Balance of music education : chartering verbal and non verbal knowledges in the philosophies of music teachers in South Africa

Abstract: This thesis discuss how balance between declarative and procedural knowledge can be reached in music education. The purpose is to shine light on how balance between different kinds of knowledge shows itself in South African music teachers descriptions of their ways of teaching. The main focus lies in how non verbal and verbal knowledge present itself in the teacher's philosophies. The categorisation of different kinds of knowledge from the book Music Matters by David Elliott is used to distinguish the main question in the analysis. This categorisation suggests there are five categories of knowledge of where one is verbal and four non verbal. Seven teachers are included in the study and the results show that there are some difficulties in the process of balancing verbal and non verbal knowledges in their teaching situations. The difficulties is shown largely between the desire to teach through non verbal methods and the traditional way of teaching that is more directed towards verbal knowledge and the fact that it is the easiest and quickest way to use spontaneously in the teaching situations. The thesis concludes that despite the fact that there are areas of development in balancing knowledges in teaching situations, there is more elements of the philosophical theories discovered in reality than expected. The pattern show that the teacher's philosophical reflections present more gaps individually than put together which results in the reflection that if teachers use the knowledge and experience among each other in a larger extent, balance between different kinds of knowledge is more easily approached than when doing it on their own.