Designing The Grand Narrative Approach in Teaching Western Music History to Undergraduate Students in Indonesia
Keywords:
Western Music, Music History, Master Narrative, PedagogyAbstract
Learning the history of any course subject is an enormously complex quest since it keeps evolving and even shifting from its origin. The same case also applies to the study of Western music history, which itself is a historical invention due to its complexity that is simplified into “periodization” by scholars; therefore, the whole conception is still changing today. This condition should be perceived as an opportunity to continually explore this massively diverse body of music and hence apply it to student’s interpretation and performance to reshape their thoughts in approaching music that has been written years ago; indeed, the learning of music history opens limitless possibilities of exploring the emotional message behind the black notes on the score. However, the common pedagogical approach of Western music history has been discouraging to music students in general because of the “vertical” approach, which emphasizes the compartmentalized timeframe block time that seems irrelevant and disconnected to their performances today. This organization of teaching results in a lack of comprehension that learning music history should be conveyed in a chronologically sequential order into one single coherent story, in which musical styles change very gradually, often coexisting with the new style. The purpose of this writing is to provide a better pedagogical design in teaching Western music history to undergraduate students in Indonesia by understanding the course as a grand narrative - an acculturation from two ancient traditions (Europe and West Africa) that is cultivated in the United States.
Abstrak
Mempelajari sejarah dalam berbagai bidang adalah pencarian yang sangat kompleks karena sejarah terus berkembang dan bahkan bergeser dari asalnya. Hal yang sama juga terjadi dalam studi sejarah musik Barat, yang merupakan penemuan sejarah karena kompleksitasnya yang disederhanakan dalam “periodisasi” oleh para ahli; oleh karena itu, seluruh konsep masih dapat berubah hingga hari ini. Kondisi ini harus dilihat sebagai kesempatan untuk terus mengeksplorasi musik yang sangat beragam dan menerapkannya pada interpretasi dan pertunjukan siswa untuk membentuk kembali pemikiran mereka dalam mendekati musik yang telah ditulis bertahun-tahun yang lalu. Pembelajaran sejarah musik membuka kemungkinan tak terbatas untuk mengeksplorasi pesan emosional di balik notasi pada partitur. Namun, pendekatan pedagogis umum dari sejarah musik Barat telah mengecewakan siswa pada umumnya karena pendekatan "vertikal", yang menekankan waktu blok kerangka waktu yang terkotak yang tampaknya tidak relevan dan tidak terhubung dengan pertunjukan mereka hari ini. Pengorganisasian pengajaran ini mengakibatkan kurangnya pemahaman bahwa pembelajaran sejarah musik harus disampaikan secara berurutan secara kronologis dalam satu cerita yang koheren, di mana gaya musik berubah secara sangat bertahap, dan sering kali berdampingan dengan gaya baru. Tujuan penulisan ini adalah untuk memberikan desain pedagogis yang lebih baik dalam mengajarkan sejarah musik Barat kepada mahasiswa di Indonesia dengan memahami mata kuliah sebagai naratif besar - akulturasi dari dua tradisi kuno (Eropa dan Afrika Barat) yang dibudidayakan di Amerika Serikat.
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