Participation In Choral Music Ensembles And Its Impact On Musicianship Among Music Education Students In Selected Public Universities In Kenya

ABSTRACT

Music, just like other arts requires time for practice. Despite clearly outlined objectives about practical music in the curriculum by the Ministry of Education, several music education trainees do not consistently exhibit the ‘musical’ part of their training. They give their practical music abilities, especially aural musicianship, little or no attention even after spending quality time with their instructors/teachers. This translates to relatively poor performance at assessment. Guided by Lev Vygotsky’s Social Constructivism theory, this study focused on establishing the extent to which music education students participate in choral music activities as well as examining the effects on participation in choral music. It also focused on assessing the effectiveness of using choral music instruction methods in acquisition of musicianship skills and determining the impact of participation in choral music on musicianship among the music education students. A quasi-experimental research design was employed where pre and post-tests were used. Through the use of purposive sampling techniques, the public universities that offer Bachelor’s degree in music education were considered. An interaction with the respondents who were the music education students at the selected public universities through the use of questionnaires, interviews, observations and focus group discussions, guided the data collection. An analysis through the use of descriptive and inferential statistics was guided by the research questions and objectives of this study. The findings were considered in general music practices that helped in finding out the impact of participation in choral music on musicianship among music education students in public universities in Kenya as they prepared to begin their careers as music teachers.

Key Words: participation, choral music, musicianship.