Elaine Browne.pdf - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

poses serious challenges to teachers responsible for the teaching of arts in South African
classrooms. The implication is that a teacher needs to be familiar with arts repertoires of a wide
variety of cultures and genres. They also need to comprehend those concepts representative of
Western Eurocentric arts, as well as traditional African arts.
Although areas of overlap between Western and indigenous African arts exist,
conceptualisations of aesthetics, form and function are fundamentally different. Reimer (2003,
181), esteemed musicologist, emphasises that Western music differs significantly from
indigenous music in the sense that it presents a ‘low context culture’. This implies that the
quality of the piece of music is far more significant than its distinct context. Reimer’s concept of
a ‘high context culture’, on the other hand, refers to the particularities of the place and time,
reasons, circumstances and community interests for creating a specific ritual (ibid, 181).
Western compositions in music, dance, drama and visual art function as separate entities.
These are not inherently integrated with the each other, as is mostly the case with indigenous
African arts. Western arts products are created by individuals for the sake of personal
enjoyment. Blacking (1982, 94), for example, sees Western dance styles as “symbols systems”,
without any significant social meaning. In African cultures, a piece of music or dance is a
spontaneous and communal invention. Yet, when a Western composer composes a piece of
music, it represents his or her personal experience. There is no clear functional role which
connects the product to the daily lives of the composer, performer or listener (Reimer 2003,
181).
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