THE PRAXIS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS PEDAGOGY

Abstract

This paper x-rayed modern principles and practices of teaching and learning musical instruments with the aim of facilitating the art for both the teacher and the learner. The complicated nature of musical instruments – their various shapes, materials, and mechanisms of tone production, tubular, conical, blown, plucked, and struck types etc., - has made the practice of teaching and learning these instruments one of the most challenging aspects of musicology. This research adopted an experimental approach that spanned for over a decade using pupils and students from various schools in Anambra state and undergraduate students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka as the research samples in finding solution to the challenges of learning and mastering musical instruments with ease. Findings showed that musical instruments, by virtue of their complexities and peculiarities, demand certain physical and physiological soundness from the learners as criteria for learning and mastery and these have been ignored by instrument teachers for a long time. Some of such criteria are ‘long and thin fingers’ for the piano and the strings; long arm for the trombone, deep breath, firm lips, and strong tongue for the woodwinds and brasses etc. It is recommended that for a successful instrumental experience, the teacher and the learner must give attention to the peculiar criteria demanded by a given musical instrument before engaging it.