Seeing the World Through Song: The Pedagogical Applications of World Folk Traditions in the Secondary Choral Classroom

In a choral program, the curriculum is comprised of the music selected for the ensemble. Directors must consider the needs of their students as musicians and learners when programming, which can often be a challenge. The purpose of this study is to provide a specific pedagogical lens of world folk traditions for implementation in choral music classrooms. In this study, three different musical traditions were analyzed through the lens of representative arrangements of traditional folk music. Methods drawn from the works of Kodály, Piaget, and Sheehan-Campbell were used to synthesize teaching sequences for these pieces that can transfer to other pieces of music, within and outside those cultures. Venezuelan, North Indian, and South African music were used as case studies in this collection of folk music, each for a specific pedagogical purpose that is applicable to a secondary choral classroom. The study of Venezuelan folk music, exemplified by the arrangement of Duerme Negrito by Emilio Sole, explores the applications of asymmetrical divisions of regular meters as well as the triple versus duple subdivision. North Indian characteristics are illustrated by TāReKiTa by Reena Esmail, by examining a variety of tonal colors, as well as harmonic and melodic systems that differ from the standard western scales and modes. Finally, through Thixo Onothando by Michael Barrett, South African music provides a new perspective on diction in the choral classroom through the use of language as the mechanism for teaching diction concepts.