Learners’ attitude towards practical musicianship in secondary schools in Bungoma County

Abstract

Researchers across the globe have found huge support for music as a necessary component of an adolescent’s life. Since music seems to be such an important part of young people’s identity and it influences many aspects of their behaviour, the topic of formal music education remains critical and open to exploration and discussion. The discrepancy between ‘music at school’ and ‘music out of school’ is therefore often huge for students. The aim of this paper is to investigate the attitudes of learners in secondary schools towards practical musicianship. Adopting the use of descriptive survey design, the study targeted 19 teachers and 177 students of music from 15 purposively sampled secondary schools. Data was collected using personal interviews, observation schedule, document analysis and a questionnaire. The collected data was then analyzed descriptively based on emerging themes and quotas. The study established that majority of the students of music had a positive attitude towards practical musicianship. As a result, teachers are only required to encourage and motivate them towards attaining their desired career goals in musicianship. However, some students had also developed negative attitude about school music because of lack of instrumental and vocal provisions. The study recommends inclusion of music technology and popular music within the music curriculum to stimulate wider interest in the subject. More so, provision of opportunities for students to talk about their musical interests, likes and dislikes on a regular basis in order to better facilitate meaningful musical instruction should be encouraged.