Navigating Music Education in Ghana: A Guide to Composition, Performance and Listening for Primary School Teachers

Music as a subject of study is a strand of the Creative Arts curriculum content for teaching, learning and assessment in primary schools in Ghana. Composition, performance and listening which play pivotal roles in music activities form integral part of the methods and strategies that are supposed to be employed to teach these arts form to provide musical knowledge, skills and understanding to primary school learners. Elsewhere, it is argued that these three musical processes constitute the starting point of music activities in the primary school classroom. Having some knowledge and practical insight of each of these processes is therefore very significant for teachers’ professional practice and development in the music classroom. This article attempts to describe these processes and highlight some activities that can serve as a guide for the teacher to engage primary school learners in music activities under each of these three interrelated activities for effective musical learning and experiences. Challenges affecting effective music education in the primary schools include teachers’ lack of adequate knowledge and skills in teaching, inadequate trained teachers to teach music in the primary schools and lack of musical instruments to support teaching and learning. It is suggested to educational planners and authorities to plan and implement in-service training for primary school teachers to equip them in the provision of effective music education to pupils. It is also suggested to primary school authorities and teachers to find innovative ways to acquire the needed teaching and learning materials to ensure an effective music education in the primary school.