Description
Community music-making brings people together via performance and participation. The convergence of Ethnomusicology and Music Education provides a symbiotic exchange of knowledge acquired via transmissions processes and transferred to learning/pedagogical frameworks in both non-formal and formal education settings. This intersection of Applied Ethnomusicology and Music Education experience presents us with a dynamic engagement that ensures the sustainability of musical arts, particularly in contemporary contexts.
In Ethnomusicology, transmission processes are typical via oral tradition, with the community musicians playing an active role. The participatory nature of this engagement is marked by collaborative relationships, with these community artists/specialists demonstrating the vital role that music plays in community engagement and development.
Daniel Sheehy, in his article Music, the Public Interest and Public Ethnomusicology (1991) outlining four strategic aims of Applied Ethnomusicology, mentions that the public sector ethnomusicologist's work is as a musical activist, which provides a model for music-making in the community to happen by and for the people.
Patricia Shehan Campbell and Lee Higgins two recognized authorities on community music-making, in their 2015 joint publication Intersections between Ethnomusicology, Music Education and Community Music point out that often tertiary educators invite local musicians and culture-bearers into the classroom, as a way to diversity program content delivery by encouraging learning from collaborative teams of ethnomusicologists and educators. Similarly, Susan Herrick in Strategies and Opportunities in the Education Sector for Applied Ethnomusicology (2015) points out the benefits when formal education partners with community organisations and professional musicians, using resources to supplement and enrich the diversity of pedagogical methods and interchange of knowledge. This presentation marries perspectives drawn from Applied Ethnomusicology and Music Education, providing a framework towards the sustainability of musical arts in Africa.
