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Assessing the kernel and/or the husk of music essence? – Positing sustainable humanity directions/actions Meki Nzewi, University of Pretoria, South Africa Abstract

And the cosmos was born in sound. And sound demarcated the world. And the earth zone was clustered with sound sources and species. And the variant sounds marked and organized earthly species. And the birth of a human is normally heralded by sound, as life is terminated by sound ... And the human societies cherished and applied the supra human musical sound as manager of humanity ideals and systems ... Then modern mind blazes trails and finally conquers and controls music’s sanctity, systemically disabling, also corrupting its utility and mind tempering essence. Then the world starts roaring tunes of inhumanity, and vile sounds increasingly assail minds thereby destructing humanity spirit and societal equilibrium.

How do we then assess this intangible force the essence of which modern policy minds have exceedingly misappropriated, disabled and misapplied in particularly human upbringing, to ensure systems sanity? Assessment instinct is inherent, normative in human nature. Humanity framed education can resuscitate the capacity of music to temper and nurture the insensitive mind of policy everywhere, such that policy and thereby polity practice will prioritize and enshrine what is of benefit to all global humanity. When policy mentality becomes humanized, the proactive essence of music will re-emerge, and help re-install humanity essence by subliming the minds that design, execute and experience policy spirit. Then people orientated assessment temperament will function to ensure and validate musical arts education activities and outcomes that prioritize humanity interests.

Is the original purpose of music as a cardinal agency for commanding sublime humanity/creativity-mindedness as well as systemic policy conscience still crucial in the visions of academic and public musical arts intellect, design and practice? This contribution, which will tender original African perspectives and evidence, will reflect on the humanity priorities, conscience and goals of classroom education policy, particularly the repercussions of marginalizing purposive musical arts, which should be a foundational discipline in contemporary rationalizations of humanity conscious education conscience. The worth attached to any subject/object determines its productive intentions and the assessment/evaluation of its design, execution as well as outcomes. The paper will also reflect on the palpable intellectual orientations and humanity attitudes of card carrying music educators/assessors, thereby the societal relevance and reckoning their outputs (human and otherwise) elicit in public space.

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Prologue

And the cosmos was born in sound And the world was demarcated by sound And the earth zone was clustered with sources and species of sound And the earthly spaces were marked and identified by variant sounds And the birth of a human is normally heralded by sound And human life terminates with sound And the human species rationalized and defined music essence from sound… Then applied music essence divinely organized human societies effectively as a supernormal force Then humans cherished and assessed music essence in terms of enabling humanity ideals and systems Music inspires sublime living and dying as it organizes, monitors and validates all societal polity actions… But modern genius blazes refinement trails and finally subverts, diverts and trivializes music’s divine mission And music’s effectual mind-tempering essence becomes disabled; its systems management forte excised. And the human world and systems start foundering, blaring elegant tunes of inhumanity, And inorganic sounds increasingly pervert minds resulting in demonical genius and actions

The Ombudspirit* (Societal ethics singer) primes: Original musical arts was intangible tonic for securing tangible spiritual, physiological, mind and societal wellness. The original role was to monitor and performatively sanction all societal and citizenry actions thereby inducing harmonious societal living. Humanity-sensed musical arts has become an endangered species as substitutes of modern laws and inhumane technology increasingly demonize polity and undermine sustainable humanity globally. Public-action primed musical arts education guided by assessment can rescue and regenerate humanity principles in life and society generally.

Humanity chorus: Music makes human and coheres society critically: Indeed, musical arts scholars and education practitioners can restore music’s original sublime policy mandate and assessment spirit that instill humanity conscience. Public conscious school music is contemporaneously momentous to sober up policy conscience in

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governance and life generally. Music is life; music is divine agency for humanity formation.1

Introduction

Originally the musical arts were conceived and practiced as the overall super

ordinary assessor of the ethics of individuals, society and polity systems. Musicality, from the indigenous African perspective, is not just ability to perform music; it is the ability to apply the spirit (intangible) agency of scientific musical constructs in serious play modes that solve and resolve ordinarily intractable human/societal affairs as well as sublimate living (Nzewi, 2007). A unique essence of music is thus life and systems ordering. Thus it oversees sense of direction in every human or societal aspiration and enterprise. Policy prescribes what a government or entity wishes to accomplish in the best interest of all. The cyclic nature of public policy-making (Ijeoma, Nzewi & Sibanda, 2013), informs this discourse. The cyclic model demonstrates that policy starts with acknowledging and defining a problem (wholesome living measure), on to the formulation (musical arts essence), then implementation (monitored practice and transmission), which gets evaluated (purposive assessment) in order to provide feed back on effectiveness (sustaining humanity ideals) or otherwise, that may necessitate new policy process and changes (advancement options) by categories of role players (educators/learners/performers/assessors). This represents open-minded policy spirit. The question then arises: Are the contemporary experts in music convincingly aware of the true business of music in human life and society, which will guide tactful school music practice. Conscientious advice will guide policy formulation and purposive implementation that assessment will further monitor to ensure humanity-sensible progression. Humanity spirit in assessment practice is, therefore, of the essence - a tool that directs beneficial attainment in the best interest of the collective. The nature of such assessment ideology crucially endorses people-conscious policy intention and directives, approves formative education content, posits proactive change, drives

1 In this discourse the term school music stands for all contemporary school sites for transmitting music knowledge, from Primary to tertiary levels. The term musical arts states the African indigenous epistemology and conceptualization that rationalize music, dance, drama and performative materials as integral components. It is a singular creative holism, which often transpires as effectual (soft) science that facilitates mind and societal wellness. Musical arts science, deriving from indigenous African terminology, is often discussed in the singular although a component could also be discussed and assessed separately as per modern atomistic scholarship mentality that rigidly dismembers and disables the unity. *Indigenous African societies institutionalized systems-critics as musicians who act as inspired spirit voices. Even in kingship-based indigenous political system such musician/s may be attached to a rulership’s court, but must still perform the role of intrepid ombudspirit - societal sanction-singers (misrepresented in literature as “praise singers”). They constitute supernormal trustees of public conscience (societal morality sustainers), and perform the role of publicly sanctioning, proclaiming and cautioning the state of society: policies and actions of both the ruler/elite (who retains their service on behalf of the people), and members of the populace whose collective wellbeing they protect (public music action) without fear or favor.

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regeneration/continuity, monitors outcomes in public sites that validate, update and sustain values and virtues to assure overall operational, developmental or advancement integrities. Herbst, A (2007) has challenged the hegemonic transplant of school music as aesthetic education especially in Africa; while Colwell (2009:16) discusses the power of music as “affective and aesthetic”. The still viable power of pristine music as in indigenous Africa is its cogent effective essence (implicating the affective) for which functional, not cosmetic, aesthetic should be prioritized in public or school education and assessment. There are already testimonies in literature decrying the marginal regards for music as a school subject in national polities whereas it should constitute a central subject for implanting humanity sensibility. A key question though is: what do modern music educators cognitively perceive as the core sense and essence of music?

In this discourse kernel stands for the core humanity essence or societal action that a musical arts entity is conceived and designed to process, that is, the soul of a creative/performative venture. Such an intention or function guides the configuration and conformation of formal/textural elements, also presentation materials, theatrical activities and procedure; equally the collective and personal evaluation of outcomes as efficacious or otherwise. The husk refers to the (entertainment) flavor of an artistic-aesthetic rationalization that arrests auditory-visual attention, and as well sustains the action and interest of both performers and empathic audience till the accomplishment of the core intentions (perceived soul) of a performance. The husk attracts super structural or surface assessment. Indigenous African management of mind and life prescribes rough, raw and tough experiences as engineering deeper perceptions, and accruing more contextually beneficial, qualitative or efficacious results. The sweet, when not natural, as well as the purified or flashy or easy is contrived to initially appeal, but could be eventually deleterious. As such, the kernel or intention of a musical arts type commands proactive sonic/visual constructs – (pitch/rhythm/durational) elements, timbres, textures, idiomatic/formal structures, text, dance and dramatic actions. These could be perceived as tough, rough, bitter, compact, amusingly forthright or biting, frightful, tersely instructive, portraying object lessons, demanding physical endurance, commanding somatic performer/audience interaction etc. The experiencing coerces enduring/endearing impressions and outcomes: system (human/societal) health and life education, also sustains morality, lessons for life, relationships, ethics, cherished group ethos, values, spiritual wellbeing and virtuous existence. The husk on the other hand engineers the play mode of transacting and experiencing the kernel: pleasant, composing, or attractive auditory/visual/emotional/spiritual fleshing or environment. Altogether the husk or entertainment is scarcely a musical arts objective in indigenous cultures. The essence of the intangible spirit phenomenon is conceived, conformed, transmitted and assessed in terms of the over all capability to effect or engineer tangible outcomes in its societal/cultural milieu. The musical arts in old Africa super ordinarily managed life and societal systems with integrity, the cardinal manager and signifier of a human group’s corporate spirit, identity, existence and coherence. An irrefutable modern carryover is that incontrovertibly, the sounding of a national anthem (significant music)

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authenticates a country as a territorial entity, and validates the presence and authority of a country and/or its top leadership in any national or international event of reckoning. This abiding exemplar of music power is an advocacy factor in calling the attention of political power to the power of music in national, educational, and humanity building reckoning: No music, no signifier of nationhood.

In view of the above, what should then be the visible and viable integrity of school music in contemporary perceptions, which warrants national investment as well as all the scholarship and research business about its nature, education and assessment? Is school music of any serious consequence in the issues of humanity and society building? How does the general public nationally and globally regard and rate school music? Are the original theoretical sense and societal aspirations of music as a cardinal agency that commanded purposive creative industry still viable, desirable? Can the innate capacity of the musical arts to monitor, sanction and validate sound polity actions and humanity conscience still be reinstated in modern academic practice as well as in public imagination, perception and regard? Is the musician/music educator as a healer still conscious of healing self (subject integrity) in order to impact and heal society? In traditional societies, subtly systematic transmission methods ensured that virtually everybody was musically intelligent (theory) and capable (practice), also literate (symbolic or pictorial), through all-inclusive participation. Thus the American dilemma of “No Child Left Behind” (Colwell, 2008) was not at all an issue in traditional Africa. The benefit was psycho-physiological wellness for every individual and the entire community, thereby promoting salutary societal policy and polity. But modern wisdom now prescribes that only a few gain informed appreciation of music knowledge, albeit emphasizing aesthetic as objective in school and public education.

These are perturbations that this paper is venturing to introspect as well as pose to policy and assessment determiners. The discussion is primarily adopting, and relying on, discerned and contemporaneously verified African indigenous epistemological style and theoretical logic to interrogate current creative imagination, humanity merits, educational content and assessment spirit in school musical arts. Evidence of tests affirms that conscientious school musical arts education can still play a vital role in taming diseased minds that breed/spread/multiply and unleash widespread, contemporary acts of anarchy, intolerance, avarice, mass deprivation and deceit, elite and low crimes; also incidences of increasing violation of female gender and children that now traumatize humanity and the experiencing of modern governance constructs globally. These modern systemic disorders and psyche disablers were rare occurrences in old civilizations, which modern-enlightened humans now arrogantly snub, disparage and disregard. Indigenous epistemology capably contained and disciplined any such injurious tendencies or atrocities in traditional societies, and still can now.

The Ombudspirit queries: Sustainable humanity previously engendered by the musical arts to make modern generation of humans possible is now dangerously eluding the world. Political and business powers overemphasize mathematics and industrial technology in school education in order to foster sustainable economy

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and consumer mentality. Proactive musical arts education legislated as core knowledge in education policy formulations can coerce humanity principles and discipline diabolic political and business practices. Humanity chorus: Music makes human and coheres society critically: Aggressive Industrial Technology ideology is responsible for massive unemployment of humans globally. We urge music assessment advocacy that will humanize the stone heart of self-centered political and business hierarchy. They repress the resuscitation of organic musical arts because it is capable of exposing their degenerate humanity conscience and consciousness.

Sample perspectives on school music education assessment:

Concept and practice There can be no universal yardstick for assessing the creative, performative,

effective or affective features of all music. Every musical arts culture, intention, category and style recommends peculiar perceptual, transmission and assessment indices or rubric. However, compositional elements, not the creative configurations of sound that is categorically human-musical, are universal knowledge. Assessment practices in school music education are receiving deserved attention that could enhance knowledge delivery and acquisition given policy action. Recognition of the force of cognitive assessment in ensuring appropriate direction and guidance in school music education globally inspired the convening of the International Symposium on Assessment in Music Education (ISAME) since 2007 by Timothy Brophy, the proceedings of which are published (2008, 2010 & 2013). The need for internationally sharing cultural experiences and practices has made ISAME a forum that policy action and school practices should reckon with. Murphy (2007) has provided what could be considered a comprehensive survey and analysis of discourses on assessment and evaluation in school music by scholars over years. Her survey also offers some international perspectives and models, sampling scholars and countries that have been concerned about interrogating disciplinary assessment practices with a concern to ensure creditable school music education. Ideas, visions, experiences are shared about what, why, who, how and where that should matter in school music teaching and assessment. Modern theories have been fashioned, reviewed and refined; criteria outlined; outcomes evidentially tendered. Her discourse, for instance, cites Brophy (Murphy 2007:363)) as aptly arguing that “there is no one prototype or analogy sufficient to cover all of the possibilities for potential musical performances or experiences” … “assessment can only take place when it is embedded in an authentically musical context.” Murphy interprets Brophy’s view as implying that “in order to assess music, one must obtain a multiplicity of perspectives on musical problem solving through multiple musical experiences”. Thus some scholars are keenly aware that music in cultures is conceived and designed to solve concrete problems in societies. And in Africa, which provides the intellectual grounding for arguments in this discourse, every musical arts product is formularized

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and developed to accomplish a prescribed humanity/societal task alongside aesthetic aspects that sustain interest in the process. Musical arts creations are cherished as intrinsic manifestations of human intention.

Assessment has been defined in the context of what happens in the school knowledge transaction environment: Gipps (1999) discusses types of tests for learners to demonstrate grasp of knowledge delivered, as well as the fashioning of a curriculum that will make education respond to government’s economic, (I add humanity) development goals. Other authors (Airasian, 1997; O’Leary 2004; Stiggins, 1997), according to Murphy’s survey, include the need for assessment to inform decision making on the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development of learners; Hargreaves, Earl, & Schmidt (2002) and Brophy (2000) indicate that assessment provides evidence on public accountability to assure policy about the validity of school education business, assuming polity is appropriately appraised on music’s essence.

Murphy discusses assessment tools and strategies, all focusing on classroom setting. In addition to normal examinations, she cites peer assessment especially affirmed by Blom and Poole (2004), Daniel (2004), and Falchikov, (1995). It is instructive that Hickey (1995) notes with respect to assessing compositions: “unusual composition can also signify a good composition”. In recommending a dialogic relationship between teacher and student in feedback assessment, Reese (2003) reminds us that the purpose of the composition should be taken into account. Younker (2003) advocates encouraging autonomy and independence, and therefore a shift away from master and apprentice to “listener and responder” relationship. Pitts (as cited in Murphy, 2007: 374) cautions appropriately that comments which are “carelessly negative, lessens the students’ self confidence”, and that providing “formative feedback…will improve future work”. Higgins (2007, 394) warns about getting drawn in by “glittering tools” being sought after by assessors such as tables: Dewey”s philosophy of deep perception (cognition of essential nature) in assessment exercise. Colwell (2002) observes the fact that music education is deemed to lack “effectiveness” and as such attracts low esteem in education administration circles. (The blame lies squarely on disciplinary experts who mis-advise about essentiality of music in society generally.) He elaborates on this in his keynote address at the 2009 Florida Symposium on Assessment in Music Education in which he presents the American experience, and calls attention to government placing priority on economic sustainability and survival (Colwell, 2010:3-22). The “Ombudspirit” in this discourse has already queried the diabolic governance and business conscience, which over emphasizes economic survival and sustainability that subvert interest in humanity survival and sustainability. Musical arts education and assessment chorus laments the resulting evidence that mankind globally has become dispensable endangered species as long as demonic brilliance, intemperate greed and stone hearted power and materialism mentality consume political and business/industrial leaderships. But these current humanity obsessions can be contained and healed by appropriate proactive musical arts education practiced as public conscience.

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The most effective sanction instituted by indigenous African societies was the musical theater of public ridicule: What would happen if, for instance, the President of a country or a megalithic business entrepreneur gets jeered at publicly as an object of derision by the populace (in every public appearance), for offences against public morality? Such top criminal personality is vividly portrayed and perceived in the public theatrical presentation without actual name-calling. S/he would of course abscond or eliminate her/himself as in traditional cultures– no bullets, no interminable/compromise legal games. Modern legality and law maintenance agencies evidence the demonic practices of governance by the elite for the elite. Modern elite-serving law and order agencies systematically undermine sublime humanity conscience and public interest, and have been instinctively instituted to deprive the intrepid musical arts of its original divine role of societal engineering including policing public as well as governance morality in manners that worked superbly in indigenous societies. I will continue to repeat for emphasis that the musical arts was conceived and principled as the uncompromising watchdog cum assessor of society and its polity operations. .Hence contemporary policy and assessment initiatives should strive to institute public conscious (performative public action) instead of insular oriented (theoretical/aesthetic fancies) musical arts education in and out of schools. Encouragingly, Ivey (cited in Colwell: 2010) notes the concern shown by the National Endowment for the Arts in America. The critical issue is: Are musical arts scholars/educators/practitioners aware of and interested in the contemporaneously viable capability of the knowledge field to engage in public actions that would help sanitize and transform society? After all, young learners are sensitive citizens since the actions happening now concern their future..

What appears not to have received much attention in school music education and assessment discourse is this need for purposive interaction between school and community in music education policy and activities beyond occasional entertainment oriented school concerts. In indigenous cultures music makes human; as the humanity chorus reiterates, it coheres as well as critiques society. So, education for life was situated in realistic societal living such that the process of musical arts education entailed public performance of life issues and experiences: these could include perceived governance policy and conscience, economic conscience, and religious, political and social dynamics. Contemporary school music education policy could be proactive citizenship education by performatively voicing the learners’ perceptions of society, family, school and life generally: Learners at all levels would then get realistically groomed to cope with life issues as aware and actively involved citizens. The chasm between school learning (theories, techniques etc) and realistic community life (participatory public awareness) would be bridged through making classroom learning, especially in the musical arts, complementary to real life issues: Educating and assessing “music is life” instead of esoteric theoretical fancies. I intentionally repeat (mind-prompter) as in African epistemological procedure, that the original essentiality of music is its cardinal role as the monitor, driver and interpreter of its societal milieu.

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Public action school music would generate empowering interaction between learners and the public they would eventually service.

The Ombudspirit wonders: The smoke of spurious brilliance fascinates and blinkers humanity vision around the globe. Academics should eschew chasing the smokescreens of glamorous ego while neglecting to stoke the core purpose of musical arts. Serious musical arts commands applied humanity education, which recognizes that every learner is able, and failure in the subject should not be an issue, unless of weak transmission. Humanity chorus: Music makes human and coheres society critically: Brilliant inventions must not obscure the raw essentials of music that manage life. Modern experts should please restore the functional significance of musical arts to fire noble genius that would redeem souls of masses mesmerized to ignorantly applaud the smoke screens of injurious commercial musical art frivolities and elitist fashions.

Indigenous African epistemological logic and contemporary hegemonic perspective

Observations of professional practice and assessment show that the prevailing

mindset in scholarly enterprise and policy maintains a focus on knowledge transmission of Western classical music. Granted, Western classical music constituted the foundational knowledge base for school music education in the Northern hemisphere. It is elitist music that provides entertainment diversion in life, most unlike the functional indigenous music of world peoples. The constructs of Northern hemispheric literacy education logic then became fashionable hegemonic model. Southern hemisphere countries copied it without much cultural rationalization, for their modern school education practices. But there are varied cultural music integrities as a few scholars including Brophy (2000), Elliot (1995) and Eisner (1999) have also emphasized. Learning and assessment must, therefore, be conscious of contextual imperatives in humanity culturing education. Knowledge creation, preservation, transmission, assessment and evaluation, musical arts or otherwise, have always marked every autochthonous indigenous human civilization anywhere globally. Theories and methodologies may manifest diverse pigments of common ideas that differentiate content and epistemology. In African autochthonous societies theory was implicit in creative/performative procedure. This implies that creative logic and grammar as well as performative principles were based on consistent theoretical formulae that are primarily orally-practically transmitted as need be with some symbolic depictions. Knowledge was preserved, regenerated and transmitted through generations of participatory knowing endured in memory and body. The entire public was actively involved in the pragmatic process of musical arts knowledge acquisition. Non-radical experimentations and creative spontaneity that express the virtue of individuality, and advance the norm were publicly assessed and cherished.

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Assessment in tradition was generally spontaneous, forthright and proactive, intended to spur self exploration in a performative cum incremental knowing environment. The conscience of assessment was such that must not condemn, intimidate or exclude. But it was intensive, and featured open discussions or comments, peer debates, energizing commands/expletives/gestures/queries/jokes and corrective demonstrations that became part of a performance, all in the spirit of play. Humanity philosophy and psychological principles framed musical arts rationalizations; folk assessment terminologies were performatively and idiomatically instructive, also definitive or metaphorical, such that in instances negative expressions jocosely portray superlative tributes. For instance, music is perceived as a woman and is indeed marked by motherly (earthly) attributes. A pre-eminent or leading/marshalling composer/performer was regarded as a “mother musician” irrespective of gender. Harmonic voice levels (in chordal sense) were discussed in gender terms such that the high voice is “male” (sky temperament) and the low voice “female” (grounded temperament) with a “voice in-between”. Age was not an issue in creative/performative capability or knowledge competence especially in mass participation types and sites. Some performing groups prescribed age/gender/special interest membership/participation criteria for other cultural reasons. The home was a formative knowledge acquisition site from babyhood. Community children’s groups were autonomous creativity and performance territory (Campbell, 2007, Woodward 1992) not organized or taught or supervised by adults as such. Group rehearsals, as need be, quite often transpired as performance sessions, and audience was welcome, and could contribute ideas or assessment opinions that enhance a group’s peculiar product or expertise. Knowledge acquisition method was procedurally formal, playful but systematic, in secluded and open locations for rehearsals and event performances. Performance procedure and form were formalized but flexible/adaptable, to accommodate contextual contingencies and individuality. Leadership did not discriminate age, as a child who is more adept can instruct adults. Generally, all individuals who showed that they were competent were included; there was minimal discrimination. Gender emotions/sentiments in creativity and performance norms were recognized and respected. Group composition is the indigenous African creativity ideology discussed by Agawu (2003: 5) as “collaborative composition”, a “communal activity” in which “a composition is to be measured in terms of human significance”. Composing, rehearsals and event performances were normative sites for interactive knowledge growing. Proficient and specialist performers/instructors that emerge were accorded special recognition as “mothers” of musical arts/instrument types. Extra lessons (private practice or tutelage arrangements) became additionally necessary for “mother” instrument types. Organizational and artistic roles/duties were specified. Thus every member of a culture group from early age progressively acquired knowledge about theory, principles of creativity, and performance, together with a deep as well as surface perception, appreciation and assessment of cultural creative/artistic norms. Particularly, evaluation focused on the kernel – how creative-performative conformations accomplish expected utilitarian intentions - the extra

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musical purpose of any creative and performance enterprise, which was general knowledge as per music with a type name. Progressive but not radical advancement of a culture’s creative and performative standards were encouraged. Inter-cultural borrowing of compatible enriching types, materials, idioms, and instruments occurred formally or otherwise, sometimes as diplomatic intentions. As much as experiencing cum assessing of musical arts during public events or interest group activities was the norm, private music making for self therapy/delectation or for simulating human company in instances of being temporarily isolated, occurred. The above indicators of purposeful and grounded musical arts education “curriculum” in traditional Africa furnish the backcloth for my appraisal of some features of contemporary school music education and assessment. They recommend that analysis, musicological or otherwise, must take account of extra musical factors that furnish musical meaning.

The Western classical music, conceived as a literacy creative-performative tradition, has been observed as the hegemonic model for formulating and appraising school music education globally. This model of musical knowledge transmission and experiencing regards music as contemplative aesthetics, to exalt the elitist mind, as compared to the effective essence of indigenous musical arts creations that transact cultural obligations primarily, while at the same time commanding contemplative perception by all. Abstract creative ingenuity stretched over historical periods of written music to climax in the grandeur of Romantic composers, and then started to decline. Performance skill continues to chase after refinement of materials (often synthetic) and tones regardless of health content. Contemporary academic studies in composition continue to be enterprising and inventive but have not successfully surpassed Romantic grandeur. However, the vocabulary of Western classical music, even if not the creative-performance finesse, has remained remote from general public comprehension. Then modern composers and musicology scholars started to dissect Western classics, probing fresh abstract creative directions without producing comparative prodigious glamour. Next, creative aspirations dived into iconoclastic ventures such as serialism, a-tonality, minimalist music (superficial abstraction of African creative genius), concrete music among other indulgences of fanciful creative gimmicks. Current assessment exercises appear more focused on how to produce composers and performers from early education who could refine and outstrip the classical legacy in its own terms. Deriving from this legacy, techno-powered brilliance is now in ascendance, breeding techno-hearted/minded humans who are cloning genetically modified musical arts, determined to override humanity-designed prototypes in schooling as well as in public perceptions of sensible music-ness. So far, the creations of the many modern composers, choreographers and dramatists in the school musical arts scene fail to demonstrate work that shows evidence of human value. Techno-driven, they chase fashionable wonder-ness and phantasm that would harness super stardom and material wealth. Their products stagger the perceptual imaginations of non-comprehending normal humans who have not undergone rigorous specialist school music education. Other academic composers are re-visiting and manipulating the apparently intimidating theoretical-idiomatic prodigy and vocabulary of the 19th

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and early 20th century classics. They are yet to attain comparable spectaculars in public acclaim. The elitist mentality of modern academism does not orientate intellects to stop chasing the stars; to eschew modernist arrogance, and look deep down to earth and grasp the original idea of healthful music. Humbly recognizing the profound merits of ancestral genius might reward cognitively perceiving and advancing the abiding humanity-infused theoretical idioms and purposive logic of original music essence. Humanity ideals in proactive musical arts are much needed to counter the escalating political, religious and economic scourges that endanger sustainable humanity.

Innovative creative inspirations and aspirations deriving from indigenous humanity-sensed prototypes could actually achieve rapport with the aficionados of written classical music as well as the masses who still have memory connections with tradition. Refinement and purification, especially artificial, of anything (humans included) ordinarily erodes virtue and value, and subtly incurs injury. But regenerating the essentials of pedigree enriches and advances the virtues and values of legacy; a person who denies or disdains her/his virtuous past and forebears incurs a vagrant mindset. Sober assessment spirit and logic should then direct cognitive revisiting, perception and advancement of abiding purposive musical arts genius (classic kernel of ancestral logic). We have been conducting tests in the case of Africa, which confirm that the prodigious theoretical, idiomatic and performative exemplars of ancestral creative lore remain contemporaneously viable1. The traditional principles of creativity could be resourced and married with compatible Western classical tradition to birth contemporaneously viable creative intentions and grammar, accessible to the general public, and designed to infuse humanity virtues and values into all societal issues as in tradition.

Musical sound is a phenomenon that invades the consciousness of all within its auditory limits unless special precaution is taken to shut it out. So the tolerance preferences and limits for any music deserve attention in contemporary musical expressions. Does the general public approve the remote music knowledge currently prescribed in school music practices, seeing that the school system is a public institution, and must as such contribute to the overall wellness of communities through public action productions? Do school music policies, curricula and assessment practices take cognizance of learners’ legitimate knowledge backgrounds? Globally, the average consumer of Western classical music (the exclusive upper class audience) has scant basic knowledge of the theoretical and grammatical computations in spite of occasional media critiques and program notes. So the elite patrons superficially perceive the sonic complexities of specialized written music vocabulary. Attending a concert for most is then a fashionable pastime, and the audiences continue to prefer the pre-iconoclastic ancestral Baroque, Classical and Romantic compositional exemplars by non-graduate composers. They may, however, accommodate modern non iconoclastic compositions inserted in a concert program. Atonality, minimalism and similar modernist inventions of academic music receive guarded attention in exclusive academic enclaves that humor the strange genius of colleagues.

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Since the musical arts is a cardinal marker of human-cultural identity, it is to be expected that in the modern political dispensation of independent nations globally, school music policy and content in any country should prioritize affirming the human-cultural legitimacy of learners by designating music as core examinable subject. Learners will be accorded formative intellectual security and cultural integrity for confidently engaging in multi cultural collaboration and interchange of compatible knowledge peculiarities in the global human arena. Research has established that, in Africa south of the Sahara, there is a commonality of philosophical and theoretical infrastructure inspired by the complementarities and relativities evident in nature and cosmos. It is important to acknowledge that this commonality was also a result of the history of origins and movements of African culture groups. The super structural variations and peculiarities that differentiate cultures derive from environment factors conditioning a modal African spirituality of openness to inter-human/cultural accommodation and sharing. The fundamentality of affirming culture as intellectual foundation for knowledge acquisition and interchange is a much neglected humanity imperative in modernist African nationhood practices. So far the mentality of policy and practice in school education and assessment visions at all levels continues to adopt Western classical music philosophy and theory as the only viable option due also to ignorance of traditional epistemology. And yet music literacy and idiomatic/grammatical studies, which are contemporary imperatives in school music education, could be acquired using any cultural music lore. Disciplinary literature normally excludes the need for the wider public to perceive what music scholars represent, globally. The dialects and technical vocabulary of scholarly publications in journals and other specialist literature are increasingly technically aloof, insulated from comprehension by non disciplinary/sub disciplinary specialists. Musical arts knowledge as a naturally common intellectual construct and phenomenon is in the public domain of knowledge sharing. Hence the general literate public needs intellectual enlightenment on what academic musicians actually represent within the corpus of music available in their lives in order to accord due respect.

Using straightforward story method or spiritually enriching play modes to communicate specialized knowledge is of the essence. It could begin to enlighten and bridge the chasm between the general public and what academic scholars brew in their exclusive, intellectually abstract, ivory tower mentality. Narrative scholarship is effective for sharing even specialized knowledge. It is an indigenous African epistemological forte for engagingly transmitting and enduring critical knowledge. In traditional Africa music was (and actually contemporaneously remains) a basic or core subject that is additionally expedient for processing other knowledge fields along with its other basic humanity and societal roles. Competence in numeracy, for instance, was effectively acquired from early childhood, as musical arts narrative. Narrate or dramatize a punchy account with a message, and readers/listeners/observers/participants will perceptively gain enduring memories of

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the embedded message or knowledge fact. In a classroom situation musically narrated or acted knowledge is easily lodged in young learner’s memories. Every learner would spiritually-playfully relate the message (kernel) of the performance to life situations/experiences/imaginations. In any case musical compositions are sonic narrative. Even Western classical compositions could be analyzed, interpreted and cognitively perceived as sonic narratives that explain and endure the compositional textures, forms and structures. Dramatizing, singing and dancing are instinctively human. Everybody normally acts out dramatic snippets in daily routines and life interactions. So, who does not sing and amplify self expression with dramatic/tonal gestures? Developing these natural expressive faculties as essential life skill, also as enriching spiritual experiences makes it imperative that the musical arts be recognized as an essential applied core subject. But as Murphy and Espeland (2007: 337) have observed “assessment debates are often dominated by … [dry] literacy and numeracy (often referred to as ‘the basics’ or ‘core subjects’) in general education settings”, at the same time as intentional music narrative for processing knowledge is deemed a marginal subject by ill-informed sophistications of elitist modernist education policy.

The Ombudspirit opines: A primary role of musical arts in culture is to marshal societal events and transmit humanning knowledge without trauma or stress. Assessment drives purpose, monitors relevance and methodology of learning and delivery, and validates policy in public discourse. Humanity conscience commands that school music should resource the abiding indigenous epistemology of music, which remains contemporaneously valid. Modernist sophisticated contrivance of musical arts knowledge and assessment most times actually re-invent tradition but in esoteric logic and aloof experiential vocabulary Humanity chorus: Music makes human and coheres society critically: Musical arts educators are preoccupied with talking to and contradicting themselves in fanciful academic tongues, while neglecting to enlighten us, the general public of original music owners, about what they profess and produce. We need down to earth public-action musical arts with solemn depth that can caution the drift in societal morality and re-imbue mind temperance. Advance music of humanity commitment and societal sanction for our benefits

Cultivating humanity-infused spirit in policy, education and assessment

formulations

The role of assessment is central in matters of literacy education and discourse in the musical arts. It could be in the form of examination answers, essays or articles/books for publication. Assessment policy, ideology, methodology and prescriptions in modern music schooling continue to needlessly adopt hard ‘scientific method’ in order to appear scholarly sophisticated. The transplanted intellectual model intimidates the average classroom teacher and learner. Sometimes ego tripping, prejudice, punitive measures, inter-personal rivalries and camouflaged ignorance do

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conflict assessment exercises in and out of classrooms. At other times classroom teachers are adept at applying impressive assessment prescriptions but are incapable of adequately delivering the knowledge contents and objectives that should be assessed. Failures of learners occasionally get contrived, a ruse to prove that an expert job in knowledge delivery and assessment is being stringently accomplished but that learners are dumb. The failure of a learner/student could reflect the failure of a teacher/educator to deliver knowledge appropriately for learners’ comprehension. Unexpected or unmerited failure induces negative self perception that could result in psychopathy or other maladies. There may be occasional exceptions of learners/students who, reacting to impaired upbringing or acquired psychological indispositions consciously or unconsciously determine to fail in the hope of punishing the knowledge deliverer. Such learners/students need psychical redemption. Special interactive musical arts education designs, deriving from indigenous paradigms effectively remedy such self-afflicting indispositions. Education policy and open-minded assessment should strive to obviate failure, and instead prime success in group creative-performative interactions plus the group assessment appertaining in the musical arts.

The mission of the Center for Indigenous Instrumental Music and Dance Practices of Africa (CIIMDA) in South Africa, funded by the Norwegian Foreign Office from 2004 to 2011, was to re-orientate and re-train musical arts educators primarily as well as their learners to gain cognitive knowledge and humanity practice of indigenous African cultural arts epistemology. The project covered seven Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries. Colonial legacy and Christian prejudices condemned and demonized indigenous musical arts practices all over Africa, disabling consciousness of cultural self by prohibiting such original cultural expressions in schools, churches and even private life situations. Instead, exogenous music education orientation and content was implanted, which is evidence of serious estrangement of cultural mentality particularly amongst the elite policy makers as well as their privileged music-scholar advisers in education. Severe cultural alienation and attendant exogenous imagination of self in virtually all schooled and church going Africans resulted. Thus, even with years of political independence, African modal mentality remains exogenous, and as a result, indigenous African music is only flippantly inserted in school or college curricula if at all. Education planners, their foreign and local advisers as well as the educators at all levels have since remained pathetically non-cognizant of basic African musical arts epistemology. Western classical music theory and practice remains the privileged intellectual and practical resource base for training teachers at higher institutions as well as curricula and assessment designs and practices. Most available literature on African musical arts is written by Western researchers and adventurers who are eluded by the relative theoretical logics and formal transmission processes implicit in indigenous musical arts conceptualizations, rationalizations, expressions and continuities.

The unequivocal truth is that systematic and uniquely formal transmission processing, a la play-spirit mode, as well as humanity-framed theoretical, psychological

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and philosophical logics underpin every cultural musical arts creation and expression in indigenous Africa including autonomous children’s category. The unique design, grammar, operational dynamics and assessment practices inevitably elude researchers and writers, foreign or native, who apply Western classical music lenses to viewing, and thereby misperceiving, mis-analyzing and mal-assessing African musical arts civilization. Explicatory cognitive research and perceptive literature are just emerging (Agawu, 2003, Herbst, Nzewi. & Agawu 2003, Nzewi, & Nzewi, 2007 & 2009, Masoga, Nzewi & Nzewi, 2009 etc). As such, as much as music may be marginally included in school subjects in Africa, examinable or otherwise, teachers at all levels have all along lacked requisite knowledge to impart the unique theory and performative principles of African music in African school systems beyond requiring learners to merely sing and dance without any oral or literacy intellectual discourse.

The task of CIIMDA, based on accumulated cognitive, practical research discernment of common indigenous African musical arts epistemology, is to instruct course recipients on the theoretical, philosophical and psychological paradigms underpinning African musical arts rationalizations. Modern literacy perspective is imperative. We also set out to test the unique, formal African indigenous knowledge transmission modes that emphasize practical-oral creative and performative activities. CIIMDA designed a curriculum as well as innate knowledge-actuating procedures that derive from authoritative indigenous models (Nzewi, 2009a). Serving teachers and educators (generalist and specialists) as well as education officials received full time residential courses (theoretical and practical) at the CIIMDA base in South Africa. At the end they were given in-country original research and knowledge production tasks2 to accomplish. These were assessed when they show-cased their field activities during additional in-country training courses in their respective country locations. The in-country courses included participation by learners and more teachers/educators for three to four days lectures and practice-based experiential learning activities.

Three unique features of CIIMDA educational activities and assessment procedures at school level, and the sampling of African musical arts education and assessment approaches I have tested in university sites are summarized hereunder.

• Literacy imperative combined with practical-creativity approach to theoretical and philosophical knowledge acquisition mark contemporary transmission of African indigenous musical arts knowledge courses delivered by CIIMDA. We had already developed modern African literacy drumming using conventional rhythm notation along with evocative symbols that represent drum-tone levels (melorhythm). (African drums do not normally play percussion, rather subtle tunes.) Participants, including those without previous knowledge of staff notation, were enabled to play written as well as oral ensemble and solo pieces within the two weeks duration of a course at the Center. The single membrane drum was adopted as the standard instrument for theoretical, performative and philosophical explications of indigenous musical arts lore. Participants were organized into literacy/oral ensemble performance groups as well as musical arts theater production teams. Every group mixed up participants from different

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African culture groups. A theater team was required to convert any indigenous folk tale with or without songs from any culture into musical arts theatre. The team thoroughly discussed and analyzed the story to establish its artistic possibilities and humanity message. Members allocated to themselves production tasks (directing, musical composition/arrangement, dialogic development and script writing, choreographer/s, instrumentalists, actors/dancers/chorus as appropriate). They collaboratively rehearsed the musical theatre piece with improvised costumes. CIIMDA course instructors were mainly observers, and could give production tips. The course participants from different countries and culture groups generally had no previous college training or experience in modern school or professional musical/dramatic/dance theater production. But they all ably accomplished the creativity and production tasks integrating music, dance and drama with dialogue for public performance evaluation and recording at the end of a course. Assessment primarily recognized commendable effort, also capability to collaborate and bond as a group, accommodating cultural and personality traits to produce and stage a finished piece within two weeks, along with other course activities. General analytical discussion followed each performance. A finished piece guaranteed a pass mark shared by all group participants regardless of role and demonstration of individual capability. The African instrumental performance groups rehearsed and performed an ensemble piece written for African instruments. The experiences interacted other-consciousness, resurrected inherent indigenous musical acts instincts, entailed collective creative skills, elicited innate practical performative capabilities, generated mutual respect (cultural and personality) and spiritual bonding. The proof of participating in the two different practical group creativity and performance components of the Center course assured us that the teachers/educators would capably handle essential indigenous musical arts transmission with learners of any grade, given enabling school environment. Inherent cultural experiences demonstrated that learners of tender age are more adept at original musical arts creative activities in and out of school environment once spiritually-culturally stimulated. A teacher would merely act as a supervising participant in collaborative practical learning and group discussion of knowledge performed live by learners.

Statement: Given a goal, theory is simultaneous with and implicit in, the conformation of a replicable product. In two weeks, group members without previous modern instructions, accomplished integrated musical arts products, and played written music pieces assessed in performance site. Discussion enhances knowledge acquisition.

• Teachers/educators and learners from various schools and culture groups participated in outreach courses in country locations; these occurred over three or four full days. A CIIMDA outreach course consisted of lectures and practical production sessions on the theoretical, psychological, philosophical, creativity and practical aspects of integrated African musical arts education. But the

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scenario differed because of time factor, and the non discriminatory mix of participants (teachers and learners). A main objective of the course was to stimulate innate capabilities as well as excite interest in regenerating indigenous prototypes for contemporary expressions in and out of the classrooms. This course component required mixing up the children and adults in ad hoc production teams. Each team of about fifteen to twenty participants was required, along with theoretical instruction sessions, to create, rehearse and produce a music and dance piece lasting five to seven minutes. As in the Centre courses each team allocated production and performative roles to members. We however emphasized that every team member must have experience of participating as a performer. The teams ably finished and staged their productions within three to four days of in-country training. This again proved the contemporary validity in modern schooling, of indigenous African epistemological model for sensitizing other-consciousness, also instigating creativity and stimulating expression of latent skill and cultural knowledge in schools. The course facilitators as usual only moved around to observe the group production activities, and take note of the spontaneity and originality in the various group creativity and production exercises. The public presentations on the final day of a course welcomed community observers. Normally a brief open, reflective discussion followed each group’s staged performance, and everybody present was free to participate in discussing self perceptions of a performance – creative, artistic, message etc. A remarkable incident that occurred during an in-country training in Namibia in 2010 is pertinent here. It clearly illustrates a significant indigenous lesson regarding age-gender demarcation of capabilities that mark modernist-elitist academic theories and practices of musical arts education and performances. After a team’s performance in a course location we normally require the team-selected leader of a production team to briefly explain the team’s work for everybody’s general evaluation comments. But in this particular instance no leader spoke up. Instead members of the team, age range between 10 and 60 years, and comprising teachers and various grades of learners, started fidgeting and staring at one another. Addressing the teacher-members, we again requested that whoever directed the team’s production should lead discussion. Then tentatively, a Reverend Sister, about 60 years old, who performed in the team, pointed at an 11 year old girl, signaling her to speak up. Other members joined in urging the girl to explain the team’s production. The girl so identified then jerked up, and started to confidently articulate what and how the team produced. Everybody was astounded. A deserved applause greeted her explication before public questions and comments followed. At the end of all the presentations that marked the conclusion of the in-country course, we were so impressed by the girl’s mothering role in the team production that we presented her a djembe drum, a gift from CIIMDA in appreciation of her humanity lesson to all of us. Because of her size, she had difficulty carrying the drum that she had competently played. On reflection it occurred to me that

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during the group rehearsals, whenever I stopped by to observe the progress of her team’s production, I noticed that the girl was pointing out directives to particularly the older adult members who were involved in dancing. Somehow I had failed to make much of my snap observations until the performance assessment discussion. The incident bears out an earlier observation about creative-artistic ingenuity, competence and leadership/direction in the indigenous musical arts epistemological milieu: Leadership roles and levels of capability are not always a matter of age and gender, except in special age/grade groups that prescribe age/gender membership for cultural reasons of solidarity and social distinction etc. I also encountered similar incidents during my previous research experiences of indigenous musical arts production dynamics in other traditional culture locations from West to South Africa, especially with respect to instances of children excelling adult capabilities in creativity and performative skills. The uga, a danced clap-quiz game, exclusive to girls in Igbo society of Nigeria, for instance, compares most adult types and styles in rationalizations of creative and performance logic (Nzewi, M 2009b). Uga has complex structural grammar (rhythmic and choreographic), procedural order, commands spontaneous expression of individual artistic genius, elicits robust in-group assessment vocabulary, and incites intensive mental acuity overall. CIIMDA inspired school productions by learners have been recognized in the public domain in the various countries CIIMDA visited. A few school groups have been invited by their governments to perform at national events. One group from Malawi was recognized to perform internationally outside Africa. Statement: Every normal human is born with intrinsic creative/performative capability; motherly genius could manifest at any age given enabling circumstances as was indeed also the case with Mozart. Appropriate school education and assessment designs deriving from African epistemology has responsibility to stimulate, guide and promote intrinsic multi-creative/-performative capabilities at any age.

• A third dimension of eliciting original creative/performative/collaborative competences innate in children that the CIIMDA project specialized in transpired as inter-cultural creative/performance interactions during festival meetings. CIIMDA’s SADC school children’s musical arts festival that was rotated among participating countries brought together children from various culture groups in southern Africa. The children participants congregated at a festival location with their teachers to present their various performative arts productions. During the two days of festival events the young learners from different cultures and nationalities got mixed up into small groups. In between festival events the ad hoc groups had time to independently determine and rehearse music and dance items that could be spontaneous group creations or adaptations of any culture’s known musical arts type. But productions should reflect multicultural music and dance re-interpretation entailing group-creative interactions. Assessment of

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outcomes of the original productions transpired in the public space of public presentations that become part of the recorded festival exhibitions on the last day of a festival program. Public viewing and assessment received media and government attentions. The festival activities set about to make a point of school children’s autonomous creative and performative capabilities that builds self esteem, inter-cultural respect and social cohesion.

Statement: Education policy authorities in the various countries are aware of the humanity outcomes of the CIIMDA course and festival activities. But their cultural alienation persists in policy not including music as a core curricula subject. Where marginally included, the curriculum discriminates indigenous African musical arts epistemology. Worse still musical arts is declared non examinable in many African countries, whereas examination coerces serious regard for a school subject by teachers, learners and assessors. School learners thus remain deprived of the prodigious human-making, intellect forming benefits of advancing indigenous musical arts principles and performances currently possible in mainly school education sites.

• At the Department of Music, University of Nigeria Nsukka in the year 1991, as Head of Department I mobilized the entire Department into a student-centered practical productivity projects. The Performance Workshop course in the syllabus was re-organized into three varied musical theater categories: narrative music and dance, musical drama, and choral theater. Every student was expected to belong to the three categories. Students were required to organize themselves into production teams, and take over responsibility for creative and artistic activities in the course. Every piece lasted about 5 to 10 minutes, and the theme should communicate a topical society message. Each group of about twelve members mixed up students from all the years of study and culture groups. The course was re-allocated the highest credit load in the syllabus as incentive. Student groups worked independently, and staff merely supervised. By the end of the session the students’ autonomous productions were performed, recorded and broadcast by the National Television Authority (NTA), Lagos, Nigeria, as 13 episodes of University musical theatre series for public viewing. By virtue of active participation and making national/public mark, all the students passed the course very well that year. Unfortunately the next Departmental leadership stopped the independent productions by students, proclaiming that students should not independently engage in original public productions until graduated. The television series was thus aborted. The course was reverted to internal classroom exercise for privileged staff to aggrandize selves by using students to produce one Western classical music work per year. But the point was already made about “town and gown collaboration”; that engineering and showcasing publicly, the capabilities of students to accomplish original, public-oriented, creative-performative enterprise is a skill empowering, education-for-life mission of contemporary school learning and assessment methodologies.

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Statement: Students’ natural capacity for multiple intra-disciplinary specializations is often suppressed by syllabus and academic staff who impose micro-disciplinary mentality and the attendant intellectual insecurities and attitudes. Hence re-integrating musical arts still strangely eludes modern education globally. • At the Department of Music, University of Pretoria, South Africa from 2001 to

2011, my second year students in the ethnomusicology class of racially mixed individuals were doing independent theatre productions in autonomous groups of about 7 members. They collaboratively produced original 7-10 minutes musical arts sketches integrating music, dance, drama and visual arts as well as combining multi-cultural materials. The activity enhanced students’ self esteem as creative and productive personalities and enabled practice-based perception of theoretical, creative and management procedures. Students then wrote individual reflective essays on the production as a minor component of the module assessment. Productions were not intended to emphasize polish, rather, they were to depict purposive humanity themes (messages) and stimulate group production enterprise. Assessment of finished productions transpired in public performances. Evidence of successful collaborative group effort earned automatic pass grade. A group score was credited to all members. Televising the student’s productions, however, needed institutional will and promotion. Statement: The students gained an opportunity to know that they are capable of excelling in all aspects of creative and performative musical arts even though the academic system restricts them to micro-specialist imaginations of intellectual/scholarly capability and narrow-minded scholarship orientation.

Altruism and humanity conscience in assessment practice in the academia

including the so called peer review exercises for publications deserve some interrogation. The human who is absolutely devoid of subjective propensity is not yet born. Objective assessments or opinions on an output often become contentious until power/control overrides. Fascinating inventions and refinements of “hard scientific” research and assessment constructs, statistical data with quantifications and equations, are brandished in academic music as impressive elicitation of facts about human minds and aptitudes. These could be compared to conventional legal oaths in courtroom of “speaking the truth and the whole truth; so help me God”. Still legal “truths” contradict, and a case travels from magistrate to supreme courts levels, with erudite legal minds juggling in jungles of contradictory search for mind-truth. The fact is that every human mind is a closed bag. Only what the owner decides to reveal can be known; except in some instances of applying extreme physical/mental torture or conscience (super ordinary) compulsion. Yet assessment is naturally human, and remains an inescapable factor that enables progression in musical arts productivity, perception and accommodation. An assessment devise that perceives music’s kernel as applied intangible, humanning agency commands down to earth, humanity-forming principles, and must note the fact that music husks principally evoke subjective (surface) perceptions, responses and assessments.

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Deriving from African indigenous epistemology I re-state that music is a subtle science of forming ideal humanity attitudes, a societal management (socializing) and mobilization force. We have discerned some soft scientific constructs of indigenous musical arts that quite often, in performative sites, expose the true mind or nature of participants against the mind owner’s will. The idioms have been tested in interactive drum ensemble play-shopping formulae. As a humanity building subject, I argue that in primary school musical arts education, knowledge acquisition in theory, literacy and humanity principles should be primarily grounded in experiential-knowing. Play-mode interactivity instills humane, other conscious spiritual disposition, and dispels psychical inhibitions. These are original humanity-forming potencies of indigenous music as a supernormal inspiriting agency that assessment intent and conscience could re-install in school education. Embodied and memory knowledge are enduring knowledge. Humanity rationalized music also accrues overall physiological and psychical wellness much needed to counterbalance the de-humanning effects of modern “hard” sciences and technology disciplines, as well as modern constitutional law and its enforcement agencies that stiffen minds and compromise sublime humanity. It is sad when musical arts scholars become insecurely intimidated to adopt hard scientific methods, and contrive hard “scientific”/statistical constructs to interpret the soft science in order to appear intellectually magnificent in the academia. The unique soft science of musical phenomenon is assessable in subtle humanity dimensions such as palpable attitudinal formation and transformations. School music assessment designs must then eschew aping the mechanical, technological or quantifiable statistical procedures of mind-hardening sciences. An example of applying the musical arts as a soft science of attitude transformation happened when I reformed attitudes of street children in South Africa. They effectively performed a concert of classical music composition alongside the English Chamber orchestra within a year of being inducted into African classical drum ensemble musical arts activities3 that modulate problematic self imaginations and obnoxious dispositions.

Purposive musical arts configurations still have capacity to instill the sublime mental infrastructure for sustainable humanity in the contemporary global obsession with ego, materialism and dishonest profit. Policy and education principles should emphasize mind-tempering musical measures. Hence we repeat that regenerative musical arts should be made core, compulsory subject all through basic education, and must be examinable to coerce serious attention and respect by all. The contemporary modal human attitude is that whatever comes free, or the outcome of which is un-evaluated, is not much valued. Lehman (2008: 26) has aptly alerted about such modern mentality: “there’s a strong presumption that what’s tested is what’s important”. Testing should go beyond class, paper test scores to include impressive humanity impact perceivable publicly. Farcical life orientations and consumption with grabbing wealth avidly promoted by media, technology and fanciful (profit oriented) entertainment industry beguile human perceptions of worthy or happy living everywhere. Rekindling virtuous life orientations compels purposive policy action (core subject), given humanity principled assessment advice that will imprint humanning

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essence in school music education. Literacy and oral (practical) learning in musical arts education should be inter-complementary. Oral learning and performance obviates anxiety or stress over mistakes. Orality further stimulates spontaneous aptitude, which is a life skill essential for coping with musical arts performance as much as life exigencies. In indigenous African epistemology no composition or performance has fixed and exact features. Every performance is a fresh version (spontaneous re-creation) of the known standard format and content prompted by contextual contingencies. The literacy complement will then particularly equip learners who intend to specialize as practitioners. Written compositions can also be open-endedly performed. What is dubbed a “mistake” could lead to new discoveries given positive exploration.

Assessment ideology should recognize effort and standard capability, creative or performative individuality. It should underplay robotic accuracy or regurgitation. Excellence or perfection is illusory, arrogation of the omniscient supreme self, which incurs psychosis. Only God/Supreme Creator represents excellence or perfection. The incontrovertible lesson in the universe is standard nature and attainment. To declare an experience or object as perfect or excellent implies absolute limit: there can be no further improvement, interest or possibility. Hence Death is perfect, and life is open ended. Who is the omnipotent or omniscient human (scholar or otherwise) to pronounce excellence or perfection in any life experience? Standards are generally known and consensually evaluated in a culture and knowledge area; and give room for advancement as well as sensible innovative breakthrough as per progressive life experiences, genius and evolutions of society. Human or life experiences that are declared excellent or perfect (ultimate attribute) have ended up being varied, faulted or excelled, as evidenced in industrial, scholarship and governance products/achievements globally. It is inebriated ego (objective lie) to claim the supreme capability to definitively proclaim or claim excellence or perfection in assessment of creativity or performance.

Assessment at any level should eschew constituting a control mechanism. Acts of Other-control mark a diabolic mentality, a distorted sense of super ordinary self, which is a common de-humaning disposition especially among privileged persons. Control malady is increasingly consuming modern humans globally, and destroying lives and minds in politics, religion, education, business, households, upbringing and relationships. School assessments could avoid being control-oriented/regimented by emphasizing group interactive activities that bond participants spiritually/emotively, and cherish individuality. (Elevating individuals as special humans also incurs psychosis of inflated sense of self for the elevated.) Eisner (2007:423) already notes that “assessment does not require the use of measurement”). He further infers that evaluation “makes it possible for…idiosyncratic meaning to be expressed and taken into account”; and cautions against “factory model of educational performance in which the end in view is known” (Eisner, 2007:425). Overall, assessments must not be judgmental (Ruddock, 2008), and must not intimidate or condemn genuine effort or be an affront to the human integrity or natural capability of any learners. Criteria must above all acknowledge and socialize capabilities, and imbue zeal for higher attainments.

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In basic school musical arts education, production activities and assessment exercises designed to give learners opportunity to demonstrate critical attitude and consciousness of their societal or humanity milieu are already argued as ideal. They also offer beneficial life skill for adjustment in life. Performative learning productions should thematize life aspirations/situations as well as interact with communities. The community learning projects by the staff of Department of Music, University of Stellenbosh South Africa are examples (Malan, 2012, Herbst, D. 2012). Musical arts performance is a helpful tool in inculcating enduring critical knowledge in other subject areas including the hard sciences. Repetition: School musical arts creations should receive exposure and evaluations in public space - school, mass media or the society at large. This will imbue positive sense of self capability, and make learners responsive as well as contributive to overall societal wellness.

In Secondary or High school education the expectation is that public consciousness and assessment practice in musical arts education should not differ significantly from Primary school proposition above. Granted, learners are required to choose subjects of specialization for matriculation examinations. In the academia and scholarship milieu there is need to express concern about the orientation and goals of knowledge empowerment. There is increasing intellectual arrogance, and egotistic attitudes that deviate open-minded scholarship guidance, thereby compromising students’ intellectual capabilities and professional exposure. My experience, as already tendered, is that any average student is capable of competently engaging simultaneously in all the current micro-specialization enclaves (composition, musicology, music education, music therapy, philosophy, history, psychology, instrument etc). It is currently modish for scholars to coin esoteric knowledge glitters that will accrue fame but evidence scarce knowledge substance or humanity purpose. Lecturers and students need to be grounded in the humanity integrity of the music discipline. In the musical arts knowledge area core knowledge facts have been established ages ago. But some modern scholars strive to re-invent the wheel (old wisdoms) in fashionable costumes including relying on micro-disciplinary competence to assess knowledge and aspirants. Degree or diploma studies in music constrain aspirants to undergo rigorous admission assessment contrivances to weed out perceived failures based on paper qualifications or elusive instrumental performance capabilities. Some get devastated after being sometimes unjustly denied opportunity to pursue a course preference that suits their humanity inclination. At the post graduate level tortuous and glossy ‘scholarly’ regimens for writing proposals and thesis override substance in assessment. The cosmetic fancies of presenting knowledge often intimidate and exclude capable and innovative students from pursuing post graduate aspirations. Reasons for rejection are sometimes not based on the integrity of core knowledge discourse or topic relevance, rather smokescreens of rarefied or ambiguous scholarly method. Hence different assessors return disparate opinions for a student to cope with.

In scholarly paper and book publications the global anomalies and intellectual acrimonies that distinguish or accredit journals are baffling. To start with, it is not easy to eliminate prejudice and ignorance in the work of reviewers. They may sometimes be

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selected by editors with a hidden agenda about a paper submission. Scholars who are incompetent in the knowledge integrity of a paper submission (ignorant experts) may demonstrate no compunction in accepting to review. They then go ahead to offer spurious, judgmental or mediocre and subjective opinions that an editor must accept in the fashion of peer review. Quite often peer/external review/assessment does not guarantee cognitive appraisal of substance (the kernel of knowledge) rather the academic technicalities of presentation (the husk). An absurdity that scholars internationally do not seem to have bothered about is the academic politics of publication style manuals in Referencing/Bibliography that differentiate equally accredited journals. The superficially varied window dressing (husk) of annotating article citations preferred by different journals has nothing to do with the essential particulars (kernel) of a cited publication. But failure to comply with a particular journal’s preferred cosmetic style manual could determine the rejection/return of a solid article. The academic politics of style manuals styles that conflict journals does not affect their sharing the same library shelves and journal rating or the validity of the article. Why are scholars so intellectually consumed with superficial, political up-staging of one another, particularly in the cosmetic polish of language and style for presenting essential knowledge? Other times, acceptance of a manuscript or knowledge advancement for publication or implementation could be prejudiced by considerations of who wrote it or what human discovered the significant contribution instead of focusing on its knowledge integrity or usefulness to all humanity. These often subjective consumptions with glossy dressing that often conflict scholars and policy experts distract from transmitting knowledge of, and for public interest. The public deserves to be enlightened about scholarship specialties and discoveries in straightforward but still prestigious presentations. Hence I argue narrative as a forte in scholarly communications, including discussing Western classical compositions such as symphonies. A good story entices even non-specialist minds to take interest in absorbing the knowledge narrative as well as respecting the integrity of the accessible narrator-educator; obscure scholarship jargons turn off general readership interest. Maybe obscurity of expression is what makes scholars special (arrogant) humans scarcely celebrated in public space, and often disregarded or humored by unlearned bureaucracy. What is the human value of academic inbreeding? Self isolation from public acclaim breeds internecine conflicts that often adversely afflict students and learners directly or indirectly. Assessment mentality and intellectual posturing could complicate and disable what the academia owes humanity: Open doors for knowledge aspirants; research and expound specialist knowledge that informs the public, and enables policy as well as polity systems. The above observations also apply to academics recognized to offer advice to policy bureaucracy that is often ignorant about what, how and why of school music values, contents and methods, and therefore deserve altruistic guidance.

In view of the above opinions on assessment issues, an unconventional scholar’s personal testimonial may offer a useful insight for re-thinking:

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I was offered admission to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in 1966 to study music as a mature student even though I failed an admission assessment test on music literacy (reading simple staff notation symbols and music). But I pleaded that my passion to embrace academic music studies derived from the fact that I could strum the guitar, and was already orally composing popular music (using what I later learnt to be I-IV-V-I chord progression on the guitar). I was compassionately offered admission based on my expressed passion. After 4 years I topped my graduating class with a BA Honors degree, 2nd class upper division ... In 1976 I was admitted at the Queens University, Belfast to pursue a doctoral degree as a mature candidate with only a first degree, but already writing academic papers and attending conferences as a University lecturer. I was assessed and trusted by my supervisor, Professor John Blacking, who argued for me to just proceed without need for course work, and to write a thesis based on field research that I had conducted independently with culture-acclaimed indigenous experts prior to being admitted. Thus I was spared the rigors of first writing a proposal, and the usual fabrications of ornate fieldwork methodology for researching my culture’s indigenous knowledge authenticities before proceeding to write a doctoral degree thesis. In 1977 I received my PhD in ethnomusicology by thesis. Since my first degree, I have continued practicing in academics as a composer (operas, symphonic/choral/multi-cultural ensemble works etc deriving from African indigenous compositional theory and philosophy), musical dramatist (script writer/librettist, director and choreographer), African (ethno) musicologist, music educator, musical scientist, creative writer (novels), and a performer (mother drummer). All derive from being research-groomed by un-schooled authorities in African indigenous musical arts creative canons, performative principles and overall epistemological legacy.

. The Ombudspirit reminds: Knowledge empowerment does not need elitist complications; assessment must be underpinned by humanity conscience and objectives. Assessment ideology should focus on eliciting and cultivating innate capabilities in manners that are relevant and appropriate to given humanity/cultural background and environment as well as internationally viable and accessible. Humanity chorus: Music makes human and coheres society critically: We need down to earth, public-conscious enlightenment on the need for academic/school musical arts so that we can also challenge remote policy thereby. Assessment experts should jointly relate with us to convince governance power that music is as critical in education as IT and numeracy because it ensures sustainable humanity for economy to thrive in universal amity.

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Cultivating humanizing measures in musical arts education vision and assessment

There can be no universal yardstick for assessment of creations, performances or appreciation of quality and quantity, otherwise assessment outcomes could be faked to the detriment of learners. We should ponder the perceptions about natural human musical arts intellect, which should inform policy decisions on classroom grooming and assessment that cherish virtue-laden public practice. This queries the red-herring about talent. Modern upbringing and elitist specialist music education practices have invented and propagated the contemporary, elitist notion of talent. The idea and “judgmental” modes of determining and apportioning talent deny and mentally intimidate innately capable humans who begin to perceive and perjure selves as non musical (Ruddock, 2012). Woodward (1992: 170) further asserts that: “Inherent in one’s humanness is the ability to perceive music… Every clinically normal human being is musical, in that he/she possesses basic senses of pitch, timing, dynamics and timbre.” Lehman, (2008:20) concurs: “Every child has the potential to learn music.” The notion of the talented is a nebulous conception, an injurious construction of capability. It is an offshoot of propagating excellence/perfection promoted by privileged human beings who arrogate to selves the superlative authority to theorize and prescribe distinctions of common humanness. The trusting masses are bamboozled into accepting the vague, subjective judgments about what should universally constitute elusive excellence or perfection or talent. And yet one person’s taste/talent is another person’s dislike/mediocrity as illustrated with the diverse schools of Referencing amongst equally accredited journals for exactly the same essential knowledge evidence.

Humanity-conscience assessment should acknowledge that everybody is capable until proven otherwise in an enabling non-prejudicial environment; also that whatever musical artifact is culturally approved is meritorious, and worthy of intellectual study in school education; further, that every member of a human or interest group has a natural right to be included to participate to the best of their ability in common types of musical arts activities and appreciation, irrespective of flair and input. Opportunity or privilege, encouragement, motivation and industry are factors that enable individuals to manifest outstanding faculty in general capabilities. In classrooms and professional practices, talent has become contemporaneously misconstrued and impressed on the imagination of masses as rare supra human faculty. In the classroom and professional practice talent is attributed and misapplied to exaggerate or otherwise intimidate and suppress innate human musicality. Whoever can ordinarily intonate is already producing basic vocal music that opportunity and practice could develop. Every voice quality is unique, and can gain universal acclaim given preferential media/expert promotion. A coarse (as in food materials) frog voice may be rough but healing while a refined bird voice may smoothly damage organs. Whoever can walk steadily is already basically dancing, and, given incentive, could apply self to impressive gymnastic or textual limits. Whoever can communicate with facial and bodily signs, intentionally or otherwise, is already dramatizing. A simple Collins Concise Dictionary and Thesaurus (2001) definition of talent is: “natural ability to do something well”, by consensual not

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singular subjective endorsement. Some modern perceptions extolled in educational and professional enclaves through assessment yardsticks invented by privileged scholars combine with sophistry in modern upbringing to intimidate, and sometimes injure self esteem and impair the psyche for life in matters of normal human capabilities. Ruddock and Leong (2005) and Woodward (2002) have challenged and refuted the elitist scholarship determinations that strangle the innate capabilities of humans especially from childhood at school and home. There are no inferior humans or learners. What is included or taught in school musical arts may not represent what a learner is culturally good at or bred with. The judgmental person also incurs some cosmic psychical self-infliction for inflicting fallacious injurious theories on non-deserving others.

The musical arts as a pristine human artifact was conceived as purposive creativity and experienced as proactive, effectual as well as affective phenomenon. But modern music education practice has sliced off the primary functional conceptualizations and humanity substructure while elegantly theorizing abstract and aesthetic husk or smokescreens. In the public domain the mass media has collaborated to mesmerize modern masses in and out of school with the idea of musical arts as flashy entertainment objective. Hence contemporary life fashion is now to vacuously patronize the commercially viable but mind impairing pleasurable fads. Music was integrated into almost all aspects of indigenous societal systems and living. Access to practical participation is the best way of perceiving the functional aesthetic, and benefiting from the original mind/body-wellness as well as other functionalities structured into indigenous epistemology. These include: choreographed maternity health priming, somatic childhood upbringing with soothing song-dances, autonomous children’s play theater that prime creative acumen (Campbell, 2007), age and gender bonding categories, all inclusive event-music types for psycho-physiological wellness and life education, mass/self-administered therapeutic types, traditional school program for inducting the young into responsible societal reckoning etc. All these designs and features implicated rigorous assessment that anchor the functional integrity of the musical arts. Inclusivity, sometimes in the form of participant audience was mandated, often coerced, such that self-isolation and the attendant anti-social disposition were rare in traditional living. Every level and peculiarity of skill was welcomed and appreciated. After all, all fingers are not equal but belong and function together. Advancement or amendment of every state of standard frame of practice, and non radical innovation were cherished. General cultural knowledge enabled spontaneous cognitive appreciation that appreciated every degree and quality of effort (verbal and performed) as well as offered enabling correction of shortcomings without condemning.

Contemporary school transmission practice and assessment could be designed and contented to make school music significantly visible in the public domain – television series/serials, social events, mind socialization and correctional applications, hospital/healthcare centers excursions, political venues etc. Such purposive creativity and performance activities in schools will equally systematically build the self esteem and life orientation of all in the school. After all, public funds support schools as public institutions, and accountability should be evidenced in public sites. Statistical and

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technological measurement devices invented or borrowed from the physical sciences could be illusive, and may vaguely capture the entertaining and performative husk (elusive qualitative measurement indices) of school music delivery. It is ironic that statistical/mechanical devices are expected to elicit imprecise affect of musical arts: human genius in controlling, quantifying, generalizing and standardized measuring of subjectively experienced intangible affects in life. In quantitatively scored data about artistic affect we must again emphasize that the mind is a private bag, and we can only accept and work with whatever the owner wishes to reveal. “Yes” or “No” could be deceptive; narrative statements, behavioral gestures and free discussions have ways of revealing the real mind.

Purposive, attitude-mending music yields tangible outcomes cumulatively, over time - until significant outcomes become noticeable, such as when a normally withdrawn or hyperactive individual starts exhibiting socially and psychologically amicable behaviors in school and life situations. For emphasis, humanity disposed assessment should eschew control and elitist fancies in school musical arts contexts that could injure impressionable young minds.

The Ombudspirit cautions: Modern scholars who deny the genetic roots of their brilliance often end up re-inventing ancestral wisdom in superficial manners that initially appear impressive or glamorous but ultimately collapse and may harm self as well as others. Humanity chorus verdict: Music makes human and coheres society critically: No human can boast nil ancestry. If the ancestors were ignorant, there would be no foundation for progeny to grow their genius. If we honor our heritage our aspiring minds will be blessed to contribute virtuous continuum to progressive human brilliance. Modern musical arts scholars/teachers should dig up the ignored wisdoms of ancestral epistemology that will guide crafting new practices rich in humanity-virtues. After all, surnames, which often date generations, still accord primary human recognition to individuals in life globally.

Conclusion

Musical arts education in the contemporary milieu could still be rationalized as a force that would inspire human agents to pursue tangible outcomes in the areas of critiquing governance, instilling public morality, providing psychical wellness, resolving attitudinal problems, and generating sublime creative intellect. Otherwise the crass inhumanity currently plaguing societies around the globe would escalate and endanger sustainable humanity. But first, the contemporary commercially driven perceptions and practices of the abstracted husk of musical arts as flippant entertainment need to be contended with. Discerning and regenerating the kernel of music essence is the task of music scholarship and school music practice. Essential proactive tunes would then emerge, and begin to soften stone-hearts who generate conflict and trauma in the affairs

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of society: governance, industry, economy, media, religion, education and international relations. The genetically modified musical arts genres currently overwhelming global imagination has scant mind or body healing essence. Organic musical arts of indigenous legacy remains a mothering and healing knowledge phenomenon in need of contemporaneous advancement. Up dated epistemology is of the essence to nurture godly mindedness and humanity virtues from childhood upbringing into school education systems with cognitive research and purposive creativity. I re-state (repetition dynamics) that music educators and policy experts have a momentous task: To institute humanity oriented musical arts in education and life sites that could begin to contain and subdue the chaotic sounds of war, anarchy, misery, oppression, vain ambitions, intolerance, base conscience, avarice and general obnoxious obsession with self interests currently overwhelming human aspirations, and nationhood practices up to United Nations gerrymandering. Overall, “assessment needs to result in change” (Edmund D. et al 2008), and proactively significant in contemporary school and public domains.

I have posited that generative assessment ideology in school music education that is active in public milieu could ally with public opinion/action in pressurizing policy to make music a core, mother subject. The mission of school music education that is literacy-driven (theoretical, philosophical and psychological imperatives) and equally publicly interactive will nurture sustainable humanity attributes and enhance the psycho-physiological health and self esteem of all. Merit must be acclaimed, and every sincere effort and capability must be assessed favorably. Purposive assessment design has the capability to engineer resuscitation of the humanity-building virtues and values of music. With policy support, team players in non commercial musical arts can still effectively sanitize societal polity and governance conscience without being silenced. Assessment, which tenders visible evidence of knowledge acquired and evaluated in the context of knowledge delivered, can importantly partner with public opinion in persuading policy to acknowledge the contributions of musical arts kernel in matters of ensuring credible governance. Policy will then jerk up to give music the serious attention it deserves in humanity sustaining education. Music is life. Can we imagine the sound categorically musical being totally silenced in human experiencing of life worldwide? There would be unbearable psychological and social chaos in no time (Nzewi, 2007b). The Ombudspirit declares: Fashionable technology with stone heart mesmerizes modern humanity and national leaderships. Masses vacuously consume genetically modified (inorganic) music, the synthetic vibes of which deadens minds and tissues. Inorganic music is like the rodent that blows soothing kisses at the same time it is injecting poisonous substances into the body it is biting. Assessment should guide the production and consumption of organic music products that actually imbue mind and tissue thereby human and societal wellness. Humanity chorus verdict: Educate us: which is the abiding knowledge system that cohered a society, and humanely conducted knowledge transmission in old traditions? Flashy theories

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make the kernel of music obsolete, and as a consequence vagrancy and conflicts assail contemporary policy, curriculum, transmission, research and assessment ideologies. Egomania has turned modern-privileged humans into dangerous species. Music education should nurture sublime-mindedness and transact psycho-physiological health and morality in school and public sites. Humanity-purposed music is life, divine force that ably critics society. Reckless brilliance is a liability to sublime humanity-conscious education and society.

1 Dance of the Worthies in Nzewi 2010 (And the Acada chorus Brain Rot) is a strident musical arts drama modeled on indigenous critical musical arts intentions. It vividly portrays the blatant immorality that is plaguing the leadership elite in the current Nigeria’s social, political, economic and academic milieus. The audience (public) approved; the University leadership (policy) nastily disapproved, and dismissed me from University service for daring to write and stage it publicly in 1985.

2 In 2007 the two-weeks residential course activities at the CIIMDA Centre in Pretoria, South Africa was re-designed, with a fieldwork and sample practical teaching portfolio components to enable the award of a Certificate in African Indigenous Cultural Arts Education (CAICAE) by the Continuing Education@ University of Pretoria after satisfactory evaluation based on written and practical (performative) assessments evaluations.

3 In 2001 The Soccajasco Kids, a group of street children I recruited and put through weekly drum ensemble based musical arts activities, played the Overture of the First International Classical Music Festival of South Africa along the guest English Chamber Orchestra. They played the African instruments parts of the written composition. (ICMF Concert Souvenir programme, pages 8&9). I applied advanced indigenous mind-tempering principles and constructs of indigenous musical arts to reform the street children’s anti-social attitudes.

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Brochure

The international classical music festival of South Africa, 2001. Souvenir program

Appendix 1. Key points: Assessment kernel and or husk indicators/actions

[Sober brilliance should recognize that the knowledge foundations that mark viable advancements cannot be obsolete. Cautious advancements of founding wisdoms will viable humanity. Reckless egotist brilliance is yet to re-create the functional essence (the kernel) that defines every categorically human body without making humans obsolete including the inventors. Old adage: The high flying insect (sky ego) inevitably falls for the frog (earth/origin-conscious ego) to capture. Assessment should eschew sky chasing, and instead build stable humanity.]

1. Foregrounding the functional role of music in life and societies: The kernel of musical arts stimulates harmonious public action that imbues society with humanity conscience; the husk lubricates the engine

2. Key pointers for assessing outcomes of musical arts kernel as per African epistemological authority: Evidences of – creatively articulating/performing perceptions of societal milieu, expressions of psycho-physiological wellness, performing virtues and morality of inter-personal/public/polity actions, identifying/signifying institutions/authority/ interest groups, marshalling and validating public events, channeling social, spiritual and somatic bonding, spontaneous self expression, conducting mass and personal de-stress therapy (repetition and variation); stimulating and processing education in other knowledge fields.

3. Idiomatic vocabulary of creative philosophy and conformations, material resources, and performative principles. Generative assessment indicators: Repetition embeds significant knowledge; terse structures command inclusivity; rough timbres massage body organs/tissues; relativity harmonic principle; performance composition; ensemble-role structures; space consciousness in thematic sharing; essentiality of ensemble pulse; matching tones/notes/tuning; hot and cool principles of form; cadential cues

4. Contemporary assessment crises: Verity of Reviews, variant referencing styles; vacuous entertainment

5. Transmission and assessment practice to collaborate with media and governance institutions to give public visibility and relevance to current productions that advance knowledge kernel by transacting polity consciousness and morality issues- positive and

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negative. Assessment to furnish evidences of nurturing discipline, humanity disposition, transacting societal wellness that will make music a core school subject

6. Assessment not judgmental or a power game: Eschew talent and perfection mirages; entrench the progress of all concerned; liberate innate capabilities, explore directions for knowledge growth, shun control measures. Inhumane assessment and policy actions that injure, intangibly incur psychical disabilities for perpetrators

7. Scholarly jargons and hard scientific measurements draw red herring that divert from perceiving music essence as subtle humanning science, and not concrete statistical equations. School music should drive sustainable humanity by instilling humane dispositions through interactive theory and products. Narrative is original music device for socializing, propagating and enduring specialist knowledge for public participation

8. Assessment to emphasize dedicated performative interaction in public sites, thus canvass partnership with media and governance, public and business institutions – prosecute purposive policy & education.

9. Objective assessment practice must not guess and fake perception of affect but welcome forthright debate, expressions. Clapping not always demonstration of genuine appreciation. Interactive assessment is purposive, generative, forthright and instructively playful. Assess in terms of palpable evidence of effect and affect in ordinary life and behavior. Manage mistake as a critical factor of creative learning and self-confidence

10. Values of organic music; dangers of inorganic music invasion and flippant entertainment disposition

11. Sample validations of indigenous epistemological principles in contemporary musical arts education sites