Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5305-5718

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

College of Creative Arts

Department

School of Music

Committee Chair

Katelyn Best

Committee Member

Michael Vercelli

Committee Member

Matthew Heap

Abstract

Pedagogical research on African music and dance practices have conventionally focused on ways in which styles and traditions are taught including, but not limited to, modes of transmission, curriculum structure, and cultural responsiveness. These investigations, and subsequent applications, have contributed towards a deeper understanding of pedagogical structures as related to cultural context and effective modes of teaching and learning African music. At the same time, the impact that space and locality play within African music and dance instruction, particularly as related to learning experiences have been largely overlooked. Locality and space involve several factors that range from elements attributed to a given location’s soundscape to components of physical structures and social environments. Broadly, this study explores the role locality and space play within pedagogical practices. More specifically it examines their influence on Ghanaian music practices as taught within music centers in Ghana and outside of the country as well. Using traditional ethnographic modes of investigation, this work analyzes factors of locality and space within pedagogical contexts in Ghana at the Bernard Woma Dagara Music Center and the Dagbe Cultural Institute and Arts Center as well as within the United States of America at West Virginia University, which maintains a connection with both centers. Through this investigation, this study considers how locality and space shape pedagogical structures and further contribute to already existing pedagogical research on African music and dance.

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