Abstract
The challenge of a breakthrough in music education in all tiers of our learning (nursery/primary/secondary/tertiary) has bordered Nigerian music educators for quite a long time. Although numerous learning theories have been explored and applied with relative success regarding the situation, Piaget`s notion of the `critical period` as implied in his theory of mental development still raises some concern with regards to music education in Nigeria. Piaget`s notion of the `critical period‟ posits that every normal person is imbued with the potentiality of forming, organizing, processing, and interpreting concepts starting from infanthood through sensitive stages of their development (0-11yrs) and beyond this `sensitive or critical` stage, cognitive development could be seriously hampered. Piaget`s discovery, doubtless, has immensely influenced modern educational ideology, policy. Formal education and curricula are now designed to commence as early as possible and to pace such factors as age, mental capability, and adaptability of the learner. Unfortunately, the Nigerian situation is such that most learners become formally involved in music when they must have passed through primary or secondary schools. Pupils and students of (Mount Olive Nursery/Primary School, Onitsha; Springfield Academy, Onitsha, Supreme Knowledge Comprehensive Schools, Nkpor; and British Spring College, Awka) along with undergraduate students of the Department of Music Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka were taken as research samples for the study and evidence of the critical period was discovered as a major cause of their musical challenges. In fact, most students who enroll for music in the Department of Music of NnamdiAzikiwe University, Awka had no music education in their primary nor secondary schools. Many also have enrolled for music as a last resort to admission problems and thus complicating issues for both the learner and the teacher. This paper, therefore, sought to find solution to the problem of the critical period regarding music. The „continuity theory` of mental development was explored as a feasible solution to the problem and it appears to offer some hope. The continuity theory holds that human development is continuous and not „fixed` therefore giving some glimpse of hope that even though the reality of the critical stage can pose serious challenges to music learning; the possibility of adapting to music after this stage is still feasible with regards to conducive learning environment, native endowment and positive attitude on the part of the learner, and teacher- motivation.
References
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