Advancing Inclusive Education through African Drumming

The project aimed to develop African drumming as a tool for inclusive arts education. It focuses on philosophy, creativity, indigenous musical concepts and functionality. The project explored African approaches to integrating all domains of Arts Education, focusing on the socio-cultural implications, humanistic imperatives, cultural diversity, Indigenous Knowledge Systems and models for supporting learning in indigenous contexts. These methods derived from the intrinsic concept of inclusivity as found in most old indigenous African musical arts practices: ‘The rationalisation of melodic range in Africa is informed by humanistic virtues – performance coerces all-inclusive participation, and as such, melodic range has to be within the capability of every human member of a community…’ (Nzewi M. 2007:113). Drumming is used as a means of harnessing creativity in learners, drawing from classroom practices that promote indigenous knowledge and values. The model employs the simultaneous use of drum singing, playing of various instruments, body percussion and dance movement to achieve the set objective.

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