University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 The History and Perception of Music Education in Kuwait Youssif Abdullah Al Hassan Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Music Education Commons Recommended Citation Al Hassan, Youssif Abdullah, "The History and Perception of Music Education in Kuwait" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 31. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/31 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE HISTORY AND PERCEPTION OF MUSIC EDUCATION IN KUWAIT A Doctoral Dissertation presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctoral of philosophy in the Department of Music The University of Mississippi by YOUSSIF A. AL HASSAN July 2011 Copyright © 2011 by Youssif A. Al Hassan All rights reserved. ABSTRACT The present study sought to provide a detailed examination of the history and development of music education in Kuwait. The history of the four teacher-training institutions and music education in schools are discussed. That includes the history of the Music General Supervision Department and its music activities. Additionally, the study examined the perception of music education in Kuwait historically, and surveyed parents and students‟ perceptions of music and music education in Kuwait public schools. There were 244 students and 169 parents responses to 260 questionnaires. Parents were asked about their knowledge of the music education curriculum and students were asked if they like music and music education or not, and how would they feel if there is no music education in school. There were sixteen items compared between students and parents regarding interest in music, attitude toward music, and belief in music benefits. Results of the study indicate that parents know little of the music education curriculum and most of the students were positive in their answers toward music education. In the sixteen items compared between parents and students, there was a significant difference between them in fourteen items out of the sixteen. The study included comments and recommendations regarding parents and students perception. ii DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my lovely wife and daughters iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was completed with the assistance and support of many individuals to whom I offer my greatest gratitude. I thank my dissertation advisor, Dr. Alan L. Spurgeon for all the support and guidance through all stages of this study. I express my gratitude to Dr. Michael D. Worthy for his guidance and valuable direction. I am also grateful to Dr. John Latartara and Dr. Allen Clark for their thoughtful recommendations for this study. I express my deepest appreciation to Nedal al-Hassan for his endless support during the process of gathering the data and writing the dissertation. I am also grateful for Abdul-Aziz al- Mufarej and Muhammad al-Haddad for providing the necessary data to complete this dissertation. Finally, I am in debt to my father Abdullah Al Hassan and mother Latifa Abul for all their unconditional support. I am in debt for my lovely wife Sondos Kalendar and her parents for all the support they provided for me while obtaining my scholarship and during my study. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………….…..ii DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………….…..iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………………………………………………………………….…….iv LIST OF TABLES………………………………………………………………………….….....ix LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………….x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION…………………..…………………....……………..………….….. 1 Sea Folk Songs, Desert Folk Songs and Old Folk Songs……..….……….….…...1 Folk Instruments…………………………….…………….……..…………....…..2 The Nature of Kuwaiti folk music……..…………….….….…….………….…....3 Education in Kuwait………………………………....……….…...……….……...3 Purpose of the Study………….…....………………………….……………....…..7 The Need for the Study……………………………………….…………………...7 Structure of the Dissertation…………………………….….…………………......8 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE………………………......…...…..……......9 Music Education in Kuwait…..................………………………………….….....9 Egypt Music Education and the Arab Music Conferences...................................10 Kuwaiti Music Implementation in the School Curriculum……......………..…...12 Music Activities…...…………………………….……...………………….........13 v National Day Performances………………..………………………...………….14 Kuwait Music Institutions …………………………………………………..…..15 People Perception of Music and Music Education…….…............…….….…....17 3 THE CENTRALIZED EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, THE EDUCATIONAL SUPERVISION SYSTEM AND THE MUSIC SUPERVISION DEPARTMENT…..20 The Educational Supervision System……………………..……………….…....21 The General Supervisor…………………...…………………..………………...23 The Senior Supervisor……………...………………..……….…….…………....24 The Supervisor……………….…………………………..……………………...25 Music Supervisors and Music Supervision Department in Kuwait…………..…27 Abdul-Aziz al-Mufarej………………...……………………………..…..……...28 The Role of the General Music Supervisor…………………………..….…........29 Music Supervision Department……………………………………..…..……….30 Summary………………………………………………..…..………...…………31 4 THE BEGINNING AND DEVELOPMENT OF MUSIC IN KUWAIT SCHOOLS ……………………………………………………………….…...……….……...33 Music Curriculum Development from 1952 to 1972………………...…..………35 The History and Influence of Egyptian Music Education……………………….36 Arabic Music Conferences……………………………….……...………….……38 The Music Curriculum in Kuwait….……………………….…………....………41 Music Education from 1972 to 1990……………………..…………….…….....44 The Impact of the Iraqi Invasion…………………………………..…….……...46 Music Education after 1990……………………..……………………….……..47 Problems still need to be solved…..……………………………………….……51 vi Comparison of the current Kuwait and Egypt music education curricula in public schools…………………………………….……………….…………….51 Summary………………………………………………………….…….….……53 5 MUSIC ACTIVITIES IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION……..……………….55 Music Activities in the School Curriculum …………………………………….56 Music Choice……………………………………………………………………58 Summer Centers and Tourism Activities………………………………....……..60 Evening Classes…………………………………………………………………64 School Theater and Music Activities………………….…………...……………65 Students Orchestra Project……………………….………………………...……67 National Day Celebrations…………….…………………………...……………70 Summary………………………………………………………………….……..73 6 MUSIC TEACHER TRAINING INSTITUTIONS IN KUWAIT…………………....75 Teacher‟s Institutes, Teacher Education Institutes and College of Basic Education ………………………………………………….………………………….…..76 Teacher Education Institute………...…………………………………………...78 College of Basic Education Music Department………………………….……...79 The Institute of Musical Studies and the Higher Institute of Musical Arts…......81 The Higher Institute of Musical Arts…………………………………...…….…83 The HIMA New Curriculum………………………………….…………………86 Center for Musical Studies……………………………….……………………...88 Summary……………………………………………….………………………..91 7 PERCEPTION OF MUSIC AND MUSIC EDUCATION IN KUWAIT………...…..93 vii Method…………………………………..…………….…………………..…….99 Population and Sampling……………………..……………….……………...…99 Instrumentation……………………………………………………..………….100 Data Analysis…………………………………………………….…………….102 Results……………………………………………………………………….....103 Mann-Whitney Analysis……………………………...………………………..113 Qualitative Data……………………………………………………………......115 Discussion……………………………………………………………………...116 Limitation of the Study………………………………………………………...119 Student‟s and Parents‟ Comments…………………………………….….……119 Parent‟s Positive Comments………..…………………………………….……120 Parent‟s Negative Comments...…………………………………………...……120 Student‟s Comments…...……………………………………….………….…..120 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………..121 Summary………………….……………………………………………………122 8 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………..123 BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………….……..130 APPENDIX A: The Educational Council and the Ministry of Education…….…..138 APPENDIX B: The HIMA New Curriculum………………………….…….……142 APPENDIX C: University of Mississippi IRB permission …………………...….150 APPENDIX D: Parent‟s and Student‟s Questionnaires…….….………………….152 APPENDIX E: Five-Point Likert Scale Data.…………………………………….159 VITA…………………………………………………….……………………………162 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Some of the first teachers credited with developing the Music Education Curriculum...….45 2. Comparison between Kuwait and Egypt curricula general areas in six grades………….…52 3. Music teachers graduated from both teachers institutions………………………………….78 4. Student‟s class per week schedule in the IMS……………...……………………………....83 5. The deans of the HIMA since its foundation until the present……………………………..85 6. The class per week schedule for the CMS five semesters……………………………….…89 7. Research Questions in Relation to Specific Survey items…………………………….…..102 8. The reliability test results for each group of Items in the surveys………………….……..103 9. The complete demographic data for parents‟ participants in the survey…………….……104 10. The 16 items shared by students and parents surveys………………………………….….106 11. Test results for the 16 items compared between students and parents……………..……..114 12. Test results for the three categories compared between students and parents……....….…115 ix LIST OF FIGURE Figures 1. Some of the first Scouts in 1936…………………………………………….….……34 2. Maqam Rast written in a modified western notation……………………….……….42 3. Presentation of rhythms in the second grade…………………………………….…..50