have manipulated the intricacies of rhythm to produce works that have kept the music industry alive. Dance bands have superseded music bands and dancers parade themselves as musicians because of the vacuum created by unproductive music education and school music graduates. The fact is these actors are after the money they bail in from music. Only wholesome music education can raise music practitioners who will show the needed commitment to the wellbeing of music as a profession and the society’s musical culture in terms of maintenance, advancement, innovation and exportation in the spirit of nationalism and the present era of technological availabilities.

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Recommendation The only way music education in Nigeria can become “functional education that will be relevant, practical and comprehensive for her needs” (FGN, 2004:7), is by channelling the programme to the musical needs of the nation. There is an urgent need to stop theorizing and pragmatically restructure the curriculum, instructional strategies/materials and upgrade the teachers so that graduates of school music can be groomed to become self-reliant and relevant to the society. Curriculum planning review and restructure committees should be constituted with the input of music teachers and music professional bodies so that goals and objectives for each tier of the educational strata will matched with the appropriate contents and strategies.

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