“Children‟s music culture resident in the playgrounds, alleys, and so on ….their culture possesses a shared meaning that reflects the larger musical culture.”
in simple quadruple meter. There are no duple meter songs in the researcher‟s collection.
The upbeat and syncopated notes were introduced from Standard 2 to Standard 4, and the dotted crotchet in Standard 3 and Standard 4.
According to Revised National Policy on education (1994) the curriculum and the syllabus have to completely reflect the education policy. Government paper no. 2 of 1994 states that the Creative and Performing Arts syllabus has been designed to meet the requirements of the Revised National Policy on Education. The main aim is to offer learners among other things, an opportunity to acquire generic and specific skills in designing, performing and realizing whilst using a wide variety of materials and processes. The aim is to further help learners develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. Products will be the outcomes of their creative thoughts, aesthetic and socio-cultural awareness.
According to Simako (2008), Tswana children‟s songs link well with the requirements for Creative and Performing Arts policy. Children‟s songs become part of the child from the time of the cradle until s/he becomes an adult. The songs straddle the traditional and contemporary pedagogy simultaneously because they are sung in the child‟s mother tongue which according to constructivist psychologists solidifies the child‟s bond and ownership to what s/he is taught Vygotsky (1978). Children‟s songs are enculturative because from them, the child does not only learn artistic knowledge, but other extra- musical benefits such as community traditions, norms and about life in general (Amoaku, 1998).
The songs are relevant for what they are required of by the syllabus, and even offer extra musical knowledge to learners, which they could discover by themselves before they are introduced to them since concepts referred to are within learners‟ experiences. This addresses the creative and performing arts main aim of providing learners with the opportunity for discovery of concepts and problem solving skills. In testimony to this argument, the Standard 1 to 4 syllabus, for example, requires learners to acquire knowledge on the following topics;
sound, rhymes and choreography, body percussion, pitch and duration, dramatization and dance. From the topics it is clear that Standard 1 to 4 pupils are taught the same concepts, except that the same concepts are addressed in a sequential and cumulative fashion based on a level of intensity which correlates with a particular class. For example acquiring knowledge of sound for Standard 1 differs considerably for Standard 4 classes. In Standard 1 learners are given an opportunity to collect sound from the environment and then differentiate between
natural and man-made sounds as stipulated in Lower Primary syllabus (Lower Primary syllabus 2002:4). However, in Standard 4 learners handle the use of symbolic representation of sound and identify different instrumental sounds, in line with their level of maturity. The following chart confirms the songs‟ applicability to syllabus objectives e.g.
Table 5.1 Relationship of songs to syllabus requirements
Syllabus topic concept Songs
Sound
Rhymes and choreography Body percussion
Pitch and duration
Dramatisation
Dance
Soft and loud sound Rhythm and movement Sound characteristics Pitch: a) high & low Duration: a)long & short Dramatise and mime stories
Create and perform
movement patterns
Kika e kae
Sila sila mile
Dikarolo tsa mmele
Bodimo ba kana
Sananapo
Sila sila mile, Tsuwele,sananapo, Ntadiane and Nku tshweu.
Tsuwele
(Source: Simako, 2008)
The songs further fit well within the Rhythm Interval Approach. This is so because the selected approach is grounded on usage of the children‟s musical background for derivation of concepts especially rhythms and intervals which are regarded as the basic sources from which other music elements are derived (Akuno, 2005:176) confirms:
The RIA music- teaching programme is modeled on the sequence of the child‟s musical development that is revealed in the indigenous musical activities that Kenyan children participate in….
However there are instances where the RIA and the syllabus do not match because they have been developed from different situations and frameworks. This variation is evident in the nature of concepts learners are expected to cover at a particular standard e.g. the RIA
emphasizes the use of pentatonic scale in Standard 1, whilst the Botswana primary school syllabus recommends use of diatonic scale (ascending and descending). Another difference is in the introduction of musical elements because the syllabus expects learners to be introduced to duple, quadruple meters and dance to traditional music which is usually in 6/8 time, right from Standard 1 (3.6.1.1 perform a variety of traditional dances in one‟s locality). Moreover, the RIA also slightly differs with Tswana children‟s level of time and rhythm repertoire as determined by Tswana children‟s songs e.g. out of twenty-four songs analysed by Simako (2008), twenty out of twenty four songs were in quadruple meter, twenty start on an anacrusis and twelve have syncopated notes. This implies that Lower Primary school children are acquainted with the mentioned musical elements ahead of time and hence that is why the syllabus prescribed them for use at an earlier stage than expected in RIA and other approaches like the Kodály, Orff and Dalcroze. Nevertheless, overall the designed activities fell well within the RIA and the researcher made some slight adjustments where necessary.