Renewing pedagogy in a South African music classroom through implementing informal music learning
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2020
Authors
Francis, Helena Catrina
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The research constitutes a renewed music pedagogy in South African music education, undertaken in response to my learners’ lack of engagement in the music classes I taught at a girls’ Catholic school in Johannesburg in 2018. To address this challenge, I introduced a pedagogical intervention in the form of Lucy Green’s “informal music learning” (2008) with my learners.
The research thus examines the educational values of the informal music learning approach and how informal music learning practices, derived from how popular musicians learn, could be implemented in a South African classroom. More specifically I explored how Green’s pedagogy could increase learner motivation, participation and interest in music education more broadly. A second aspect entailed what I, as a music teacher, learnt about the nature of musical learning and musical knowledge as a result of the pedagogical intervention. I first describe and then analyse the learning strategies students developed independently as they collaborated in groups to copy and perform popular songs. The analysis focusses specifically on the kinds of musical learning the intervention enabled.
The qualitative research is informed by an interpretivist paradigm and employed exploratory case study research for gaining an in-depth rich picture of student’s learning processes. Stages one to three of Green’s ‘informal music learning’ was implemented with sixty-six Grade seven learners over a period of four months in 2018. A range of data-collecting methods (observation, video and sound recordings and informal interviews) were used to triangulate and verify the findings, taking into account that I played the role of both researcher and teacher. Thematic analysis highlighted features of informal music learning practices and factors that influenced the efficacy of the pedagogy for promoting musical learning and group collaboration.
The study demonstrates that informal music learning practices can be a valuable pedagogical intervention for South African music education. The implications for implementing aspects of the informal music learning pedagogy in music education in South Africa are significant. With the current problems of poor resources and unqualified teachers in South African Creative and Performing Arts education, integrating aspects of informal music learning into existing curricula may ensure that learners experience meaningful music education, which connects with their musical identities and musical worlds outside the classroom.
Description
A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Masters of Music to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, 2020