Giving Voice to Africans in Musical Arts Education Discourse
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| Title: | Giving Voice to Africans in Musical Arts Education Discourse |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Akosua Obuo Addo |
| Source: | Philosophy of Music Education Review. 2025 33(3):129-158. |
| Availability: | Indiana University Press. 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN 47404. Tel: 800-842-6796; Tel: 812-855-8817; Fax: 812-855-7931; e-mail: iuporder@indiana.edu; Web site: https://iupress.org/journals/pmer/ |
| Peer Reviewed: | Y |
| Page Count: | 30 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Journal Articles Reports - Descriptive |
| Descriptors: | Foreign Countries, Music Teachers, Music Education, Indigenous Knowledge, Curriculum, Politics of Education, Decolonization, Cultural Differences, Culturally Relevant Education, Colonialism, World History, Educational History, Global Approach |
| Geographic Terms: | Ghana |
| DOI: | 10.2979/pme.00029 |
| ISSN: | 1063-5734 1543-3412 |
| Abstract: | African music educators have been on a journey of indigenization, closing the gap between community arts experiences and school arts. However, although African music educators have advocated for indigenizing the musical arts curriculum, entanglements in western colonial art education models hinder designing a thoughtful indigenous curriculum and silence postcolonial voices in African schooling. My purpose is to analyze Ghana's political moments that have informed the increased interest in African arts expressions in schools. Using Kwasi Wiredu's "conceptual decolonization" notion, I outline how western music education models depart from African worldviews, notions of being, values, and knowledge. I advance three claims to support my argument that indigenizing the Ghanaian musical arts curriculum encourages music educators to embrace the complexity and breadth of African soundscapes, approaches to music-making, and the importance of African voices in arts education. |
| Abstractor: | As Provided |
| Entry Date: | 2025 |
| Accession Number: | EJ1488693 |
| Database: | ERIC |
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| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Url: https://content.ebscohost.com/cds/retrieve?content=AQICAHj0k_4E0hTGH8RJwT4gCJyBsGNe_WN95AvKlDbXJGqwxwGlIm1b3JPko0pv5PWH-3QDAAAA4zCB4AYJKoZIhvcNAQcGoIHSMIHPAgEAMIHJBgkqhkiG9w0BBwEwHgYJYIZIAWUDBAEuMBEEDC8VWqf_cpr8VDJNfgIBEICBmx8A6AxiL5n-SOgXk3_PUt0PXdL2KZVtE3uaMtkAmaZaPcXYVxos1pfemDBcsOHRgmrWSx93Rn8CgYdBzjUIDfAZ0s0JyZrcDdslG-UE_5x2CcsC4w7_tN3UkeIArlPG4sj-Xuish3IdHi3agQji7Go7t6djRuEMjS98Zs6L4pywHcSC2LL1nqUYwam-PhuiEkzGE9wv8BtbpO2- Text: Availability: 1 Value: <anid>AN0188848838;ga701oct.25;2025Oct27.05:56;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0188848838-1">Giving Voice to Africans in Musical Arts Education Discourse </title> <p>African music educators have been on a journey of indigenization, closing the gap between community arts experiences and school arts. However, although African music educators have advocated for indigenizing the musical arts curriculum, entanglements in western colonial art education models hinder designing a thoughtful indigenous curriculum and silence postcolonial voices in African schooling. My purpose is to analyze Ghana's political moments that have informed the increased interest in African arts expressions in schools. Using Kwasi Wiredu's "conceptual decolonization" notion, I outline how western music education models depart from African worldviews, notions of being, values, and knowledge. I advance three claims to support my argument that indigenizing the Ghanaian musical arts curriculum encourages music educators to embrace the complexity and breadth of African soundscapes, approaches to music-making, and the importance of African voices in arts education.</p> <p>Keywords: African art expressions; conceptual decolonization; Indigenization; Ghanaian musical arts curriculum; postcolonial African voices</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-2">Introduction</hd> <p>My purpose in this paper is to analyze the journey that has led to increased interest in African arts expressions in schools. African music educators have been on a long journey of indigenization, closing the gap between community arts experiences and school arts. Increasing African arts' presence in the curriculum and advocating for indigenizing the African musical arts curriculum will encourage African music educators to embrace the complexity and breadth of African soundscapes and approaches to music-making, and recognize the importance of African voices in arts education. The 'journey' here refers to the socio-political movements Africans experience with music education. Although African music educators have advocated indigenizing the musical arts curriculum, entanglements in western colonial art education models hinder designing a thoughtful indigenous curriculum and silence postcolonial voices in African schooling. I aim to analyze Ghana's socio-political moments that have informed the increased interest in African arts expressions in schools.</p> <p>Notions of education are distinct for Africans because we experience and conceptualize musical arts education as a natural part of our upbringing. Whether singing lullabies to our children, playing singing games and other playground games, or imitating musical performances we have observed at events, we experience musical arts education. We sing because we love to sing, dance because we engage our physical response to songs or sounds from instruments, and we play to highlight our artistic expressions of life. Our experiences define our musical arts and tell our story of what musical arts education means. Therefore, while analyzing the philosophical stances in social and political moments, I explore the broader issue of musical arts education and its indigenization in Africa. I argue that, although African music educators have advocated for indigenizing the musical arts curriculum, entanglements in western colonial art education models may hinder designing a thoughtful indigenous curriculum and silence their postcolonial voices in African schooling. Since I cannot discuss indigenization without addressing colonization, I begin this article by discussing Ghanaian Philosopher Kwasi Wiredu's "conceptual decolonization" in the context of Emeagwali and Dei's indigenization process. Five significant socio-political moments mark philosophical shifts in developing African Music Arts presence in education in the quest toward indigenization and closing the gap between community arts experiences and school arts. They are pre-colonial Ghana, the period of colonization, Flag independence, nation-building, and globalization. I will discuss these socio-political moments when I outline how Western music education models depart from African worldviews, notions of being, values, and knowledge. Then, I show how a thoughtful curriculum in musical arts education values indigenization and, finally, given our global reality, why music education scholars must prioritize "other" or "another" or "multiple" music teaching methods beyond our colonial legacy. While I use the collective "we" to connect my thoughts with Africans in music education, I acknowledge my lens as one of many. Also, recognizing the continent's diversity within its fifty-four countries demands a case approach to this discourse. As one born of Ghanaian heritage, I have chosen to focus on Ghana.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-3">Framing the Indigenization Process With Conceptual Decolonization</hd> <p>Educators and philosophers alike are interested in answering the question of "why indigenization" in Ghanaian musical arts education.[<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref1">1</reflink>] Before moving on, I must explain a few terms such as how I use "indigenization." Indigenous is a system of knowledge institutions people share, "indigeneity."[<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref2">2</reflink>] It is also a process, what Gloria Emeagwali and George J Sefa Dei call "indigenousness." For example, people share cultural identity through a shared language system, medical procedures, political regimes, musical arts processes, technology, and shared social practices. In this paper, however, I am interested in framing musical arts as sources of indigeneity and indigenousness. I turn to Ghanaian philosopher Wiredu, who speaks of the wealth of philosophical apothegms in our folklore and therein lies my argument for revisiting indigenization of musical arts education.[<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref3">3</reflink>] Among the Akan of Ghana, we use pictograms or ideograms called <emph>Adinkra</emph>, which have symbolic meanings.[<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref4">4</reflink>] If we are to describe indigenization as going back to draw on rich traditional mindsets, mores, aesthetics, practices, and so on for musical subject matter and instruction, we would be practicing <emph>Sankɔfa</emph>. We cannot deny, however, that we have mixed Western and African intellectual thought in our pedagogical choices because of colonialism's cultural imposition. Therefore, as we practice <emph>Sankɔfa,</emph> rejecting a colonial past in indigenizing the curriculum is impossible. Wiredu uses the empirical reality of the postcolonial identity of Ghana to discuss the usefulness of the past through independent thought and judgment, which he terms "due reflection."[<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref5">5</reflink>] Africans must unravel entanglement to make it possible to reimagine musical arts education.</p> <p>Ghanaian society progresses every day; therefore, we need to think ahead, <emph>Dwene Hwɛ Kan</emph>, to plan and set goals. Indigenization is not just about looking back <emph>Sankɔfa</emph> to look forward, <emph>Dwene Hwɛ Kan</emph>, but it is more about looking around you to engage the omnipresent—the all-seeing eye, cosmos, <emph>"Abɔde Santann."</emph> Indigenous knowledge is transformed over time because it resides in cultural memories and practices that also change over time.[<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref6">6</reflink>] We form and affirm our identities through arts, memories, and practices. Thus, Wiredu's conceptual decolonization helps discuss what is vital in reimagining musical arts education in Ghana. Wiredu defines conceptual decolonization as the "elimination from our thought of modes of conceptualization that came to us through colonization and remain[s] in our thinking owing to inertia rather than to our own reflective choice."[<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref7">7</reflink>] Therefore, when examining the indigenization journey of Ghanaian musical arts education, we "cannot live by decolonization alone but by directly interrogating reality."[<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref8">8</reflink>]</p> <p>Returning to Dei, there is a link between the decolonization of knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge, and development.[<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref9">9</reflink>] Like Wiredu, Emeagwali admits that the decolonization process for Sub-Saharan Africa can be challenging because it entails reclaiming, rethinking, reconstituting, rewriting, and validating indigenous knowledge. Accordingly, the challenges of the African academy are democratizing education, regenerating, and adapting old epistemologies to new postcolonial realities.[<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref10">10</reflink>] While Wiredu's discussion centers on the decolonization of language, there is reason to argue that using similar for African Musical arts. Therefore, how do we use Adinkra Symbol <emph>"Abɔde Santann"</emph> to embrace our resources for a musical arts identity reminiscent of our shifting tradition? A comparative approach works because it helps us put a lens on our current indigenization thoughts and see the possibilities of African inputs. Carefully critiquing the vitality of musical arts education conceptualization is deeply entrenched in western thought demands, asking about our existential notion of being and communal philosophy—pooling together thoughts of individual thinkers.[<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref11">11</reflink>] While Emeagwali discusses African artifacts in this deconstruction of the social processes that have held us colonized, there is no mention of music in her discourse. It is interesting, therefore, to examine the efforts African countries have made to include indigenous music in the curriculum as a form of decolonization.</p> <p>Several African educators believe society's history and social processes must define the curriculum.[<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref12">12</reflink>] Writers like Emily Achieng Akuno, Meki Nzewi, J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Eric Akrofi, Madimabe Geoff Mapaya, and James Flolu have defended the idea of relationships in African musical arts experiences as integral to honoring our traditions and existence.[<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref13">13</reflink>] I am inclined to agree with them. Yet, I must probe further. For example, in Nzewi's view, the relationships among African arts, decor, drama, cosmos, stylized language in poetry, bodies in motion, and sound expressions from humans and instruments are fundamental for African musical arts education.[<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref14">14</reflink>] This recognition of African social behavior in the arts reflects our desire to unify our epistemological practice with our ways of being. To do this, I would turn to J. H. Kwabena Nketia, who asks that we address African music's essence and meaning in context and the roles and values we ascribe to the music.[<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref15">15</reflink>] Perhaps, recognizing the social-cultural processes, functions, and values that have informed African musical arts helps us understand the curriculum's indigenization journey. For example, Flolu offers rethinking arts education from the standpoint of Ghanaian cultural values,[<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref16">16</reflink>] and Mapaya, writing on South African music education, interrogates the epistemology of Indigenous African music in the academy.[<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref17">17</reflink>] Mapaya advocates for African music in school, creating disciplinary changes.[<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref18">18</reflink>] In what follows, as I forward a conceptual decolonization in the indigenizing of Ghanaian musical arts education, you will find me going back and forth and moving around to show how our socialization in musical arts must inform musical arts pedagogy. Also, except for mentioning specific countries, I will now refer to the Ghanaian context.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-4">Western Music Education Models in Contention</hd> <p>In this section, I will reflect on musical arts education in precolonial times through the period when the colonists arrived to introduce a model that is in contention with the vitality of musical arts practices.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-5">Reflections on Musical Arts Education in Precolonial Times</hd> <p>Musical arts education usually comes into focus when discussing cultural expressions and self-identity in Ghana today. When we engage in indigenization, we can engage various entry points. Indigenizing the curriculum is impossible without a reasonable knowledge of and engagement in artistic expressions of cultural musical arts as an entry point. Indeed, Heidi Westerlund has challenged the epistemology for learning and experiencing multicultural music in "western countries" because, as it stands, it ignores the thinking of non-western cultures.[<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref19">19</reflink>] I see in Westerlund's claim an attempt to explore how Africans experience their music and argue that her contention is in the imposition of western linear models on multicultural music study.</p> <p>Notwithstanding, westernized education's linear curriculum models do not support the critical pedagogy needed in African curricular reform. To develop a constructive view of how Western music education models are in contention in African children's ethnocultural realities, we must examine the sociopolitical contexts of precolonial Ghana, the period of colonization, which inform musical arts expressions. In precolonial African society, the absence of class relations meant that material production and politics rested on ideological coercion rather than economic and physical coercion.[<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref20">20</reflink>] Drawing on Basil Davidson's seminal book, <emph>The Black Man's Burden,</emph>[<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref21">21</reflink>] Sangmpam argues that lineage rather than conflict theories of pressure and implicit power dynamics marked social processes in precolonial Africa. The primacy of descent removed class control and encouraged rituals and respect for ancestors, reflecting African cosmology. Also, Africans were primarily agrarian, so they engaged in communal farming, celebrating their non-capitalist development journeys. Organizing production was marked with rituals, highlighting African ontology. Unsurprisingly, education during the precolonial period was also cooperative. Following these, families and communities were educated using an apprenticeship system. Kwamena Poh writes that the first school was the home in precolonial times, and parents were the first teachers. By default, the family was the coming together of relatives with a common responsibility to nurture children. The apprenticeship model worked because it reinforced African axiology in the mentor-mentee relationships and ontology in connecting the experienced with the novice in a lineage. Mapaya maintains that indigenous African music practices have endured because of African knowledge management practices protected performance practices, and rituals retold through generations of Africans.[<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref22">22</reflink>] Music happened naturally with a close connection between natural resource instruments.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-6">Colonialists Arrived</hd> <p>When the colonists arrived, specific Western models framed music education in Ghana. While most scholars point to missionary endeavors, very few have written about how the castle schools' purpose of serving trading posts with human capital that could read and write framed school music education. The Elmina Castle School in Ghana was established in 1529 by the Portuguese. Since developing skills related to buying and selling goods were the castle schools' focus, reading and writing literacy, Catholicism, and Portuguese language proficiency were important. Subsequently, colonizers who followed the Dutch, the Danes, and the English demanded language proficiency in their castle schools.</p> <p>Later, with the missionaries' arrival, converting Africans to Christianity required replacing language skills by excluding traditional rites, beliefs, values, and celebrations from the curriculum.[<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref23">23</reflink>] It turns out music-making in schools or "singing practice" may have begun with Joe Smith, a Methodist schoolmaster at one of the castle schools in Ghana, who used his position to leverage establishing a singing group.[<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref24">24</reflink>] The dates on Joe Smith's singing activities are missing from the accounts; his Wesleyan roots, if this is the same Joe Smith, and arrival date of 1829 suggest that the practice may have begun post-1829.[<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref25">25</reflink>] Knowing that religious education was part of the castle school curriculum, however, it is logical to posit that, perhaps, musical activity began in schools before 1829. Also, it is difficult to tell if teachers taught music beyond singing. To this day, singing has served to frame formal music education. It was around 1821 that castle schools were known as colonial schools.[<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref26">26</reflink>] Missionary schools educated students to participate in worship with songs in addition to literacy goals. To date, singing still dominates the music education of children in Ghana.</p> <p>While trade and religious conversion were the primary focus of education in the castle's school, it served a secondary purpose, domination, that led to an African identity crisis. Children of the colonists, local women, and some Africans often continued their education after the castle schools in their fathers' countries. For example, even though Philip Quaque (1741–1816), one of the few Africans, established the first school, Government Boys School, which marked the genesis of Ghana's formal education in 1766, he propagated English values. Quaque was a castle school product who anglicized his name from Kweku to Quaque while studying in England. The first African to be ordained in the Anglican Church, while in England, Quaque continued to exclude Ghanaian indigenous knowledge in the school curriculum. Only mixed-race children and children of African gentlemen attended the school.[<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref27">27</reflink>] The curriculum included religious studies, English (reading and writing) and arithmetic.[<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref28">28</reflink>] It may be incomprehensible to me today that religious studies could occur without music. However, Quaque approached the content, catechism study, and the book of common prayer with "repetition as a method of instruction."[<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref29">29</reflink>] Copying, orally and in writing, served the moral purpose of education—imitating the colonizers' culture and ethos and fractured African identities in children. In essence, Quaque was consciously reproducing himself and all he had learned by providing a model for reproduction as an act of personal agency. After all, identity is socially constructed and historically mediated. Domination through a model of reproduction has framed schooling in Africa to this day.</p> <p>Nevertheless, rejecting indigenous ways of knowing and being, all incidentally steeped in the musical arts, began an identity crisis that remains today. African identity rests on a shared belief that connects the past with the present and the individual with the communal in daily life, what we call "Doxa." Here, I use "Doxa" in the Bourdieusian sense, where the social and natural reality informs social spaces or habitus and movements within those spaces.[<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref30">30</reflink>] Therefore, the African's sense of reality, nature, personhood, and identity are in musical arts experiences.[<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref31">31</reflink>] Africans could neither express their shared and accepted ways of understanding artistically in schools, nor make historical connections to their past, which crushed their spirit. Doxa is about capital; therefore, acknowledging African ways of knowing, the cultural capital was antithetical to the children's social reality. Also, Doxa helps us understand an academic habitus of categorization and positioning that influences musical arts education.</p> <p>African ontology and how this manifests materially is absent from the western music education model for African children. Ontological questions about how and why different groups and individuals respond to music in various ways are excellent places to begin. Let us take, for instance, <emph>ubuntu</emph>, the holistic or communal and individual ontologies that co-exist in African ontology. Moeketsi Letseka argues for educating toward a collective understanding when indigenizing South African education, and Emmanuel Kaghondi surmises that a person's state of being is the entry point in Tanzanian music education.[<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref32">32</reflink>] In other words, we can understand a person's state of being from their "individual sonic perceptions, expectations, practices, and physiological responses" in music expression.[<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref33">33</reflink>] Western performance and pedagogical practices sidestep African musical arts expressions' participatory nature, lifting the individual to neglect the collective. But I might add a note of caution because not all African musical arts are collective, as presentations in schools may suggest. Yet, African students who regularly participate in western musical arts distance themselves from African musical arts experiences; they often struggle to connect with their indigenous music performances.</p> <p>Africans respond to music through a whole-body experience and a holistic approach. For us, the musical arts experience is participatory, communicative, and interactive as it is contemplative.[<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref34">34</reflink>] When it comes to audience behavior, we respond to music by coming alongside the performance or play and participating in dance, song, and gesture.[<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref35">35</reflink>] The participatory and interactive audience behavior suggests understanding the historical and conceptual knowledge that informs musical arts performance. Therefore, African musical arts' integration would reflect African music pedagogy. Yet, the growing interest in integrating African values within the musical arts curriculum does not remove the need for distinctions when necessary.[<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref36">36</reflink>] Integration for Africans is disciplinary and conceptual.[<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref37">37</reflink>] Disciplinary differences have pedagogical consequences; thus, by the same token, intersection of concepts and elements of the arts—Music, language arts, dance, drama or theatre arts, visual and media arts, such as rhythm, time, and space. In the end, in considering music's social organization in Ghanaian schools before and after independence, we begin to see how movements may not work with western music models.</p> <p>Without addressing issues in music organization in schools and reorganizing practices, it will be challenging to demonstrate how western music models are in contention. To provide an example of Western music education models, I will turn to Juliet Hess's discussion of decolonizing music education in Canada.[<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref38">38</reflink>] That school system gives us a window into what Africans have had to contend with from the castle school days to post-independence. In Hess's view, the curriculum document creates power structures in two ways. First, predominantly Western classical music and Western music notation-based content exclude others, narrow the breadth of curriculum offerings, and undervalue a broad range of music. The same is true of the Ghanaian musical arts curriculum, which, until recently, despite calls for indigenization, has struggled to determine what to include and what to leave out. Such a curriculum does not consider the range of Ghanaian ethnic cultures represented in the pupils in any classroom in the urban areas. Children in the rural regions of Ghana will not see themselves in the curriculum. Like Hess, I contend that there is no universal Ghanaian child, and the musical experience becomes isolating. Second, the additive approach to the western pedagogical model reinforces the dominant self in both the music as explorer and Music as tourist approaches.[<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref39">39</reflink>] Pupils passively listen to and absorb music in these models, like the singing practices from castle school days. The model of sitting still and echoing what the teacher/conductor says orally or physically does not honor how Africans experience music. The pedagogical and the performance practice then will not be related to student's cultural capital. I will agree with Edward Shizha, who when reflecting on the African curriculum maintains that student success is impossible if they do not connect to their cultural capital.[<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref40">40</reflink>] In such scenarios, evaluation and assessment become meaningless.</p> <p>The Western models did not eliminate African musical skills but instead created a space to thrive in school events and creative expression. The organization of the music program at Achimota Secondary School, which, from its establishment in 1927, sought to embrace both African and European thought, is a case in point. In that regard, Agawu writes about Ephraim Amu, the eminent composer of Ghanaian art music, who taught at Achimota from 1934–1938.[<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref41">41</reflink>] During that period, Amu, a Presbyterian catechist, now free to dress comfortably in African clothes prohibited by the Presbyterian Church, contributed immensely to a globally and locally honoring musical tradition. I have written elsewhere that Achimota School "implemented a careful balance of the colonial, neocolonial and culturally relevant curriculum," and Amu served to encourage this ideal.[<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref42">42</reflink>] The result of musical arts education in Achimota school was a multi-musicality informed by Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian art forms. While this is not a panacea for recognizing African art forms in schools, it represents a successful development that invites readers to reflect on music education in their contexts and how the curriculum's organization might be inhibiting.</p> <p>Perhaps, more than any other discipline, music education has grappled with how to dismantle colonial hegemony's persistent presence. It is not easy. I am considering Estelle Jorgensen's history of asking hard questions that force us to transform western music education by "embracing diverse music educational perspectives and practices."[<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref43">43</reflink>] When I think about "change," "perspectives," and "practices" for an indigenized African music curriculum, I realize that we can only make transformative decisions when we consider what is valuable and suitable for becoming meaningful musicians. The music learner is, therefore, central. Thus, a thoughtful, indigenized curriculum in musical arts education that moves beyond promoting imitation, morality education, and control may be a step in the right direction because it can center learners. Rather than progressing from one stage to the next in sequential steps, however, a musical arts curriculum designed from an African worldview is interrelational. Bagele Chilisa argues that African worldviews are relational in ontology, epistemology, axiology and interdependent in cosmology.[<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref44">44</reflink>] For Chilisa, there is intent for every action in African world views directed toward renewal and renaissance. My perspective of musical arts education in Achimota School under Ephraim Amu is the genesis of a purposeful musical arts education celebrating African worldviews.</p> <p>For Africans, colonialism not only fragmented identities but also dismantled political, economic, and social processes. Patriarchy and the church subordinated gender identities, and lineage became negotiable. Africans did fight, although unsuccessfully, against capitalism, which came with the colonial hegemony. Capitalism impacted education—the trend toward acculturation in western cultures manifested in the dominance of western school music in the curriculum. However, despite the inevitable contact with external forces, African sensibilities in music remained. Therefore, a western linear education model is insufficient for centering African ways of knowing in music pedagogy. I propose a multi-musical arts approach with Ghanaian and non-Ghanaian art forms driving renewal and renaissance in musical arts education, <emph>a glocal multi-musical arts education</emph>. In what follows, I will provide what a thoughtful curriculum for music education from an African worldview would look like in Ghana and what value it offers toward indigenization and renewal.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-7">A Thoughtful Indigenized Curriculum in Musical Arts Education</hd> <p>Recognizing the questions that arose during nation-building immediately after independence and in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, I describe a thoughtful indigenized school music curriculum in Ghana. This curriculum integrates indigenous, contemporary, and art music within local communities, employs an ethnic-sensitive approach to curriculum delivery, and encourages participation in the arts. It also recognizes and addresses colonial footprints to center indigenous knowledge systems and adapt to global shifts in music.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-8">Flag Independence</hd> <p>The social movements of the 1950s and 60s ushered in the era of modernization and nationalism in Sub-Saharan Africa, with several countries gaining independence. Technological advances and changing demography through migration inspired Nkrumah, Ghana's first president, to advocate for educating the Whole African child. He argued for leaving behind a legacy of educational institutions that promoted African ways of addressing societal challenges. Within music, the African musical soundscape expanded. In the curriculum for schools in Ghana, African music was, however, not integrated into the curriculum. The musical soundscape of Africans includes the indigenous, popular or contemporary, and global; therefore, a critical pedagogy needed in African curricular reform must honor all dimensions of the music. Music educators must tackle the African curriculum from the perspective of psychosocial adjustments and cultural identity development. A thoughtful indigenous education centers on indigenization, transformation, and renaissance in African schooling.[<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref45">45</reflink>] A thoughtful indigenized curriculum also demands recognizing and presenting indigenous, contemporary, and art music of various groups within communities, connecting past and present in ethnic-sensitive delivery, maximizing learning toward arts participation and enjoyment within and outside the curriculum, and recognizing and adjusting colonial footprints to center indigenous knowledge systems and global music shifts. It is a glocal multi-musical arts education curriculum that demonstrates how we frame musical arts education to show the interdependent and interconnected nature of the universe; how do we teach music that demonstrates African society's harmonious interdependence, culture, and education, as well as African musicians' ingenuity, while highlighting the different musical practices of Ghana's various individuals and groups. Now, here are four important points.</p> <p>First, recognizing the ethnocultural, composing documents and framing schooling to support continuity of experience reflects African cosmology. Ghanaian dance ethnologist Nii Yartey described African cosmology as a continuity of experience, and a reoccurring relationship between the past and the present, the ancestors, and the living; the unexpected and the familiar."[<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref46">46</reflink>] And rightly so, believing that life continues after death, Africans see the spirit world as the present and, therefore, relationships between the living and the deceased continue. Past and present, day and night, are cyclical timelines. Similarly, writing about teaching the <emph>Uhadi</emph> instrument of South Africa, Luvuyo Donsta speaks of how the sun does not set for Africans but creates a space for the night.[<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref47">47</reflink>] Donsta says an activity-filled day gives way to the night and its attendant activities.[<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref48">48</reflink>] Therefore, to accurately frame Ghanaian musical arts education, policymakers need to deliberately articulate in curriculum documents examples of how to make connections between the past and the present, the old and the young. For example, if schools were to open doors to grandparents to share musical culture, they would highlight the respect for the wealth of knowledge that grandparents can impart while connecting old and young. African cosmology opens possibilities for teaching the curriculum and when and where it takes place. Because not all grandparents can physically come to the school, intergenerational instruction would not need to occur in the school building. They could be exquisitely delivered at the community center or in an outdoor place where the children visit as a much-needed "field trip." A simple shift in location would also move musical arts education out of the brick-and-mortar spaces to community-based areas where intergeneration do interact.</p> <p>Second, schools need to consider making and teaching music that demonstrates society's harmonious interdependence within culture, education, and African musicians' ingenuity. Such interdependence will include, for example, inviting community groups into schools and taking students out to see local musicians practicing their craft. These experiences will make interdependence and relevance with society possible, thereby reinforcing students' sense of identity, personality, and reality. In this regard, Meki Nzewi deftly insists on the ethical principle of humanness in African music-making through the lens of a joker and a poser.[<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref49">49</reflink>] The posers are musical arts practitioners established in their professions to deliver the highlights of musical practice. They are powerful voices, "sacrosanct priests of the universal music religion," in Nzewi's words.[<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref50">50</reflink>] Yet, their impressive resumes prevent them from accessing the humanizing dimensions of musical arts. Nzewi, an African music philosopher, educator, and ethnomusicologist, poses as a joker spirit who humbly heals with African indigenous musical arts theatre. I would agree with Nzewi that it is in this playful stance that we will be meeting our ancestral obligations through the arts. Meki Nzewi finds himself lamenting that "the fundamental problem with academic music is that it is all head and little heart."[<reflink idref="bib51" id="ref51">51</reflink>] Perhaps children will connect with schooling more if they experience a humane curriculum. A contemplative indigenized curriculum will center humanly musical arts that liberate artistic imagination and expression. What matters is the ability to understand one's reality through the arts.</p> <p>Third, African axiology values interpersonal relationships and collective identity, but at the same time does not minimize individualism.[<reflink idref="bib52" id="ref52">52</reflink>] Understanding the community's rich and diverse musical and cultural patterns in its collective and individual expressions provides rich African musical arts education content. Different musical practices of the various individuals and groups within communities offer a plethora of experiences. While expectations and relationships may rest on collective identities, rules of being or personhood, which Molefe advances, are individualistic and about dignity. "<emph>Suban</emph>," the expression for a moral character in Ghana's Akan language, is about the individual's moral values as expressed with others. Musical arts performance manifests moral character and collective identity. For instance, the principal drummer who talks in African ensembles acknowledges the group and presents a highly personal narrative. Simultaneously, the drummer's improvisation provides the audience with a meaningful example of experimenting with sound and expanding musical ideas. The improvisatory performance is not arbitrary but meaningful in the conventions of the genre. How the individual drummer fits within the group is essential for the presentation to be "sweet."[<reflink idref="bib53" id="ref53">53</reflink>] Similarly, the rest of the players fulfil a role in advancing a collective rendering of the music.</p> <p>Fourth, more African scholars are interrogating the idea of communalism as central to the African ethos, because casting our creative aesthetic as essentially communal depersonalizes individual artistic intent. For instance, among the Luo of Kenya, during communal gatherings, especially parties, people engage in panegyrization (praise chanting), whereby individuals would stand up and praise themselves. Their narrative used all stylistic devices, and creativity was highly valued. An indigenized musical arts education will appreciate the individual artistic expression and the collective.</p> <p>So, what does all this mean in the context of advancing a thoughtful, indigenized curriculum in musical arts education? Like all other countries, the Ghana Education Service formally organizes schools to include administrative and teaching staff. The authentic school consists of all community members who have a vested interest in Ghanaian children's well-being. I jokingly tell my child that we must return to Ghana because the community would philosophically align with school and home. This statement does not suggest that Ghanaian society is a monolith, far from it. While school, district, and home may be in sync, it does take effort and intention to engage the community in practical ways in schools, mostly since it was not part of the formal inherited school organization. The following is a brief accounting of five approaches to creating an indigenized curriculum in musical arts education.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-9">Presenting Indigenous, Contemporary, and Art Music in the Curriculum.</hd> <p>Ghana's independence ushered in a spirit of hope. Musical arts of the period confirmed the belief that there was a new dawn. John Collins has written about how Nkrumah, the first Prime Minister of Ghana, used "highlife" to project Ghanaian identity.[<reflink idref="bib54" id="ref54">54</reflink>] Highlife, a syncretic musical art form originating in Ghana and Nigeria, was a legacy of Europe's colonial ballroom, Latin American dance orchestras, and Afro-Caribbean music. Band players creatively adapted ethnic melodies and rhythmic timelines from indigenous music, acoustic guitars, and wind instruments to create highlife. A comprehensive African music curriculum would include indigenous contemporary, such as highlife and African art music.</p> <p>Curriculum developers must consider the breadth of the African soundscape when developing curriculum. Why is this so important? I want to challenge African music"s positioning in western educational contexts. Not because I want to merely offer critique, for that would be naive of me, but more so because there are still implications for how African music is received. Fortunately, Akin Euba, to demonstrate Africa's broadening musical soundscape, classified African music as traditional music, neo-traditional art music, western art music, and African European art music.[<reflink idref="bib55" id="ref55">55</reflink>] I use the word broadening here to dodge any critics who might see Euba's classifications as limiting, creating boundaries that elude the organic nature of musical expression on the continent. A glocal multi-musical arts education will reflect an organic curriculum content. Our fascination with indigenizing must not box repertoire for the curriculum into traditional but also include the ever-evolving arts expressions.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-10">Recognizing the Musical Arts of Various Groups Within Communities.</hd> <p>Thus far, we have reflected on how our framing of African musical arts' richness can lead us to a thoughtful, indigenized curriculum. I want to pause to recognize that indigenization may be about truth, authenticity, and reality. African relational worldviews acknowledge and reflect the community's diversity and actively include all peoples in musical arts expression. Our present musical reality is an enigma because our lived experience with music is vast. In the early 2000s, I embarked with some colleagues on a Ghanaian National Treasures project. We traveled to the Akwapim mountains to meet with leaders on our project. At Akropong, the Apesemakahene Nana Addo Birikorang gave an overview of the partnership possibilities in the Akuapem area. He shared that there were at the time forty-two musical types in the Akuapem area, each with its variety depending upon social location. I still remember thinking about how we would select and use these human resources in the classroom. The epistemological solution would be to reclaim indigenous and localized tacit knowledge by partnering with groups within the community.</p> <p>The musical soundscape in the Akuapem area reflects the African's artistic ingenuity, which we need not suppress in pedagogy. Therefore, highlighting and encouraging both individual and group African musical arts expressions in education will make performance innovation in schools possible. Indigenous learners prefer working in groups, and group learning, Shizha argues, centers on "local knowledge, cultures, values, languages, and worldviews."[<reflink idref="bib56" id="ref56">56</reflink>] Therefore, we would treasure and preserve African musical ingenuity by selecting as many localized arts experiences as possible.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-11">Connecting Past and Present in Ethnic-sensitive Musical Arts Curriculum Delivery.</hd> <p>Knowing ethnic-sensitive musical arts is an intellectual asset. The ethnic-sensitive musical art teacher provides students with opportunities to hone their craft and develop originality and versatility in their creative expression. However, these skills are not possible without grounding in cultural capital. Knowing, imparting, and stimulating innovation demands revisiting musical cultures. Ghana's new 2019 creative arts curriculum, where music resides, reflected formal education's historical roots. Its focus, the 4 Rs—Reading, wRiting, aRithmetic, and the new cReativity—are foundational skills for lifelong learning and national development.[<reflink idref="bib57" id="ref57">57</reflink>] Creativity in the curriculum demands intellectual assets in indigenous musical arts content. The curriculum is "designed to be interactive, exciting, and stimulating" suggesting recognition of our value system.[<reflink idref="bib58" id="ref58">58</reflink>] Suppose these efforts to harness 21st-century pedagogical skills for teachers recognize the inbuilt standards of practice that come with our indigenous music and musical soundscapes. In that case, we will be moving in the right direction.</p> <p>Where do teachers begin then? Bringing together materials that exist in the community, the intellectual assets of the family and performing arts, and materials published over the years, teachers will begin to become versed in the scope of music expression. Let us take, for instance, Amu's collection of compositions <emph>Twenty-five African Songs.</emph>[<reflink idref="bib59" id="ref59">59</reflink>] Within this collection, "Bonwere Kente," one of the most popular songs from the volume, offers a whimsical performance of Kente weaving in Ghana. With vocables for the sound of the loom, storytelling, question, and answer, Amu provides a rich intellectual and cultural of a national treasure, the Kente Cloth, in song.[<reflink idref="bib60" id="ref60">60</reflink>] George Dor gives a careful analysis of the piece, providing historical and socio-cultural information. This example of African art music gives teachers a window into a composition grounded in African epistemology. There are several examples of African art music that could serve as catalysts for analysis and creative expression.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-12">Maximizing Learning Toward Arts Participation and Enjoyment Within and Outside the Curriculum...</hd> <p>From the Ghanaian learners' standpoint, musical arts participation occurs within and across groups when children play among themselves, adolescents engage in rites of passage, and so on from birth to death. In these participatory moments, Ghanaians gain the lifelong core competencies to function and contribute to society. What if maximizing learning could extend beyond the physical structures to events? These ideas are not new. Kingsley Ampomah, J. H Kwabena Nketia, Amuah, and Flolu have all written about the importance of participating in community events.[<reflink idref="bib61" id="ref61">61</reflink>] My argument is to extend the boundaries of field trips as occasions to visit monuments, too, while observing festivals, and rites of passage as they occur within local communities. It is within these social realities that lie the heart of a thoughtful indigenous musical arts curriculum. Students experience the complete spectrum of musical arts expressions within these contexts, from indigenous, contemporary, and art music. Having a vested interest in erasing the boundaries of experience, we would enable Karanja Carroll's conceptualization of the African experience in music education: being, doing, knowing, and nature.[<reflink idref="bib62" id="ref62">62</reflink>]</p> <p>But are there enough avenues or enabling environments such as art hubs to facilitate effective participation and enjoyment of the arts? Yes, there are, for in addition to the extended learning contexts described above, we could have artists from these contexts visit our "walled spaces" to offer focused learning. A glocal multi-musical arts education curriculum will lean on naturally infused systems that include language, customs, traditions, and informal learning opportunities. It connects the old with the new, the carrier of knowledge with the learner, to create mentor-mentee relationships manifest in retelling ritualized music performance stories.[<reflink idref="bib63" id="ref63">63</reflink>] For Ghanaian musical arts education, participation bears the footprints of our "Doxa." To enjoy the musical arts is to experience performance in contexts within and outside the classroom.</p> <p>Shifting from an idealist to a realist, I acknowledge that maximizing learning in participation will be a pedagogical and administrative challenge. The first will prime Ghanaian musical arts teachers to deliver such an active, innovative, and unpredictable pedagogy. Indigenizing demands partnerships with the local community and society, primarily because teachers do not have all the skills that the diversity of musical expression in nations offers.[<reflink idref="bib64" id="ref64">64</reflink>] Knowing that such a curriculum will bring joy and love for self—Doxa—the second challenge will be to instill in teachers the understanding that we can learn from our failings and difficulties. Teachers and children must be prepared to function and contribute to society, and its history and social processes must define the curriculum.[<reflink idref="bib65" id="ref65">65</reflink>] What Ghanaian children need to enjoy in the musical arts extends beyond the walled structures of schools. Maximizing participation within and outside the school building frames children's understanding and ability to consider their notions of being and value as interconnected and steeped in society.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-13">Recognizing and Adjusting Colonial Footprints to Center Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Glob...</hd> <p>I am purposely addressing this last because I would like to make the conversation forward-moving. A glocal multi-musical arts education curriculum in Ghana is progressive, critical anti-colonial, and embraces inclusive, student-centered, multidirectional, and dynamic strategies.[<reflink idref="bib66" id="ref66">66</reflink>] For example, several years ago, Ghanaian schools did away with the school bell and encouraged the Akan Atumpan drum to signal scheduling changes. The school music program provides the context for supporting the individual expression of the Atumpan or the Ewe Astimevu drums. Unfortunately, this small gesture toward African ethos is not visible in many schools today. It is an example of what we need to consider when coming to terms with our colonial heritage and how we frame music in school, indigenized or not.</p> <p>Awareness is the first step toward change how we frame the curriculum to highlight African epistemology rather than indigenous music's curriculum. Here, Shizha's conceptualizing of indigenization as the equality of expression, ownership, control, and management of indigenous resources and knowledge is essential.[<reflink idref="bib67" id="ref67">67</reflink>] All kinds of music, indigenous, contemporary, and art music underlie awareness of the cultural heterogeneity that informs our epistemology. Central to Ghanaian heterogeneity is the belief that the caretakers of knowledge all bring something to the learning space. I argue that teachers, children, and community members are caretakers of indigenous knowledge, and sharing knowledge among them represents a significant shift away from our early history of music education in schools. Therefore, the image of truth as published material is a fallacy. Instead, we carefully weigh each learning situation to determine what and who we will need to make the curriculum a living one. If the caretakers of indigenous knowledge are willing to learn from each other, the curriculum will promote creativity rather than a mere imitation of established musical genres.</p> <p>Besides, the conceptualization of what it means to be a musician/artist-teacher shifts with technology advancements. Discussions on best practices for embracing artificial and fixed borders demand not ignoring technology's invaluable role to close those borders. Consider the wealth of new musical genres in Ghana, developed because of global encounters and technological advances. Polyglotism language code-switching was prevalent in highlife, popular music of 1940–50. Ghanaian returnee musicians from Germany brought us Burger highlife, popular in the 1980s and used drum machines and synthesizers. From, Adaha, Palm wine music to highlife, Afrobeat (a fusion of funk and highlife), Jamaica's Ska, Reggae, Gospel highlife, Azonto, and Hiplife, the Ghanaian Musicians ingenuity has been boundless. Today, Ghanaian producers are fusing indigenous music with electronic music to create new musical soundscapes that provide endless options in the classroom. Also, technology affords users the creative development of a wide range of musical soundscapes.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-14">The 60s, 70s and 80s-Finding Our Place</hd> <p>We were constantly negotiating place and identity to simultaneously recognize and adjust colonial footprints to center both indigenous knowledge systems and global music shifts. Thus, while triumphant in achieving independence, suppression and incorporation of organizations marked postcolonial Africa of 1960–1975. Market-driven interests of a social dominance theory developed around economics and capitalism in nations. For example, recorded music allowed for the standardization of music, but it also stripped the opportunity to observe that the performance of an African piece in a village community will vary from ensemble to ensemble. Therefore, the recording did not necessarily represent a final picture of the music; however, it became stereotypical. Even though neoliberalism, informed newly independent African nations like Ghana, much like modernism in profit-making and celebrated privatization, commodification, and individualization, and even with the introduction of the Cultural Studies program (CSP), <emph>etcetera</emph>, African music was still missing from the Ghanaian teacher training institutions' curriculum. Therefore, the task is multidimensional. Musical arts teachers in Ghana need the intellectual capital to be able to implement a glocal multi-musical arts education.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-15">PRIORITIZE OTHER, ANOTHER AND MULTIPLE WAYS OF TEACHING MUSIC.</hd> <p>In this section, I will reflect on how prioritizing multiple ways of teaching music will serve our conceptual decolonization process and suit our global social-cultural reality.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-16">The Era of Globalization</hd> <p>Geographical contacts compel us to prioritize multiple music teaching methods by deconstructing and reconstructing musical arts across African regions, composing policy documents on the interrelated and interconnected nature of the musical arts with teaching practitioners, artists, and community members' input, and bringing postcolonial voices that center musical arts education connections to learning to the center of the academic discourse. Unsurprisingly, the 1990s–2010 pro-democracy social movements in Sub-Saharan Africa arose alongside globalization. While scholarly interest in globalization and music education is not new, it has touched Sub-Saharan Africa in isolated encounters with musicians and institutions. Musicians traveled to perform in concerts and festivals or as culture bearers to share music and cultures at educational institutions. Although music is a cultural mediator in many globalization ventures, however, funding is constrained because the efforts must align with funding organizations' goals. In Ghana, pro-democracy meant constantly examining educational policies to determine how to break away from the trappings of colonialism and embrace globalization. The decolonization that arose from breaking away demanded a mental shift that entails reclaiming, rethinking, reconstituting, rewriting, and validating indigenous knowledge. Wiredu echoed with many others, positing that colonialism and evangelism brought specific western frameworks of thought, which made us question the resourceful African frameworks of thought and critically review how we define concepts. When given due reflection, however, the benefits of cross-border interactions while engaging in conceptual decolonization yield an exciting, broad musical soundscape that Ghanaian music educators can access for a robust musical arts education. With globalization in the foreground, educational reforms from 2007 onwards have impacted all sectors, including curriculum development and developing resources for musical arts education.[<reflink idref="bib68" id="ref68">68</reflink>]</p> <p>In this essay, I have used Wiredu's conceptual decolonization as a frame to problematize Western music education models and proposed a thoughtful approach to curriculum development that honors African thinking and values, ways of being, and knowing. Reorganizing our pedagogy without addressing music organization in schools would be a fallacy. For example, it would be easy to posit that western models of education were dehumanizing for African musical arts education in schools and end there.[<reflink idref="bib69" id="ref69">69</reflink>] However, conceptual decolonization within innovations from our contact has compelled us to engage with western practice models and adjust them to suit our social-cultural reality. In what follows, I invite musical arts educators and our stakeholders to a place of discomfort where we collaborate to deconstruct and reconstruct the musical art to align with our shifting ways of knowing and prioritize different ways of teaching music. Music education scholars need to prioritize multiple music teaching methods that celebrate non-western education models.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-17">Collaborate to Deconstruct and Reconstruct the Musical Arts.</hd> <p>Like other African nations, Ghana is adapting educational experiences for students to align with the needs of global markets. There are two sides to the debate, however. Some have argued that globalization displaces identity while framing music production within that context. For example, world music, the generic expression introduced in the 1980s for marketing purposes, highlights globalization. The phrase 'world music' is problematic for lumping all music outside the Western canon into one boat, thereby creating an implicit assumption that all kinds of music are similar. Also, outside of music and the arts, scholars have documented globalization's negative impact on social processes such as education. Conversely, globalization's positive impact on local arts has provided revenue through international exchanges, learning abroad, recording and resources marketing, and art career promotion. Musical arts educators must inevitably collaborate to deconstruct and reconstruct the musical arts for multiple people and stakeholders within and outside Ghana.</p> <p>If we reconstruct our pedagogical narrative using new modes of conceptualization, we will discuss the repertoire in new ways. To do this, Nketia suggests studying African music on four levels: local, national, regional, and continental or a pan-African context.[<reflink idref="bib70" id="ref70">70</reflink>] This is plausible because, at these levels, there is an incredible diversity of musical arts resources. Remember my anecdote on my experience in Akropong with the Apesemakahene Nana Addo Birikorang, who shared the magnitude of musical types in the mountain area of the Akuapem. The Akuapem area is within the Eastern Region of Ghana, one of sixteen regions. Given this scenario, a reconstruction strategy will enlarge our offerings, given that small area's incredible diversity of musical cultures. Reconstruction at the area level has implications for how we organize curriculum at the national level.</p> <p>Although localized in community pockets, globalization has promoted a sense of rootedness for African musicians who share their art and interconnectedness with those they encounter. While non-African musicians and institutions were ready to support globalization, Africans were prepared to share their musical arts because of their commitment to cultural plurality. The distinctness of local, national, and regional worldviews and practices accounts for broad creative expression. Engaging such spaces impacts local and national arts policy and teacher education. It requires embracing an inclusive approach to collaboration, including talented individuals, teachers, and students, and celebrating teachers as facilitators of musical arts knowledge. In the next section, I will address policy and teacher education for implementing a thoughtful indigenized musical arts curriculum.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-18">Documents that Support an Interrelated and Interconnected Musical Arts Education.</hd> <p>Teacher expertise is critical to successfully implementing a thoughtful, indigenized curriculum. The implementation of such a curriculum demands the decolonization of Ghanaian arts teacher education and in-service arts teaching practices with professional development opportunities. The curriculum in these contexts must engage indigenous epistemologies while affirming our shifting identity in the arts in a global era. A comparative approach to curriculum development, with Wiredu's due reflection, will give voice to a democratized education. Some teacher educators have used African musical arts to promote cultural diversity in non-African contexts. For example, Dawn Joseph found that when she exposes students to African music, they gain a "better understanding and appreciation of difference."[<reflink idref="bib71" id="ref71">71</reflink>] However, in the African or Ghanaian context, reconstruction demands more than the musical repertoire, where we usually start. Also, we need to review thought materials in light of indigenous arts categories. In this regard, Nzewi invites us to explore musical sources through the sources and organization of musical sound. Learning music in traditional society is structured sound from sonic objects, dance is the aesthetic/poetic stylization of body motion, poetics and lyrics are the measured stylization of spoken language, theatre is a metaphorical reflection of like and cosmos displayed in action, and costume and scenery are symbolized text, and décor embodied in materials objects. In this manner, the construction of the arts highlights its interrelatedness and reinforces what Nzewi calls the "African musical arts matrix." The African musical arts matrix gives Ghanaian musical arts educators the omnipresent <emph>"Abɔde Santann"</emph> lens that embraces musical arts practices over time.</p> <p>What if, at each in-service event for practicing teachers, we asked our participants to bring one musical arts example from their hometowns or something they are currently listening to that will resonate with children in their classrooms? There will be no limit to resources, no judgment, just what they love. Also, participants could use the musical arts matrix to examine the music, thereby embracing an epistemology that aligns with a democratized education. The breadth of material in one professional development session will be significant. What if we ask pre-service teachers to visit their hometowns during the summer and bring back music for school use? When Prof. Atta Annan Mensah and his team built the Music Education program at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) in Ghana in the 70s, all students did this in the summer and received a small stipend for travel. One summer, I spent time with an Asafo company in Cape Coast and learned about the company's music; another summer, I traveled to Kumasi to study at the Center for National Culture. There, I learned the Adowa dance and built a Donno drum. The immersive experience opened my eyes to new ways of learning. Directly investigating and engaging with the reality of materials and human capital had implications for teacher education, policy documents, and curricula alignment with indigenousness and conceptual decolonization. Not only was UCC at the time encouraging students to practice <emph>Sankɔfa,</emph> but they were also thinking ahead, <emph>Dwene Hwɛ Kan.</emph> The wisdom of the culture bearers who shared their art, coupled with the structures set by the university to support learning beyond its walls, provided a space for decolonizing my conceptions of where and how I gained musical arts knowledge. I shared the story of my experience in a written report at the end of my summer. Suppose we connect our cultural and artistic reality with schooling. In that case, we need to bring artists in our communities to the table in curriculum development efforts and the development of policy documents. Therefore, we must draw on the rich mindsets that embrace Ghanaian and western intellectual thought in determining who is at the table for developing materials, resource selection, and policy documents.</p> <p>Policy documents must support the interrelated and interconnected nature of musical arts education in Ghana and include several voices. A habitus for such debates in Africa is the Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education (PASMAE), a regional arm of the International Society for Music Education. PASMAE provides a forum for deconstructing and reconstructing musical arts in and across countries while sharing expressed musical cultures. One of the core tasks of this organization has been harnessing African worldviews that require policymakers to situate curriculum development efforts with African epistemology, which prizes individual character development, well-being, and collective identity. Such musical arts documents will support Ghanaian musical arts education's interrelated and interconnected nature. Sub-regional fora of PASMAE also gather, as do National organizations, like the Ghanaian Music Teachers Association, to provide spaces for interrogating the complex terrain of teaching and learning within and outside the school. Eric Otchere has eluded music educators concerning music's place in the Ghanaian curriculum: the need for more presence in Ghana's education policy. Tracing the story of music education in Ghana's education from 1852–2007, Otchere calls for a thorough review of educational reforms to describe how educational policy impacts musical arts education. To discuss "presence," Otchere turned to the social psychological theoretical framing of this project in the Mere exposure theory[<reflink idref="bib72" id="ref72">72</reflink>]. With this, he makes a credible argument for the official non-provision of music in the curriculum. Using sound methodological practices, Otchere analyses education documents and reforms to expose the lack of exposure to music and its consequent place in Ghana's education system. From local to global, having teaching practitioners, artists, and community members at the table for curriculum development, teacher education, and policy is the first step that will ensure learning modes connect with Ghanaian children's ways of life.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-19">Postcolonial Voices at the Center of Academic Discourse</hd> <p>Finally, we must bring postcolonial voices to the center of the academic discourse rather than fear them. In Africa, honoring change agents that critically explore connected learning modes requires us to revisit musical arts education post-Ghana's independence. I benefited from the program designed at the University of Cape Coast in the 1970s. The immersive experiences with musical arts became meaningful social activities, and we learned to critically examine our art experiences and pedagogical choices in that postcolonial moment. While that program has changed over the years, there may be no better time to reflect on that moment and consider our present social moment.</p> <p>Several actors are involved in the postcolonial narrative for musical arts education, and some will continue to impose their influence on who we do musical arts education. Boakye's review of post-independence education policy reforms in Ghana acknowledges political and economic reasons for the stagnated change in a global context. He maintains that bricolage and translation stress actors' agency to change policy. While bricolage allows for highly localized activity, translation is necessary to stress the importance of the actors' agency in changing policy in new contexts.[<reflink idref="bib73" id="ref73">73</reflink>] Starting in Teacher Education, Ghana now has 48 teachers' education colleges and universities that serve the development of music educators. How do we overhaul the system so the new does not look like the old? First, we must acknowledge all the actors, state, translational, and domestic. Second, we need to pay attention to the postcolonial voices of this global era and what they are suggesting. For example, Blackson reviewed the goals, process, curriculum, and instruction materials used for music teacher education in Ghana and found that while music teachers prefer immersive experiences, teacher education programs stress the theoretical and historical aspects of music teaching and learning. Emphasis on the theoretical and historical reflects bricolage in action, where things remain the same. The scarcity of musical instruments, inadequate training, and curriculum misalignments have impacted teacher competencies and the effectiveness of music teachers.[<reflink idref="bib74" id="ref74">74</reflink>]</p> <p>In the edited volume of the then president of the International Society for Music Education's text "Music Education in Africa," Otchere comments critically on the direction of music education in Africa, specifically regarding Ghana. Otchere covers curriculum scope, the multidimensionality of the music, the connection between occasions and musical events, the mother tongue, competence with new music, and philosophical thinking about African music. On Curriculum and Scope, Otchere acknowledges that one must understand its history and culture to engage in the music of Africa. Thus, situating his concerns in culture and history, Otchere emphasizes the disconnect between music and movement, dance, and many other art forms in the current iteration of the curriculum is problematic. As I have argued throughout this paper, Otchere maintains that the complexity that comes with music in Africa is its multidimensionality. He stresses that no teacher can equally master every art form to educate a child fully, for it will result in extensive yet surface-level learning. Folk music and popular music as 'musical mother tongue' may play a key role in building a music education curriculum, which also raises complexities. The mother tongue would technically be the music youth listen to, but many music institutions view the mother tongue as classical music or indigenous music. Otchere proposes that philosophers should look at what is already being done in other places, so they are not starting from scratch[<reflink idref="bib75" id="ref75">75</reflink>]. The postcolonial voice is compelling because, though African musical arts have unique problems, there are many parallels to music education issues around the globe. However, policymakers may need many philosophies of music to address all the complexities that go into music within Africa. Therefore, making sense of our current social moments and engage in comparative studies, we must embrace an inclusive epistemological approach that will challenge us to nurture others with the skills to flourish as meaningful musicians and educators.[<reflink idref="bib76" id="ref76">76</reflink>] educators. Perhaps relying on our oral storytelling tradition, we will tell a new musical arts story.</p> <hd id="AN0188848838-20">CONCLUSION</hd> <p>My journey in this paper was to ponder the socio-political moments that mark philosophical shifts in developing African musical arts presence in education in Africa. Using Ghana as a context, I discuss the quest toward Emeagwali and Dei's indigenization and closing the gap between community and school arts experiences. Wiredu's conceptual decolonization and Ghanaian philosophical apothegms, Adinkra symbols, served as a frame to problematize Western music education models in Ghanaian musical arts education in pre-colonial Ghana and the period of colonization. Flag independence and the nation-building period opened the space for proposing a thoughtful approach to curriculum development. I proposed a glocal multi-musical arts education that honors Ghanaian thinking and values, ways of being, and knowing in schools. Conceptual decolonization in Ghanaian musical arts education calls for critical engagement that does not obscure the presence of western practice models but uses our agency to create musical practices that align with our socio-cultural reality. From this perspective, I invited musical arts educators and our stakeholders to deconstruct and reconstruct the musical arts to align with our shifting ways of knowing and prioritize different ways of teaching music, especially in the present period of globalization. To make sense of our current social moments, we must embrace an inclusive epistemological approach that will challenge us to nurture in ourselves and others the skills to flourish as meaningful musicians and educators. It is not my intent to homogenize Africans; hence, while I bring to bear the voices of Africans, my reflections are from my experience as a Ghanaian. Even within Ghana, it would be foolish to assume all the ethnic groups are the same. In the African musical arts experience, we acknowledge that indigenizing provides a habitus of belonging when we look back to move forward. I spotlight the gaps in the African musical experience's realities in schooling. Although multifaceted, the African worldview is pertinent to determining the how and why of music education epistemology in Sub-Saharan Africa. I also invited us to prioritize several forms of teaching musical arts that demand a robust debate in restructuring the curriculum.</p> <ref id="AN0188848838-21"> <title> Notes </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref1" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> See Eric Debrah Otchere, "Music Teaching and the Process of Enculturation: A Cultural Dilemma," <emph>British Journal of Music Education</emph> 32, no. 3 (2015): 291–297. James Flolu. "Music Teacher Rducation in Ghana: Training for Churches or for the Schools," in <emph>Sounds of Change: Social and Political Features of Music in Africa,</emph> 12 (2004): 164–179. Madimabe Geoff Mapaya. "Dipsticking the Study of Indigenous African Music from the John Blacking Era into the 21st Century." In <emph>John Blacking and Contemporary African musicology: Reflections, reviews, analyses and prospects,</emph> ed. Madimabe Mapaya, &amp; Ndwamato George Mugovhani, (Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2018): 113–128.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib2" idref="ref2" type="bt">2</bibl> <bibtext> Gloria Emeagwali and George J. Sefa Dei, "Introduction," in <emph>African indigenous knowledge, and the disciplines,</emph> ed. Gloria Emeagwali and George J. Sefa Dei (Sense Publishers, 2014): x.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib3" idref="ref3" type="bt">3</bibl> <bibtext> Kwasi Wiredu, "Conceptual Decolonization as an Imperative in Contemporary African Philosophy: Some Personal Reflections." <emph>Rue Descartes</emph> 36 no.2 (2002): 53–64.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib4" idref="ref4" type="bt">4</bibl> <bibtext> For an in-depth discussion of <emph>Adinkra</emph> symbols, see Daniel Mato, "<emph>Clothed in Symbol---The Art of Adinkra among the Akan of Ghana</emph>." (PhD diss., Indiana University, 1987).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib5" idref="ref5" type="bt">5</bibl> <bibtext> Kwasi Wiredu. "The Humanities and the Idea of National Identity." <emph>Cross/Cultures: Readings in the Post/Colonial Literatures in English</emph> 209 (2019). 103–119.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib6" idref="ref6" type="bt">6</bibl> <bibtext> I use indigenous, as Edward Shizha does, to mean "all formerly colonized groups have close ties to the land and in Africa, and they have a special relationship to their traditional land." See Edward Shizha, "Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Curriculum" in <emph>African Indigenous knowledge, and the disciplines,</emph> ed. Gloria Emeagwali and George J. Sefa Dei (Sense Publishers, 2014): 2.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib7" idref="ref7" type="bt">7</bibl> <bibtext> See Kwasi Wiredu, "Conceptual Decolonization as an Imperative in Contemporary African Philosophy: Some Personal Reflections".<emph>Rue Descartes</emph>, (2002): 57.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib8" idref="ref8" type="bt">8</bibl> <bibtext> See Kwasi Wiredu, "Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy and Religion" <emph>African Studies Quarterly</emph> (1998), 27.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibl id="bib9" idref="ref9" type="bt">9</bibl> <bibtext> See George Sefa Dei, "The Indigenous as a Site on Decolonizing Knowledge for Conventional Development and the Link with Education: The African Case." In <emph>Indigenous knowledge, development, and education,</emph> ed. J Langdon (Sense Publishers, 2009).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Gloria Emeagwali, "Intersections between Africa's Indigenous Knowledge Systems and History," in <emph>African indigenous knowledge and the disciplines</emph>, ed. Gloria Emeagwali and George J. Sefa Dei, (Sense Publishers, 2014), 4.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See Kwasi Wiredu, "Toward Decolonizing African Philosophy and Religion." <emph>African Studies Quarterly</emph>. (1998): 25.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See Meki Nzewi, "Strategies for Music Education in Africa: Towards a Meaningful Progression from Tradition to Modern." <emph>International Journal of Music Education</emph> 1 (1999): 72–87. Clemente K. Abrokwaa, "Indigenous Music Education in Africa." <emph>What is indigenous knowledge: voices from the academy</emph>, (1999):191–208. Adeogun, Adebowale Oluranti.<emph>Music Education in Nigeria, 1842–2001: Policy and Content Evaluation, Towards a New Dispensation</emph>. Diss. University of Pretoria, 2006. Emily Achieng Akuno. (2006). "African Traditional music in Modern Education at the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary levels—Lessons from Kenya." In <emph>School Music and teacher education: A global perspective in the new century</emph>, ed. M Moore &amp; B. Wah Leung (Hong Kong Institute of Education and ISME, 2006), 69–81. Madimabe Geoff Mapaya. "Dipsticking the Study of Indigenous African Music from the John Blacking Era into the 21st Century." In <emph>John Blacking and Contemporary African Musicology: Reflections, Reviews, Analyses, and Prospects, ed.</emph> Madimabe Mapaya and Ndwamato George Mugovhani. (Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2018): 113–128. Meki Nzewi, "Reinstating the Epistemological Logic of Indigenous Musical Arts for Humanity-framed Life Education." <emph>ART Music Review,</emph> 025 (September 2013, September). Retrieved from <ulink href="http://www.rvista-art.cm/reinstating-the-epistemological-logic-of-indigenousmusical-arts-for-humanity-framed-life-education">http://www.rvista-art.cm/reinstating-the-epistemological-logic-of-indigenousmusical-arts-for-humanity-framed-life-education</ulink>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Emily Achieng Akuno, "African Traditional Music in Modern Education at the Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Levels—Lessons from Kenya," in <emph>School music and teacher education: A global perspective in the new century</emph>, ed. Marvelene Moore &amp; Bo Wah Leung, (Hong Kong Institute of Education and ISME 2006): 69–81; Meki Nzewi, "Acquiring Knowledge of the Musical Arts in Traditional Society," in <emph>Musical Arts in Africa. Theory, Practice, and Education,</emph> ed. Anri Herbst, Meki Nzewi &amp; Kofi Agawu (Pretoria: University of South Africa, 2003), 13–37; Meki Nzewi, "Discussing Music as Science and Arts: Musical Arts Education in Africa," in <emph>Emerging Solutions for Musical Arts Education in Africa</emph>, ed. Anri Herbst (Cape Town: African Minds, 2005), 25; J.H. Kwabena Nketia, <emph>Introduction: A Guide for the presentation of primary school African teaching manuals</emph>. (Accra: Afram Publishers, 1999); Eric Akrofi and James Flolu "The colonial influence on music education in Ghana and South Africa." In <emph>Music and identity: Transformation and negotiation</emph>, ed. Eric Ayisi Akrofi, Maria Smit, and Stig-Magnus Thors (Stellenbosch: African Sun Media, 2007): 143–157.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Meki Nzewi, "Discussing music as science and arts: musical arts education in Africa," in <emph>Emerging solutions for musical arts education in Africa,</emph> ed. Anri Herbst (Cape Town: African Minds, 2005): 25.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> J.H. Kwabena Nketia, <emph>Introduction: A guide for the presentation of primary school African teaching manuals</emph>. (Accra: Afram Publishers, 1999).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> James E. Flolu, "Re-thinking arts education in Ghana." <emph>Arts Education Policy Review</emph> 101 no.5 (2000): 25–29.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Madimabe Geoff Mapaya. "Dipsticking the Study of Indigenous African Music from the John Blacking Era into the 21st Century." In <emph>John Blacking and contemporary African musicology: Reflections, reviews, analyses, and prospects.</emph> ed. Madimabe Mapaya, &amp; Ndwamato George Mugovhani. (Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2018), 113–128.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ibid.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Heidi Westerlund, "Universalism against Contextual Thinking in Multicultural Music Education—Western Colonialism or Pluralism?" <emph>International Journal of Music Education</emph>, 33, no. 1, (1999): 94–103.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> S. Sangmpam, Social theory and the challenges of Africa's future.<emph>Africa Today</emph>, <emph>42</emph>, no. 3 (1995), 39–66.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Basil Davidson, <emph>The black man's burden: Africa and the curse of the nation-state</emph>. (London: James Currey, 1992).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Madimabe Geoff Mapaya. "Dipsticking the Study of Indigenous African Music from the John Blacking Era into the 21st Century." In <emph>John Blacking and Contemporary African Musicology: Reflections, Reviews,Aanalyses and Prospects. ed.</emph> Madimabe Mapaya, &amp; Ndwamato George Mugovhani. (Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2018), 113–128.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ransford Pinto, "The effect of western formal education on the Ghanaian educational system and cultural identity." <emph>Journal of Negro Education</emph> 88, no. 1 (2019): p.13.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Herbert Sam, A Practical Guide for Church Choirs and Choristers. (Accra: Asempa Publishers, 1986) cited in Flolu, James, "Music Teacher Education in Ghana: Training for churches or for the schools," in Thorsén, Stig-Magnus.<emph>Sounds of Change: Social and Political Features of Music in Africa.</emph> (Sida Studies No. 12. Stockholm: Sida, 2004), 164–179; Amuah, Joshua A., and Kras Arthur, "The development of an indigenous musical style in the Methodist Church–Ghana (1835–present)." <emph>Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences</emph> 1, no. 4 (2013): 114–125.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Steven Tyler Spinner Terpenning, "Choral music, hybridity, and postcolonial consciousness in Ghana." (PhD diss., University of Colorado at Boulder, 2017).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ransford Pinto, "The Effect of Western Formal Education on the Ghanaian Educational System and Cultural Identity."</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Frank L Bartels. "PHILIP QUAQUE, 1741—1816." <emph>Transactions of the Gold Coast &amp; Togoland Historical Society</emph> 1, no. 5 (1955): 153–177.<emph>JSTOR</emph>, <ulink href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/41406590">www.jstor.org/stable/41406590</ulink>. Accessed 29 Mar. 2021.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Bartels, "Philip Quaque, 1741–1816"</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Bartels, "Philip Quaque, 1741–1816" p. 158.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Terry Eagleton and Pierre Bourdieu. "Doxa and Common Life." <emph>New Left Review</emph>, no. 191 (1992): 111.<emph>ProQuest</emph>.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Emmanuel Samwel Kaghondi, "<emph>'All Music Is Music': Reconciling Musical Cultures of Origin with Music Identities in Collegiate Programs of Tanzania</emph>" (PhD Diss., University of Minnesota, 2019).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Moeketsi Letseka. "Educating for Ubuntu/Botho: Lessons from Basotho Indigenous Education." <emph>Open Journal of Philosophy</emph> 3, no.2 (2013): 337. And Emmanuel Samwel Kaghondi.<emph>"'All Music Is Music': Reconciling Musical Cultures of Origin with Music Identities in Collegiate Programs of Tanzania</emph>" (PhD Diss. University of Minnesota, 2019).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Emmanuel Samwel Kaghondi, "<emph>'All Music Is Music': Reconciling Musical Cultures of Origin with Music Identities in Collegiate Programs of Tanzania</emph>" (2019), 36. Here Kaghondi presents an extensive debate on personhood in the Tanzanian music experience.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Patricia A Opondo, "Cultural policies in Kenya." <emph>Arts education policy review</emph> 101, no.5 (2000): 18–24.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Akosua Obuo Addo, H. Potgieter, and F. Miya, "Integrating the Arts in Africa: Theory, Practice and Education." In <emph>Musical arts in Africa: Theory, practice and education</emph>, ed. Anri Herbst, Meki Nzewi &amp; Kofi Agawu (University of South Africa Press, 2003) 236–260.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> JH Kwabena Nketia. "The Study of African and Afro-American music." <emph>The Black Perspective in Music</emph> (1973): 7–15.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Robert Mawuena Kwami, Eric Ayisi Akrofi, and Sean Adams. "Integrating musical arts cultures." <emph>Musical arts in Africa. Theory, practice and education.</emph> ed. Anri Herbst, Meki Nzewi &amp; Kofi Agawu (Pretoria: University of South Africa, 2003), 262–278, and Akosua Obuo, Addo, H. Potgieter, and F. Miya. "Integrating the Arts in Africa: Theory, Practice and Education." <emph>Musical arts in Africa. Theory, practice and education.</emph> (2003), 236–260.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Juliet Hess. "Decolonizing Music Education: Moving Beyond Tokenism." <emph>Inter-national Journal of Music Education</emph> 33, no. 3 (2015): 336–347.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ibid p. 347</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edward Shizha, "Indigenous knowledge Systems and the Curriculum". In <emph>African indigenous knowledge and the disciplines</emph>. Eds. Gloria Emeagwali and George J. Sefa Dei, (Boston: Sense Publishers, 2014), 113–129.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Kofi Agawu, "The Amu Legacy: Ephraim Amu 1899–1995." <emph>Africa: Journal of the International African Institute</emph> 66, no. 2 (1996): 274–79.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Akosua Obuo Addo. "African Education Through the Arts." <emph>Contemporary Voices from the Margin: African Educators on African and American Education</emph> (2012): 29–66.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Estelle R Jorgensen. "Western Classical Music and General Education." <emph>Philosophy of Music Education Review</emph>, 11, no. 2, (2003): 130–140.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Bagele Chilisa, "A Synthesis Paper on the Made in Africa Evaluation Concept Commissioned by African Evaluation Association (AfrEA)." (2015).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edward Shizha, "Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Curriculum," 113–129.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Sylvanus Kwashie Kuwor, "Transmission of Anlo–Ewe Dances in Ghana and Britain: Investigating, Reconstructing and Disseminating Knowledge Embodied in the Music and Dance Traditions of Anlo–Ewe People in Ghana." (Ph.D., dissertation, Roehampton University, 2013).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Dontsa, Luvuyo, "<emph>A hands-on Approach to teaching-learning of uhadi"</emph> in <emph>Centering on African Practice in Musical Arts Education</emph>, ed. Minette Mans (African Minds, 2006), 238.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Victor Fung makes similar arguments for the Chinese context in his book: Victor C. Fung, A Way of Music education: Classic Chinese Wisdoms. (Oxford University Press, 2017).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Meki Nzewi, <emph>A Contemporary Study of musical arts informed by African indigenous knowledge systems</emph> (Ciimda series,Pretoria: Centre for Indigenous Instrumental African Music and Dance, no. 4, 2007).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Meki Nzewi, "Re-searching Music Education for Civic Activism," <emph>Music Education Research,</emph> 9, no. 3 (2007): 306.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ibid., 305–321.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Motamai Molefe, "Individualism in African Moral Cultures." Cultura, 14, no. 2 (2017): 49–68.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Akosua Obuo Addo, "What's in a Singing Game? Exploring Children's Oral Literature." In <emph>African traditional and Oral literature as Pedagogical Tools in Content Area Classrooms: Pre-K-12</emph>. (Information Age Publishing, Inc, 2013), 21–41.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> John Collins, "Highlife and Nkrumah's Independence Ethos." (2010).<emph>Journal of Performing Arts,</emph> 4, no. 1 (2010): 82–91.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Akin Euba, "Criteria for the Evaluation of New African Art Music." <emph>Transition</emph>, no. 49, (1975): 46–50.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edward Shizha, "Indigenous knowledge Systems and the Curriculum," 123.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, "Transforming Ghana's Educational System to Nurture 21st Century Citizens: Role of Creative Arts." Keynote Presentation, 27th Annual National Conference GTMA/CeRCCA UEW, (Winneba, Ghana. Wednesday, August 28, 2019).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ibid., ix.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ephraim Amu, <emph>Twenty-five African Songs in the Twi Language</emph>. (Sheldon Press, 1932).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> George Worlasi Kwasi Dor, "Ephraim Amu's 'Bonwere Kenteŋwene': a Celebration of Ghanaian Traditional Knowledge, Wisdom, and Artistry." <emph>African Music: Journal of the International Library of African Music,</emph> 9, no.4. (2014): 7–35.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See Kingsley Ampomah, "The Changing Role of Traditional Ghanaian Music: Implications for Primary Music Education in Ghana." <emph>The African Music Educator</emph> 10, (2000): 15–38; E. James Flolu, "Re-thinking Arts Education in Ghana," <emph>Arts Education Policy Review</emph>, 101, no. 5 (2000): 25–29, E. James Flolu &amp; Isaac Amuah, <emph>An Introduction to Music Education in Ghana for University and Colleges</emph>. (Accra: Black Mask Ltd, 2003).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Karanja Keita Carroll, "An Introduction to African-centered Sociology: Worldview, Epistemology, and Social Theory." Critical Sociology 40, no. 2, (2014): 257–270.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Madimabe Geoff Mapaya, "Dipsticking the Study of Indigenous African Music from the John Blacking Era into the 21st Century," in Madimabe Mapaya, &amp; Ndwamato George Mugovhani, eds., "John Blacking and Contemporary African Musicology: Reflections, Reviews, Analyses and Prospects." (Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2018), 113–128.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Isaac Kwesi Mensah and Emmanuel Obed Acquah, "Rejection of indigenous music? Reflections of teaching and learning of music and dance in Tamale International School." <emph>African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research</emph> 4, no. 2, (2021): 74–86. See also Isaac Amuah, "African Music Education in Ghanaian Training Colleges: Past, Present and Future." <emph>The African Music Educator,</emph> 9, (1997): 1–23.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Edward Shizha "Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Curriculum," 113–129.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ibid.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Ibid.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Akosua Obuo Addo and Justina Adu, "Examining the Use of Folk Resources for Creative Arts Education in Ghana's Basic Schools," <emph>International Journal of Education &amp; the Arts</emph> 23 no. 4 (2022).</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> See Kwesi Wiredu, "Conceptual Decolonization as an Imperative in Contemporary African Philosophy: Some personal reflections." <emph>Rue Descartes,</emph> 2 n. 36 (2002): 53–64.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> J. H. Kwabena Nketia, "The Study of African and Afro-American Music." The Black Perspective in Music 1, no. 1 (1973): 7–15.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Dawn Joseph. "Tertiary Educators' Voices in Australia and South Africa: Experiencing and Engaging in African Music and Culture," <emph>International Journal of Music Education</emph> 33 no. 3 (2015): 290–303.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Eric Debrah Otchere. "Lost in the Mix: a (Hi)story of Music in Ghanaian Basic Education." <emph>Journal of African Arts and Culture</emph>, (2019): 1–13.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Paul Acheampong Boakye, and Daniel Béland. "Actors, Bricolage, and Translation in Education Policy: A Case Study from Ghana." <emph>The Journal of Modern African Studies</emph>, 60 no. 3 (2022): 323–344.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> George Blankson, <emph>Program Evaluation of Music Teacher Education in Ghana: Implications for Practice, Policy, and Research</emph>. (PhD Diss., The University of Mississippi, 2022). Akosua Obuo Addo and Justina Adu. "Examining the use of folk resources for creative arts education in Ghana's Basic Schools."</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> Eric Debrah Otchere, "Lost in the Mix: a (Hi)story of Music in Ghanaian Basic Education." <emph>Journal of African Arts and Culture</emph>, (2019): 1–13.</bibtext> </blist> <blist> <bibtext> In response to the Rosabal-Coto Keynote address to the <emph>12th biennial International Symposium on the Sociology of Music Education, 2021</emph>, an online conference attendant, Deanna Yerichuk of Wilfred Laurier University, wrote about inclusion in the chat and the statement is worth pondering when forwarding inclusive epistemologies: "Inclusion is about welcoming people to the table. Decolonization is asking who built the table, to begin with, or rejecting the table altogether."</bibtext> </blist> </ref> <aug> <p>By Akosua Obuo Addo</p> <p>Reported by Author</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref13"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref17"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref18"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref20"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref25"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref26"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref27"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref30"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref31"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref32"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref33"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref36"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref37"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref40"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref45"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref46"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref47"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref48"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref49"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref50"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl42" bibid="bib51" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl43" bibid="bib52" firstref="ref52"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl44" bibid="bib53" firstref="ref53"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl45" bibid="bib54" firstref="ref54"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl46" bibid="bib55" firstref="ref55"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl47" bibid="bib56" firstref="ref56"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl48" bibid="bib57" firstref="ref57"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl49" bibid="bib58" firstref="ref58"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl50" bibid="bib59" firstref="ref59"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl51" bibid="bib60" firstref="ref60"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl52" bibid="bib61" firstref="ref61"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl53" bibid="bib62" firstref="ref62"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl54" bibid="bib63" firstref="ref63"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl55" bibid="bib64" firstref="ref64"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl56" bibid="bib65" firstref="ref65"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl57" bibid="bib66" firstref="ref66"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl58" bibid="bib67" firstref="ref67"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl59" bibid="bib68" firstref="ref68"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl60" bibid="bib69" firstref="ref69"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl61" bibid="bib70" firstref="ref70"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl62" bibid="bib71" firstref="ref71"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl63" bibid="bib72" firstref="ref72"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl64" bibid="bib73" firstref="ref73"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl65" bibid="bib74" firstref="ref74"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl66" bibid="bib75" firstref="ref75"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl67" bibid="bib76" firstref="ref76"></nolink> |
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| Header | DbId: eric DbLabel: ERIC An: EJ1488693 AccessLevel: 3 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Giving Voice to Africans in Musical Arts Education Discourse – Name: Language Label: Language Group: Lang Data: English – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Akosua+Obuo+Addo%22">Akosua Obuo Addo</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Philosophy+of+Music+Education+Review%22"><i>Philosophy of Music Education Review</i></searchLink>. 2025 33(3):129-158. – Name: Avail Label: Availability Group: Avail Data: Indiana University Press. 601 North Morton Street, Bloomington, IN 47404. Tel: 800-842-6796; Tel: 812-855-8817; Fax: 812-855-7931; e-mail: iuporder@indiana.edu; Web site: https://iupress.org/journals/pmer/ – Name: PeerReviewed Label: Peer Reviewed Group: SrcInfo Data: Y – Name: Pages Label: Page Count Group: Src Data: 30 – Name: DatePubCY Label: Publication Date Group: Date Data: 2025 – Name: TypeDocument Label: Document Type Group: TypDoc Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Descriptive – Name: Subject Label: Descriptors Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Foreign+Countries%22">Foreign Countries</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Music+Teachers%22">Music Teachers</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Music+Education%22">Music Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Indigenous+Knowledge%22">Indigenous Knowledge</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Curriculum%22">Curriculum</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Politics+of+Education%22">Politics of Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Decolonization%22">Decolonization</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Cultural+Differences%22">Cultural Differences</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Culturally+Relevant+Education%22">Culturally Relevant Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Colonialism%22">Colonialism</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22World+History%22">World History</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educational+History%22">Educational History</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Global+Approach%22">Global Approach</searchLink> – Name: Subject Label: Geographic Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Ghana%22">Ghana</searchLink> – Name: DOI Label: DOI Group: ID Data: 10.2979/pme.00029 – Name: ISSN Label: ISSN Group: ISSN Data: 1063-5734<br />1543-3412 – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: African music educators have been on a journey of indigenization, closing the gap between community arts experiences and school arts. However, although African music educators have advocated for indigenizing the musical arts curriculum, entanglements in western colonial art education models hinder designing a thoughtful indigenous curriculum and silence postcolonial voices in African schooling. My purpose is to analyze Ghana's political moments that have informed the increased interest in African arts expressions in schools. Using Kwasi Wiredu's "conceptual decolonization" notion, I outline how western music education models depart from African worldviews, notions of being, values, and knowledge. I advance three claims to support my argument that indigenizing the Ghanaian musical arts curriculum encourages music educators to embrace the complexity and breadth of African soundscapes, approaches to music-making, and the importance of African voices in arts education. – Name: AbstractInfo Label: Abstractor Group: Ab Data: As Provided – Name: DateEntry Label: Entry Date Group: Date Data: 2025 – Name: AN Label: Accession Number Group: ID Data: EJ1488693 |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=eric&AN=EJ1488693 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.2979/pme.00029 Languages: – Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 30 StartPage: 129 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Foreign Countries Type: general – SubjectFull: Music Teachers Type: general – SubjectFull: Music Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Indigenous Knowledge Type: general – SubjectFull: Curriculum Type: general – SubjectFull: Politics of Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Decolonization Type: general – SubjectFull: Cultural Differences Type: general – SubjectFull: Culturally Relevant Education Type: general – SubjectFull: Colonialism Type: general – SubjectFull: World History Type: general – SubjectFull: Educational History Type: general – SubjectFull: Global Approach Type: general – SubjectFull: Ghana Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Giving Voice to Africans in Musical Arts Education Discourse Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Akosua Obuo Addo IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 01 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 1063-5734 – Type: issn-electronic Value: 1543-3412 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 33 – Type: issue Value: 3 Titles: – TitleFull: Philosophy of Music Education Review Type: main |
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