Cultivating Shadows in the Field: Challenges for Traditions in Institutional Contexts

Wiggins, Trevor (2006) Cultivating Shadows in the Field: Challenges for Traditions in Institutional Contexts. In: Cultural Diversity in Music Education: Directions and Challenges for the 21st Century. Australian Academic Press, Brisbane, Australia, pp. 13-21. ISBN 1875378596

Abstract / Summary

This article forms part of a book, for which I was also an editor. A version of the article was given as an invited keynote address at the ‘VIIth International Symposium on Cultural Diversity in Music Education’ conference, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Brisbane in November 2005.

The article contributes to my ongoing examination of aspects of the transmission of music in different cultures and contexts. In this case, I focussed on students taking Ghanaian drumming classes at Dartington during the past ten years or so, researching what they felt that they had learned and understood. I compared the methods used with indigenous traditions and considered the nature of the learning that took place, in terms of individual student development and also in relation to the version of the music (and dance) that was transmitted. I focussed as much on student learning as teaching, drawing comparisons with the ways that popular musicians learn in the UK.

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