PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF WESTERN ORCHESTRAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS: THE NNAMDI AZIKIWE UNIVERSITY EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The study was a survey of the teaching and learning of Western orchestral musical instruments in the Department of Music, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The population of the study included all the lecturers (12) and students (126) of the Department of Music, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka giving a total population of 138. Based on the number of lecturers and students (106), a study of the entire population was made. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire structured to capture the four (4) - points modified likert scale and which was face-validated by two expert researchers in the field of music pedagogy. It was pilot-tested for reliability and internal consistency through the application of Spearman rank order correlation coefficient. The analysis for the seven research questions showed an average coefficient of 0.82. Seven research questions and hypotheses were raised and tested using mean rating and standard deviation as the statistical tools. All tests were carried out at 0.05 level of significance (P>0.05). Results showed that there exist only eleven Western orchestra musical instruments in the Department; the teaching and learning environment is inadequate for instrumental; students’ attitude in learning the instruments is poor; and lack of specialists in teaching some of the instruments such as the violin, string bass, tuba, French Horn, Trombone, and euphonium. It was also found out that some of the students (about 10%) still showed competence on their orchestral instruments despite the challenges. The implications of the study include the need for the provision of more Western orchestral musical instruments, employing specialists in the affected instruments, the need for lecturers to seriously consider the psychological and physiological dispositions of students before assigning Western orchestral musical instruments to them and the need for students to improve their attitude towards learning musical instruments. It was recommended that adaptability tests should be run for students before approving orchestral instruments for them and that the University should equip the Music Department with a Departmental building equipped with acoustically treated practise rooms.