Constraints to Practices and Styles of Music Education among Orthodox and Pentecostal Churches in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study focused on constraints to practices and styles of music education in Orthodox andPentecostal Churches in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Quantitative and Qualitative researchmethods were utilized, respectively. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was used as a qualitativemethod. Five choristers were selected each from orthodox and Pentecostal churches for FGD,while a multi stage sampling technique was used to select 367 choristers from Abeokutametropolis, Ogun State. Structured questionnaires collected data on practices, styles andc onstraints to church music education. Data were subjected to descriptive statistics such asfrequencies, percentages, means, and inferential tools such as independent samples t test andAnalysis of Variance at 5% significance level. Results revealed that i nadequate musicalknowledge / musical illiteracy and adverse attitude/interest towards learning (=1.92) ranked firstamong musical constraints of music education. There was a significant difference in the meanrating of music styles across Pentecostal and Orthodox churches (F=0.185; p>0.05). Also, therewas a significant difference in the mean rating of constraints militating against music educationacross churches (t=4.637; p?0.05), with more constraints in orthodox churches (30.7644)compared with Penteco stals (24.4091). In conclusion, church music practices and styles weremore constrained in Orthodox churches than Pentecostal churches. Therefore, proactivemeasures should be adopted, especially among orthodox choristers, to nib the menace in the budand improve church musical practices and styles across churches.