Contextualizing Traditional Music Studies in an Institution of Higher Learning: A Case Study of the BA Irish Music and Dance at the University of Limerick

Abstract

The indigenous knowledge system that informs the content of African performance practices derives from the distinctive history, philosophy, creative theory, geographical location, cross-cultural influences, and such of particular African communities. The transfer of these indigenous knowledge systems to students in a classroom situation has been a challenge in African school curriculum. There are music cultures that have been able to appropriate their indigenous music cultures for classroom education at the third level of education. This paper, therefore, is an investigation into one of such institutions that have incorporated its traditional music into the music curriculum and the contextual implications of achieving this feat.