Global Perspective on Learning

and Teaching Music

CHAPTER IV
 BACKGROUND
Young Balinese gamelan master I Ketut
Gede Rudita is offered a residency to
work with the students.

A growing sense of inadequacy and

frustration.

Most Balinese musicians didnt learn the

music but they just know it.
 DISCUSSION

what you teach is

what you get
 TRANSMISSION
T h e m e a n s b y w h i c h m u s i c a l
compositions, performing practices and
knowledge are passed from musician to
musician (Grove Music Online)

Relates not only to learning musical

material but also to the enculturation of
approaches to a musical style of genre at
large.
 Common to most music
learning in Africa (Flolu)

Listening
Observation
Participation
Five Key Domains in Learning
Music Across Culture
1. Technical skills (instrumental and vocal)
2. Repertoire and performance practice
3. Theory (explicit or implicit)
4. Creativity and expression
5. Culture and values
Technical (Instrumental and
Vocal) Skills

Involve graded exercises, etudes and

gradation in pieces.
Definable and controlled playing
position, breathing, embouchure and
fingering.
Using metaphors is more
effective than scientific precision
as if there is a small bird sitting on you
finger.
Apply 20 milligram less pressure on the
string with the left index finger
play like a cat, but with sheathed claws
clothe the bass line in summer linen, not
wool
unravelling a complex knitting pattern
Repertoire and Performance
Practice
Repertoire can refer to such bodies of
works but also to remembered and
commonly sung/played pieces of
music.
Prescriptive (notation) and
Descriptive (transcription)
Aural Traditions (embodied in
living musicians)

Korea and Japan living national

treasures
ABBA composed pop songs without
using or knowing notation.
Self-directed Learning
Recorded and downloaded music.
Derivative and unoriginal
Internet has become a major
instrument in preserving and
transmitting repertoire.
Whether notated, digital or live,
repertoire is a concrete aspect of music.
Theory (Explicit or Implicit)
Explicit - stated clearly and in detail
Implicit - impliedwithoutplainlyexpressed
Tacit and passive knowledge
Music practice and theory have separated in
North Indian classical music..
Dividing the octave into as many as 66
steps, of which 22 are actually used in
music.
 Theory (Explicit or Implicit)

Musical analysis is the discipline we learn,

above all, from musicians.

It is the musical concepts in the practicing

musicians mind that need to be
transmitted, rather than abstraction made
from a scholars or listeners point of view.
 Creativity and Expression

Levels of Creativity
1. the creation of new works
2. improvisation
3. the interpretation of existing works

The role of creator and performer is

unified within a single person
 Creativity and Expression
Specialized musicians composing and not
necessarily being part of the performance.

In contemporary computer and Web-based

composition external performers are not
needed.

Uses multi-track recording and digital

support.
Creativity and Expression
The musician aims to be free to follow the
musical inventions of his own imaginations
but must be guided through the traditional
rules that govern improvisation.

Improvisation is mostly learned by

absorption rather than explanation.
 Creativity and Expression

Three Stages of Learning Improvisation

1. exact imitation of examples from

recordings, teachers or other sources.
2. spontaneous creation or simple
assignments evaluated by peers or
teacher.
3. independent improvisation.
VALUES
Refers to the rules and values among
insiders to the music culture which are
often not made explicit.

The spirit of togetherness Africans

attribute to music making.

Much ritual and healing music is based on

spiritual and religious values.
VALUES
Behavior and communication
among musicians can provide
simple examples of tangible values.

Unable to sit cross-legged

extremely bad manners in India.
VALUES
Values are generally taught partly explicit,
partly implicit and often through stories,
anecdotes and legends.

Both external and internal context play a

role in value systems, ranging from physical
surroundings to social role and spiritual
meaning.
Notation and Aurality
Music itself, that is the musical score is the
most important primary source material for
the musicologist.

To the reader with no knowledge of the

tradition, most world music will look like
poor Western music when represented in
staff notation.
Notation and Aurality
Do not complement the notation when reading
music of unknown traditions.

Ethnomusicologist who use staff notation for

world music are painfully conscious that in doing
this, they are shoehorning Indian or Chinese
music.

The notation of Western classical music is among

the most precise and prescriptive in the world.
 Contrast in focus between notion-
based and aural traditions

NOTATION-BASED PREDOMINANTLY AURAL

(Western classical music)
Centrality fixed compositions
Pieces of music relatively
static
Complex relation between
melodic lines
Regular, linear meter
Single intonation system for
all works
(Indian classical music)
Room for improvisation
Organic changes, every
performance different
Single melodic line central
Cyclical rhythmic
structure free rhythm
Intonation variable
between works
Atomistic and Holistic Approach

To teach but one thing at a time

rhythm, melody and expression
(Johann Pestalozzi)
Music could be understood
through analyzing its structure.
Music is taught piece by piece.
Atomistic and Holistic Approach

Holistic a piece of music that is

considered part of the real
repertoire is represented to the
student as a whole.
The student is more likely to be
able to grasp other pieces by
himself or herself.
Atomistic and Holistic Approach

A holistic approach is likely to

address the analytical skills of the
learner more than atomistic one.
Its easier to learn music that one
has heard extensively than
completely new melodic and
rhythmic structures.
 CONCLUSION
A brief exploration or processes of
music transmission from a cross-
cultural perspective reveals that
many aspects of learning and
teaching contain multiple layers
and areas of choice.
 CONCLUSION
The next challenge is to consider
the roles of learners and teachers
and the environments in which
music learning and teaching takes
place.