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Teaching, Research and Community Outreach - Good practice at the Music Department of the University of Fort Hare
Good Practice in the context of Fort Hare means considering the historical, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds of the students and the communities they come from, and to take action, i.e. to integrate indigenous knowledge and African learning methods (concrete instead of abstract learning) into the curriculum and to apply it in class, and to prepare students and future students for a globalizing world through planned community outreach, workshops and an innovative curriculum at the Music Department.
The University of Fort Hare is one of the historically disadvantaged universities in South Africa, in which black people were allowed to study during Apartheid. Founded as South African Native College in 1916, it became the University College of Fort Hare linked to Rhodes University in the 1950s, and finally it was turned into the University of Fort Hare in the 1970s. Still today the majority of the students at the Alice Campus, in the Eastern Cape, are socio-economically disadvantaged. The unemployment rate in the region is higher than 50% and more than 60% of the households have only 150 Euros per month to survive. Students from rural regions are often additionally disadvantaged, because they have to go to schools which do not offer all subjects adequately; music, for instance, is only given very superficially in a subject called “Arts and Culture”. The first person to face the problems mentioned above was Dave Dargie, who, in 1995, started working on an African syllabus at the Music Department of Fort Hare, which was finally implemented in 1998. He also used to teach music in a concrete way, because this was the method he had learning while working with Africans in different marimba groups. Both the syllabus and the manner of teaching recognized the culture of formerly suppressed ethnic groups and strengthened their self-awareness. The material on indigenous music, which was used in class, was based on Dave Dargie’s own research in the Lumko district in the 1970s and 1980s. Even though the political situation has changed since 1994, most of the problems – as mentioned above - are still the same. Additionally we have to prepare our students and their communities for a world that is constantly becoming more globalized.
As before, we intend to strengthen the self-awareness and empowerment of our students. Young people should appreciate their own musical heritage, they should know their roots, but also be open for innovation in order to deal with modern, i.e. global challenges. For that reason we collect, promote and teach African instruments – partly together with Western instruments - in schools, and to a certain extent in workshops. We also bring traditional music groups to our university. Through this we link our institution in a direct way with the society and the local with the global.
Teaching in a concrete way means that the teacher plays a song on a traditional instrument and the students repeat. The same is done with reference to instrument making. The teacher works on an instrument and the students watch and make their own at the same time. It is what one might call learning by doing in Western terms, but in any case it leads to a deeper understanding. The abstract way of teaching music is a rather European product, which is not applied in the villages in the context of indigenous music. Thus teaching in a concrete way means teaching in a way which is familiar to our students from rural regions. The Music Department of the University of Fort Hare is a key partner of the Indigenous Music and Oral History Project (IMOHP), which aims at the collection, conservation and promotion of indigenous music. Due to this project we are able to do research in the communities in rural areas and collect data on indigenous music. The same data is then used as basis for our teaching materials in class and also for workshops in the communities; the so-called community outreach, such as our teaching in secondary schools in Alice or our workshops on traditional music instruments for the Keiskamma youth project or a HIV/AIDS project in Hogsback. In other words the knowledge collected in the communities is partly brought back. “Outreach” – as ethnomusicologists would say – becomes “inreach”. Recent examples of our practical work in class are the making of uhadi bows and a ngoma drum. In both occasions we imparted practical indigenous skills. The case of the ngoma drum, which had to be made by our honors students, turned out to be particularly interesting for this is an East African instrument. Technically it is similar to other drum types in several African regions and due to this fact students from different African countries could contribute in class with their indigenous knowledge on skin preparation techniques and drum making. This means that while teaching (on the basis of our research results) we could do research again, because students come up with their indigenous knowledge and started teaching one another. Furthermore national boundaries were blurred. Our students from South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe became one group of creators. They were making together a music instrument, and the process of instrument making gave them an additional chance to talk and exchange ideas. Also in sections which do not teach African music the African way, i.e. the practical approach is applied and successful. For instance western music theory is also taught practically on the piano and partly on marimbas. They same is done in our modules on choral music. On the basis of these observations we have been working on a new degree, the Bachelor of Music (in performance and musicology), which we try to implement in 2011 or 2012. The new degree is supposed to include, rather than to exclude.
Students appreciate their own background and get a new self-awareness. The contact with one’s own music and that of other cultures leads to a critical self-reflection and helps to accept and accommodate the music of other ethnic groups. Practical work in class strengthens the sense for community and creates a comfortable working atmosphere and spirit. Group work reduces barriers, students also learned to express themselves easier in a language not their own. Theory is transmitted more easily in a practical way and this manner of teaching leads to a deeper and better understanding. It can partly be combined with other teaching methods. Community outreach serves to provide pupils with a musical background, which is necessary for further studies on university level. One outcome of our community outreach is a marimba band for boys, which performs in the region and gives its members the chance to earn money. Whether the boys will study music, is still open. They are still going to school. Community outreach in terms of an interactive research brings indigenous knowledge into the university and some of the collected knowledge back to the communities. The result is a direct link between the communities and the university.
Concrete teaching (especially where students were never exposed to the European way of abstract learning). Practical work in class (it may lead to the recognition of specific cultural features and develop integrative dynamics). Practical approach in the community outreach (workshops and teaching in secondary schools prepares pupils for their future studies). Outreach and inreach (collection of information in the villages, which we apply in class and bring back to the communities strengthens the link between university and society). Traditional music groups teach our students (students learn directly from the custodians of indigenous knowledge; this strengthens again the link with society).
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