Abstract
The need for a paradigm shift in African development blueprint is also a call for reform of certain critical aspects of education in Africa. In the main stream African studies, this need may be defined as the Africanization of the contents of Africa’s inherited modern educational system. Presently, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the study and practice of music as an integral agenda of African studies and African philosophy. Current educational reforms in both African studies and general education have continued to demand for this shift in the curriculum contents of mainstream African studies that have to do with the philosophy of music education. The trilology of music, philosophy and African studies are the identified three conceptual relevant disciplines where this call should be concentrated and worked out in good time. In essence, this article is a call for state tertiary institutions to “Africanize” music as a discipline, as an art and as a curriculum, using the philosophical analysis derived from the core principles of African studies. Philosophy will help the search for the Africanization of music education by giving it a safe human value base in African philosophy. We have argued in this paper that Western concepts of philosophy and aesthetic education currently taught in the 1950s failed to reflect the human values that are African and this failure and the need to reform their existing content informed the emergence of the centers of African research, renewal and studies known as Institutes of African studies in different Universities in Africa and Europe. Aesthetically speaking, music has a psychological role in culture, arts and the education of indigenous communities in Africa. Aesthetically, musical education based upon Western values alien to Africa has negative implications for the modern musical educational policies, curriculum and practice for the modern African state. From the analytical perspectives of both African Philosophy and African studies, we are able to argue and establish what should constitute the dynamics of new musical paradigm shift in Africa and to define the relevancy of music education to the African educational system, using analytical situation drawn from Nigeria examples in the study.
Highlights
Guilford (2004: p. 14) poses the question: Is Africa a lost cause? Has the colonial experience negatively distorted contemporary African development patterns? I would have added to that the question
According to scholars such as Okanfah (2009: p. 12), we have seen that, using both the Ghananian and Nigerian situational analysis that the Western concept of aesthetic education was dominating the curriculum of state tertiary schools across Africa and, since this does not augur well for the value upbringing and training of Africa’s future patriotic citizens, there is an urgent need to review and embed African communal values of African philosophy so that there will not be dangerous variance between the traditional village upbring up of African children and what they receive as undergraduates
Founded upon the agreed African philosophy for Africa grounded upon African thoughts and values, African studies, African philosophy and Music Departments in African must take up the tasks to develop the necessary pedagogical musical concepts, ideas, and notational styles
Summary
Guilford (2004: p. 14) poses the question: Is Africa a lost cause? Has the colonial experience negatively distorted contemporary African development patterns? I would have added to that the question. In the pre-colonial days, the traditional content and mode of musical training includes a long period of apprenticeship and exposition of basic African values to the young as a major component and method of the teaching-learning process Against this background, an examination today of the content and framework of the music curriculum across state tertiary institutions in Africa with its stated philosophy and objectives show a variance from that of the basic cultural notations, philosophy and values. Musical performances provide effective acculturative medium through which new members acquire community-shared skills and values In this regard, music constitutes an important educational forum through which members of the traditional Nigerian societies learn to live together as well as cope with the ever changing challenges of life. It is important to note that despite colonization and its attendant results on the socio-political and educational life of Nigeria, patterns of pre-colonial musical traditions still exist in great abundance in present-day Nigeria, especially in rural areas, with less significance on the life of the average Nigerian
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
