Results
Results
A DISINTEREST TOWARDS UNFAMILIAR MUSICAL TRADITIONS
The majority of the collaborators agreed that they observe a general disinterest or reluctance towards learning unfamiliar musical traditions among students , and that they had to find ways to counter that .
' I thought I would try a gamelan module … Oh boy , was I wrong . They [ the students ] didn ’ t take very well to any traditional type of music , not even gamelan … They were like “ What kind of sound is this ? Huh , what is this ?”. They started banging away . I totally lost the class . … Yup , no one really listened in class , everything was just mayhem . … They weren ’ t into the music . They were very pop-centric . … In the end , I thought , “… Maybe they ’ re not ready for it ? Okay , move on .” I got them to do pop band [ instead ]… they perform a pop song of their choice and we would record it . It has stayed that way for General Music .'
- Nathania Chan , classroom music teacher at an independent school ¹ , 29 / 11 / 2021
In this interview , Nathania spoke about the difficulties she faced introducing the Javanese gamelan to her General Music class when she first started working at the school . She relates her students ’ rejection of traditional gamelan music to their general preference for Western popular music , and has found more success in catering to their interests instead . Others collaborators also felt that parents were more likely to educate their children in Western classical music over other traditions such as Carnatic music or traditional Malay music forms , for reasons such as prestige and their child eventually being able to make a better living from teaching Western music in the future due to its popularity in Singapore . This preference for Western music among both students and parents may be indicative of a dominance of Western cultural products among Singaporeans in general , and possibly a result of Singapore suffering from a ‘ colonial hangover ’, in which Western cultural products come across as superior to those of former colonies such as Singapore herself ( Mattar , 2009 : 186 ; Pereira and Malik , 2017 ).
' They do use the classroom for other classes , but probably no one is going to practice gamelan … It ’ s not something they ’ re really interested in . … They come to xxx ² to be a guitarist , or they come to xxx to be a pianist or a vocalist , right ? So this is nothing that they think would benefit them in the long run . It ’ s like , “ Oh , I will just explore , I will just try this out ”… What I find is that for musicians who do actually play a couple of other instruments , like maybe they play the violin as well … this [ gamelan ] is just an add-on to what they already have and know .'
- Collaborator X , a gamelan instructor at a postsecondary arts institution , 30 / 11 / 21
Collaborator X pointed out that the disinterest in learning the gamelan , another instrument or music from another culture could also stem from the individual ambitions of students , especially if their focus is on excelling at their principal musical study and for that to be their career . Several collaborators also agreed that there is a growing emphasis in music programmes offered by arts institutions in Singapore to take up a second study in an instrument of a different culture , such as one outside of Western art music . Institutions of higher learning internationally are also beginning to understand that this approach is necessary in order not to ‘ invalidate or devalue multiple perspectives of music and music making ’, especially within multicultural societies ( Belz , 2006:42 ). However , it is uncertain if this multicultural awareness can be achieved in students who are only going through the motions and simply adding another instrument to their skill set , and not necessarily learning out of appreciation for another culture . Overall , the challenges discussed are indicative of the domination of Western cultural products among students , like music , and such hegemony may in turn prove unconducive to multiculturalism and the flourishing of traditions that make up a diverse society ( Turner , 1993 ).
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