Cultural inheritance on indigenous music education: a Paiwanese music teacher’s teaching

Abstract

This study aims to understand how an indigenous teacher passed on Paiwanese culture during music teaching at an elementary school located in one of Paiwan tribes in southern Taiwan. A qualitative case study was adopted to portray the teaching context and phenomena. The study participants were an indigenous teacher and 18 sixth-grade indigenous students. The results found that the indigenous teacher had passed on Paiwanese culture through teaching Paiwanese songs in oral tradition, incorporating dancing in singing, and employing Paiwanese improvisational characteristic in different aspects. The original singing improvisation in adding ornamentations to main melodies and creating a contrapuntal part had been transformed into recorder playing by the indigenous students. Furthermore, the improvisational characteristic was also applied to free combination of contrapuntal singing. Furthermore, the free combinations of languages and melodies vertically and horizontally marked unique features for new culture. The indigenous students alternated between written culture and oral culture to learn textbook music and ancient Paiwanese songs, and they were cultivated their musicianship in two cultures. It may inspire music educators to include oral culture as a transmission process to teach indigenous music, and eventually expand students’ variety of learning styles.

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