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Teacher‟s views on the definition of „good‟ musical knowledge are illustrated by their concerns for protecting the integrity of music as a subject discipline. The teacher most alarmed about school musical knowledge becoming diluted was Iris. All of the teachers regarded Western music theory and literacy as integral to the study of any genre of music. At the same time they accepted that many learners could not afford to study music outside of their schools and were therefore keen to build on the prior knowledge and experiences of their learners. They were keen to point out that with the assistance of expert local indigenous musicians African music could be executed at a high standard by their students thereby improving its reputation as a serious genre of music. The notion that music should be situated within a cultural context is one they all agreed on. Their discussions on music education in this milieu highlighted the subtlety of what they regarded good music knowledge to be and what it offered learners. Their views are summarised below:

1 Knowledge of emerging musics 2 Knowledge of music technology 3 Music appreciation

4 Passing music examinations

5 The ability to participate in group ensembles 6 The ability to perform as a soloist

7 The ability to participate in cross-curricular projects 8 Developing a life-long interest in music

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Teachers‟ views on good musical knowledge illustrate that they largely are in accord with CAPS aims. However the attempt to inject democracy into the music curriculum by combining atypical components into the music syllabus have given rise to perplexity and turmoil for some teachers who have viewed the inclusion of different musics as a signal to some schools to employ untrained and unqualified teachers as music experts. They believe that this approach would compromise the standards of good musical knowledge.

In Chapter One, I posed four questions regarding what might constitute good music education. Teachers have answered these questions as indicated below:

1 Is it the ability to appreciate different musics?

The teachers have confirmed their view that the appreciation of different musics as essential in South Africa for three reasons. Firstly, they believe that by giving

learners a wide and diverse choice, the subject of music could attract more learners. Secondly, they explain that learners are likely to be drawn to types of music that they are familiar with. Thirdly, they acknowledge that a policy strategy to include music from diverse social settings might be successful in providing a solution to including learners without prior discipline knowledge to study subject music.

2 Is it the ability to specialise in one particular genre of music and acquire high- level technical practical skills in one instrument?

Teachers have expressed different views on this matter which cannot be aligned to their own experiences of learning and teaching music. Some of the teachers (Niles and Iris) who have been trained in Western music and acquired a strong knowledge base and highly developed instrumental skills over many years believe that it is

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important for the integrity of music as a subject discipline to maintain high standards of Western theoretical and practical musicianship. Other teachers who have had similar backgrounds (George, Charlotte, Roland, Tracey, Rosalind, Lily) prefer to extend specialisation from one dominant genre of music to many genres of music because they believe that a strict, rigorous and traditional approach to music education might compromise the element of enjoyment which they believe to be an important aspect of studying music. Nonetheless they are committed to Western traditions of music literacy and theory as essential to a thorough understanding of music. The remaining teachers (Adriana, Nathalie, Katy, Mary, Niles and Iris) are very keen to emphasise that whilst Western music tenets are important in South African music education, policy makers should ensure that equal emphasis on African music tenets are placed in the curriculum. They believe that African music should be taught by experienced and knowledgeable musicians and that all school learners should experience the playing of many different indigenous instruments.

3 Is it the acquisition of a wide knowledge base that encourages life-long learning of music as an amateur?

All the teachers have approved of a curriculum that offers the learners to experience a wide variety of music. Whilst they have not directly addressed the matter of life-long learning aspirations of amateur musicians they have all described how their own early musical experiences have influenced them.

Consequently they attribute their life-long love of music to their early instrumental lessons. It can be inferred from the unanimity of their responses that life-long learning of music commences from a young age.

4 Is it a global approach to music education that seeks to create a unified and integrated system that addresses social inequality but at the same time adheres to earlier models of competency?

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The teachers‟ examination of NCS (2003) and CAPS (2011) music policy documents has heightened their awareness of the complexities that underlie a global approach to music education. They have expressed their understanding of music education to be more than the learning of Western music traditions and one that incorporates other musics – specifically African music. They value both integrated approaches to learning music as well as competency-based models. As mentioned earlier, they suggest that teaching and learning of music can be divided into two types that they describe as classroom music and subject music. Classroom music is associated with a pedagogic style that is more compatible with an agenda of addressing social inequality whilst subject music is correlated to maintaining high standards of skills and knowledge that can be exported globally. Their views suggest that more work needs to be done to bridge the gap between these two experiences of school music.