COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP IN INDIGENOUS BALUU AND KENGBE MUSICAL ARTS OF ILORIN PEOPLE IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Over time, different and divergent learning methods such as the Kodaly method (1941), Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) (1987), Gordon’s Music Learning Theory (1989), Pratt’s Apprenticeship Perspective (1998), McPherson’s Self-Regulated Learning in Music Practice (2017) have been postulated by scholars and musicologists alike in relation to the learning and practice of music in formal education. However, little study has focused on learning and apprenticeship methods for indigenous musical arts and practice, partly due to the informal context of indigenous music arts and practice in most cases. Hence, this study interrogates cognitive apprenticeship in indigenous African musical arts using two indigenous music styles: Baluu and Kengbe of Ilorin people in Kwara State, Nigeria as examples. This study is underpinned with Cognitive Apprenticeship Theory and relied on ethnography as the design. Using oral interview and non-participant observation of learning process, training, rehearsals and band performances of Baluu and Kengbe musical arts, this study identifies the stages of learning, development and professional practice of the practitioners. Learning by imitation, rote, articulation, reflection, exploration and improvisational skills were methods of skill acquisition. The study therefore recommends cognitive instructional strategies as an effective model in learning and apprenticeship as it stimulates the thought process of trainees and cognitive skills such as problem solving, social charisma, human relations, improvisation, enquiry, self-expression and self-esteem are developed through this model.