All Music Is Music EK Submission
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
“All Music is Music”: Reconciling Musical Cultures of Origin with Music Identities in Collegiate Programs of Tanzania A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Emmanuel Samwel Kaghondi MM, B.A., Dip.Th IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dr. Akosua Addo, Ph.D. Research Supervisor August 2019 © 2019 Emmanuel Samwel Kaghondi ALL RIGHTS RESERVED i Acknowledgements As per Newton: “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of, giants.” The only response to my accomplishment is my gratitude for what others have sacrificed for me. It all started with a five-day trip from Texas, where I was finishing up my master’s degree, to Minnesota, where I was invited to speak and work with the Church choir at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Owatonna. In Phil and Kim Williams’s home, when I entered, I was a stranger, when I woke up, I was a family member, and when I left, I was an adopted son. “One step at a time” as Phil would say, two years later, I was in the same room in the basement as a doctoral student. I am grateful for their radical hospitality, financial support, and more importantly, for adopting my family and me. I am very grateful to Pr. John Weisenburger, his staff and community of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church for every material, spiritual and social support given to us without which our living here would not be possible. Their kindness is impossible to explain in simple words. To Bishop Steve Delzer and his SEMS staff for embracing us in many ways, and to the many who worked hard in the background to make sure this ‘beast’ is carried to the end. Special thanks to the University of Minnesota Graduate School for accepting me in their competitive doctoral program and awarding me a fellowship to pursue the ii doctorate. I am grateful to the faculty in the Music Education Department, especially my research supervisor and advisor – Dr. Akosua Addo. Her criticism, laughter, friendly push, and encouragement got me this far. I appreciate inputs and moments shared with Dr. David Myers – my research committee chair, committee members: Dr. Keitha Hamann, Dr. Robert Poch, and all professors assisting in my studies and interactions. If this work is at all successful, then it is because of their intellect shared and the family- ship created in those buildings. My fellow Ph.D. students and the whole “shoebox” crew also deserve thank yous for keeping each other going. I was grateful to work with such excellent collogues, which I now call friends. Thanks to Prof. Joseph Parsalaw, the Vice Chancellor of Tumaini University Makumira (TUMA) in Tanzania and his whole staff for their support in the initial processes of this program. Many thanks to the music faculty at TUMA as well as the Head of department Rev. Seth Sululu. The time we shared has shaped this work in many ways. Many thanks to the leadership of music programs at institutions where I conducted my research. More importantly, I am indebted to all who provided information devoting their time, sharing their stories, and encouraging me to adopt this project. Thanks to Neil Dodd, who offered to proofread my paper (although I am still responsible for any mistakes that might appear). To those who raised funds for expenses—some repaired my car and some babysat my children—I thank you all. Last but not least, if I was not surrounded by a loving wife iii Deborah and children Mercy and Abner, this whole “thing” would not work. There is nothing that makes me prouder than seeing them around our table. I hope you will now have your dad back – at least for now, pending the next great adventure. Now that I have made so many friends, family members, collogues and neighbors; if those who lifted me to this mountain have never been here themselves, it is because they trusted my view from the top. Mwajëfya, Asante, Thank you. iv Dedication To my children Mercy and Abner, and to all children in Tanzanian schools - “It isn’t the mountain ahead to climb that wears you out; it’s the grain of sand in your shoes.” A great future is rewritten by disrupting a diminishing past. v Abstract Post-colonial Tanzania has not reconciled the significant disconnect in music education between indigenous and Western music experience in higher education. Students with indigenous music experiences from the village struggle to acquire the Western-centered formal education as offered in academia. The critical dichotomy between the two learning contexts raised the question: In what ways have higher education institutions in Tanzania embraced the indigenous music and reconciled music-cultures in the attempt to offer musical-arts education? The purpose of the study was to understand how Tanzania is responding to the quest for musical cultures reconciliation by exploring the relationship between students’ indigenous music education and the experiences at two institutions with varying curricula models. Therefore, a phenomenological method was used to investigate students’ lived experience. The findings indicated that the current music curricula are the replica of Western curriculum models where music students find themselves in curricula that constitute abstract intellectual territory. The nature of musical knowledge transmission requires graduating music students to relearn in the village in order to face their musical world. Acknowledging the significance of students prior musical experiences and Western music in the academia, the need for a curriculum that bridges disparate music cultures and provides a constructivist approach to learning is central in Tanzanian higher education. The community- integrated music curriculum is proposed to close gaps in student learning experiences. vi Keywords: Tanzanian indigenous music, curriculum, post-colonial education, music-cultures vii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. i Dedication .............................................................................................................. iv Abstract ................................................................................................................... v List of Tables: ....................................................................................................... xii List of Figures: .................................................................................................... xiii Chapter One: INTRODUCTION AND SETTING ............................................ 1 The Research Background .................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problems .................................................................................... 7 Research Objectives ............................................................................................. 10 Key Questions ....................................................................................................... 11 Definition of the Key Terms ................................................................................ 12 Etic/emic: ....................................................................................................................... 13 Enculturation: ................................................................................................................ 14 Formal: ........................................................................................................................... 14 Hybridization (also fusion): ........................................................................................... 14 Syncretism: .................................................................................................................... 15 Outsider-Insider: ............................................................................................................ 15 Indigenous music (also traditional music): .................................................................... 15 Significance of the Study ..................................................................................... 16 Scope and Limitations ......................................................................................... 17 Partial Conclusion ................................................................................................ 18 Chapter Two: MUSIC - CULTURES, EDUCATION AND PEDAGOGY IN TANZANIA: A SURVEY OF RELEVANT LITERATURE ................................ 19 Section I: Indigenous Music - Cultures .............................................................. 21 Conceptualizing indigenous music. ............................................................................... 22 Music as Muntu-a Person .............................................................................................. 33 Ngoma/Utamaduni: As Ethnic, Culture and Cultural Artifact ...................................... 39 viii Ngoma /Tamasha la Utamaduni as a Sonic Event and Pedagogical Materials ............ 47 Section II: Education System in Tanzania (Africa) .......................................... 58 Performing the Region ................................................................................................... 58 A Note on Tanzania ....................................................................................................... 60 Cultural Education System ............................................................................................ 61 A Survey of a Formal Education ..................................................................................