Published Article

Music as a subject of instruction found its way into the school programme through the church. It is one of the oldest courses of instruction in both traditional and Western European educational systems. Academic music education in Nigeria was started by the British colonial educationists. On colonization and preparation for the evangelization of Nigeria, the colonial masters adopted Christianity as the only official religion of the country. To ensure the people’s commitment, they drew up educational programmes that were meant to serve their main purpose. The school curriculum had Reading, Writing and Religion as the central subjects. In addition to these, they introduced music in the form of hymn-singing. With the inception of formal music education about the middle of the 19thcentury, the aim was to produce musicians who would perform in church services. The music curriculum which was founded on Western musical cultures ignored the relevance of the rich traditional musical cultures of Nigeria. Though the curriculum succeeded, it did not create a brighter musical future for Nigerian musicians. On realization of this, Nigerians started preparing grounds for teachers and students of music by drawing up a curriculum that addressed the needs of the people. They also prepared grounds for providing adequate facilities and instructional materials. In modern-day Nigeria, music as a school subject cuts across the early child development to adult stages. It rests on a tri-level structure, namely: the traditional society, the popular music industry and the formal school. It has traditionally been integrated in all levels of formal education – early childhood education (i.e. crèche, nursery and kindergarten), primary education, secondary education and tertiary education. In the life of a child, musical training starts very early and must be sustained through the highest level of education. Music teaching in primary schools in Nigeria which this write-up examines should therefore not remain passive rather, must be involving if a better future for music scholarship must be actualized. The study therefore recommends that qualified music teachers should be employed to teach music in Nigerian primary schools and that primary schools should offer music education that enables the pupils to make music successfully both within and out of school situation.