Chapter 5 Findings (Data description)
5.3 Theme 1: Inclusion and exclusion
5.3.2 Exclusion and exclusivity
87 in his comfort zones, and it’s what makes him happy. Sibo48 similarly remarked that
“choir relieves a lot of stress from school and home”.
88 a) School music exclusion practices
Participants indicated that a prominent exclusion practice involved not considering music as a subject and related activities such as choir practice as important projects in schools. This negative perception of music education in general and choir work specifically was held by fellow pupils, parents/guardians and the local/national education authorities. Tio told me, “I really don’t care what people say, because people like saying choir is useless and ask why I don’t join JETS50 club instead. But the thing is, we all have different talents and passion". 2cents51 also told me, “it feels bad when my friends make fun of choir. They do so because they don’t know how it feels to sing. Some people think that there is nothing useful in choir and say maybe you just go to look at pretty girls there or something. It makes me feel bad that they have no idea about the good things found in a choir”.
Some choristers revealed to me that their parents discouraged them from choir because they feared it might disturb their school work. Nalu said to me, "I love singing so much, but my mum tells me it may disturb my school work and I should only join after my examinations”. Tio also commented, “my parents were a bit worried that music would disturb my concentrating on my school and stuff. Actually, they told me to stop, but I didn’t. Now they don’t talk about it anymore. Maybe they don’t want to hurt my feelings”.
This notion is also echoed by conductors who are also, in many cases, music teachers. Mr Besa52 commented, "more care from both administrators and parents should be given to music instead of always treating it as the last option or least important in terms of priorities”. Commenting on how choir and music in schools can be improved, Ms Roberts said: “I think we need to take music as seriously as we do maths and science, it starts from there”. Mrs Nana told me, "it's about 75% of the parents who value music, so the 25% are those who think music is a sheer waste of time. Some parents ask why choir and music? I don’t want my child to be like
50 Junior engineers, technicians and scientists.
51 14-year-old Grade 10 chorister.
52 45-year-old conductor of Cauliflower choir.
89 Macky2.53 For them, most musicians are not learned, musicians don’t do anything productive…it’s quite a sad way of thinking”.
The lack of basic necessities required to meaningfully participate in choral activities is a significant agent of exclusion. One example participants gave me is the lack of provision of choir uniforms by the school administration. This becomes a challenge for underprivileged choristers as they either cannot afford it at all, or can only source inferior quality uniforms, sometimes with a different colour shade. Mr Newman explained:
You will find that children are told to come in black and white uniforms from home.
That kind of demoralizes them because one will come with a new nice shirt and slacks, while another with very old ones. The learners lose confidence and the mind is somewhere else. They are preoccupied with thinking about their clothes, whether they look nice or not.
In another example, Mr Newman also mentioned how sometimes the school does not provide meals. He said:
During competitions or other outings, for example, at lunchtime, some choristers are eating Hungry Lion54 chicken and chips, while others are eating tute ne mbalala – roasted Zambian cassava tubers, usually eaten with peanuts. For choristers or pupils their age, that demoralises and isolates them from the rest of the children.
He believes that the feelings of exclusion brought about by seemingly simple issues such as uniforms and lunch can affect optimal and meaningful choral involvement of choristers.
53 Renowned Zambian hip hop musician.
54 A popular fast food outlet.
90 The lack of dedicated infrastructure for music activities also serves as an exclusion agent. Ms Nernel talked about how the school hall is always busy, which is where the choir practises. She told me:
Much of the challenge has to do with room; we don’t have a dedicated choir or music room. Sometimes the school hall where they usually practise is used for exams, meetings and other activities. I think this disturbs and discourages them a lot. We are, however, working on building a music room with the support of the PTA.55
Similarly, Mrs Nana56 complained that “several times I have been told by colleagues that I am disturbing a class with what they claim is loud music. That upsets me a lot, and I have complained to the principal several times. I am hopeful that we can have a music room soon”. Mr Besa similarly said, “well, the bottom line is that more support needs to be given to choirs and music programmes for them to thrive; currently there isn’t much”.
b) Exclusivity and general educational goals
Some participants who are school administrators and teachers comment on how general education goals and personal philosophy affect decisions to include or exclude. Sr Mary-Grace says: “I think the purpose of school choirs is educative and conceived within the general goals of the education system. This means choir activities should agree with the philosophy espoused by the school in the other curriculum areas”. She adds that “the choir programs should deliberately do activities that are in tandem with the philosophy agreed upon. So, in short, exclusive and inclusive practices should reflect what the school believes in”.
Having to exclude a chorister from a choir for one reason or another is not easy, according to Mrs Nana. She said:
55 Parents and Teachers Association.
56 40-year-old conductor and music teacher of Dandelion school.
91 To be honest with you, in my early years, I only involved those that were in 8c and 9c. These are considered to be the best classes because of the bright girls there.
But I came to realise later that there were girls that were talented differently in the other classes as well. I find it very difficult to exclude anyone.
Similar sentiments are held by Mr Besa, who told me that he just couldn’t send a chorister away because of the pressure to audition for whatever activity. He said, “I think I have never been in a situation where I had to send a chorister away. It does not matter what the gravity of the event or activity is we are participating in, I always believe in a chance for all”. Both Mrs Nana and Mr Besa double as music teachers and also choir conductors of their school choirs. The education goals of the school and their personal philosophy guide decisions to include or exclude for these music teachers and choir conductors.
c) Exclusivity in musical styles or genres
In my discussion with participants, musical style as exclusion emerged as a subcategory. Some participants feel limited musical styles in the choir is a cause of exclusivity. Mrs Nana told me, “one weakness we have is that for now, we sing a cappella only, and it is not by choice but circumstances”. She continued to explain, “I hope to incorporate more accompanied choral music and more instrumental music using both African and Western instruments. The major problem or limitation has been finding accompanists around here. It is not very easy”.
For some choristers like HK and Eagle, diverse musical styles and genres are important in school choral music. Eagle told me, “if they can just put more variety in the music selection, then it can be better. Instead of only stuff like church music and other complicated choir songs”. He also has reservations about the selection of repertoire for NASAAZ competitions. He tells me, “NASAAZ is fun, and there are many choirs and dancers, but then the music, like the compulsory set-pieces [...] mmh [...]
they were a bit complicated, so we didn't do well”.
92 Towee, on the other hand, told me, “I love to dance to trending cool music like stuff on Tik-Tok57, Disney songs (covers face) and other fun stuff. My sister and I use mom’s phone to watch videos on the trending songs, sometimes on my brother’s phone when he lets us”. Asked if she gets such music from choir or school music activities, she quickly responded, “huh no! […] you can never ever find that here, the teachers don’t want such music”.
Xcross from Asparagus feels nostalgic and misses songs from his primary school days where they would stage Christmas plays. He also loves rap music. He said to me, “I am an upcoming rapper, so obviously, I can be excited if hip hop and rap can be included in our music stuff in school”.When I asked him to tell me more about his music, he excitedly told me, “actually, early this year, my older cousin helped me record my first hip hop track at his home studio. He has taught me a lot of stuff and hip-hop music”.