The Ethnic Approach to Music Making: A Case for Music Education in Ghana

Abstract

Every society possesses a distinctive culture which distinguishes it from another. Music, which is part and parcel of culture, helps manifest social and cultural identity. The way Ghanaians make music is different from Germans, and even in Africa a society's approach to music making is quite different from another. For instance a Nigerian is clearly distinguished from a Ghanaian due to their respective cultural practices. It is therefore germane for every society to emphasise the approach to music making that has been handed down over time and then to train its members for the benefit of the individual and the society at large. Formal Music Education as we have now was brought into this country by the Europeans. The exact date or period of the introduction of it cannot be exactly traced, but it is believed that it all commenced in the castle schools, spread to the country side and eventually became part of the school curriculum due to the effort of the early missionaries. Consequently music syllabuses which were drawn up and adapted by Ghanaian schools were until recently, basically Western oriented, teaching the rudiments and theories of music, and the history and form of Western music.