Music educational and ethnomusicological implications for curriculum design: development, implementation and evaluation of Philippine music and dance curricula

The problem of concern in this study is of a dual nature, involving music education principles and ethnomusicological issues. Using Philippine music and dance as the specific genre, the study investigates approaches to the learning of non-Western music at the secondary school level. The study identifies two approaches which may lead to the Philippine music and dance learning experience, designs curricula in two appropriate forms, and, finally, sets up conditions to test empirically the relative effectiveness of the curricula. The initial task for this study was to locate and collect Philippine music and dance data, by means of field work, during which the researcher acted as participant and observer in Philippine events. From this data, the study attempted to design, implement and evaluate Philippine music and dance curricula in two forms, with both curricula developed from identical music and dance materials and principals. The first form. Curriculum A, is a fifteen hour curriculum which presents the music and dance as entities in themselves, worthy of study in their own right. The second form. Curriculum B, is a fifteen hour curriculum in a cross-disciplinary form, seeking relationships between music, dance and socio-cultural variables. Following the development of the curricula, selected teachers were prepared to implement one or other of the randomly assigned curricula forms with 521 Year 8 and Year 9 pupils in a stratified random sample of New South Wales secondary schools. The sample was stratified according to four school-related variables, five teacher-related variables and three pupi1-related variables. Finally, this study attempted to evaluate the relative effectiveness of the two curricula by devising one Philippine music and dance achievement test. The test evaluates pupils in the areas of knowledge and skills in Philippine music and dance. The test also seeks pupils' attitudes towards Philippine music and dance in particular, and non-Western music and dance in general. Analysis of variance was employed to establish the more effective curriculum form, and to ascertain the effects of selected intervening variables upon the two Philippine music and dance curricula.