Accelerando: BJMD (Feb 2024)
Pedagogical Approach Towards Developing Early Childhood Music Education in Nigeria
Abstract
Undoubtedly, the surest ground-breaking for solid foundation of Early Childhood Music Education hinged on systematically organised and strategically coordinated musical activities at the early stage of education. Unfortunately, despite music being a predominantly evident driving force at this level of education, many institutions still manifest ‘jé lé ó sin mi (‘let the house have peace’) mentality by demonstrating ‘cosmetic’ approach towards educational development of children under their care in general and music education in particular. Hence, this paper advocates for a pedagogical approach towards developing and improving Early Childhood Music Education. Being a descriptive research, participant observation and oral interview techniques were used as instruments of data collection to harvest direct information from the ten (10) randomly selected schools in Ilorin, Kwara State. This was complemented by Fayol’s Administrative Management theory to foreground the study. Findings revealed that most activities at this starting point of education are musical, but no single qualified music teacher was employed either as full-time or part-time to coordinate the activities. Consequently, singing out of tune, screaming and singing off-beat often characterised the children’s performances. Likewise, government only pays lip-service to this fragile stage by leaving the establishment and administration of this delicate organisation solely in the hands of the private sector. The study, however, recommends that Society of Music Educators of Nigeria (SOMEN) should consider generating a memo on the need to employ qualified Early Childhood Music educators, who will ensure balanced music education through a pragmatic pedagogical approach, as suggested and explained in this paper.
