Faculty of Humanities
School of Arts
Department of Music
Selected Highlights from Research Findings
The 80th birthday of the celebrated South African composer Stefans Grové, Professor Emeritus at the University of Pretoria, prompted research into definitive aspects of his compositional career. Through a comprehensive analysis of his compositions for wind examinations it was shown that these compositions are decidedly not merely of a didactic nature, but exhibit all the creative traits of a mature and fastidious composer. Facets that emerged included his incredibly precise use of dynamics and articulation, and his idiosyncratic use of fermatas and caesuras in creating fantasy-like spatial envelopes. In particular, his ability to fashion intricate musical lines from minute, chromatically-inspired germinal motives was revealed.
Contact person: Dr JdeC Hinch.
The primary research engagement focused on applying the indigenous African strategy of total person education through the musical arts to effect the skill capacitation cum personality reformation of a group of street children in South Africa. This applied research has produced a group of South African street children from the Itumeleng shelter that now play professionally, African modern classical drumming. The methodology strategised researched therapeutic structures and ensemble dynamics of African indigenous musical arts. The social-psychological healing of the former street children has been effected, and tested in social-performance interactions with classical musicians and all levels of audience in South Africa and abroad. The boys now play classical concerts, give drumming workshops, and provide improvised as well as written light music to suit the needs of any client and context. Multiplier effect is being negotiated. The research is being projected to interrogate the methodology and cultural vision of modern music education in Africa.
Contact person: Prof ME Nzewi.
The truly indigenous musics of South Africa can be placed in the ranks of our endangered wildlife species. Concerted efforts are needed to save the bulk of this music for posterity. In the final analysis, it would appear that both the use and respect for traditional indigenous music is on the wane, more so in the wake of the ever-increasing tidal wave of Western pop music, which reaches the most remote corners of South Africa by radio and television.
Contact person: Prof GC Olivier.
Research into the genesis and background of the songs of the South African composer Hubert du Plessis proved that he was strongly influenced by his platteland upbringing, his teachers at the Porterville High School (especially his Afrikaans teacher Lewis Gericke), his lecturers at the University of Stellenbosch (especially his English lecturer Christina van Heyningen) and by his friends (amongst whom was his second cousin, the Afrikaans poet Barend J. Toerien, who introduced him, for example, to Rilke). Interviews with Du Plessis revealed his profound insight into Afrikaans, Dutch, English, French and German texts, which was stimulated during his BA studies. Of his three important composition teachers, William H. Bell (Gordons Bay), Friedrich Hartmann (Grahamstown) and Alan Bush (London), it was only Bell who influenced Du Plessis's songs, through their discussions of English poetry.
Contact person: Prof HH van der Mescht.
Through research on South African music students in Europe background information is collected to establish what their influence would later be on the discipline in South Africa. The project was extended to the archive of the Royal College of Music in London. About seventy of the students studying there between 1883 and 1910 had some connection with South Africa. Some, like Edith Andrews, who enrolled in 1891, were natives of South Africa, coming from diverse backgrounds and from various towns like Cape Town, Cato Ridge, Durban, Fauresmith, George, Germiston, Grahamstown, Jagersfontein, Kimberley, King Williams Town, 'Maritzburg', Parktown (Johannesburg), Port Elizabeth, Queenstown, 'Rosmead Junction', Senekal, Swellendam, Tarkastad, Uitenhage and Worcester. Many concluded their studies by passing the prestigious Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) examination, the first being Irene T. Browning from Cape Town who obtained the qualification in 1900 in Teaching Pianoforte. A number of other students were not born in South Africa, but came to the country later and contributed to its cultural development. Among these students were Apolline Niay who was one of the founders and first principal of the South African College of Music at UCT in 1910, the composer and teacher Colin Taylor who was appointed vice-principal of the South African College of Music in 1921, Isador Epstein who came to South Africa in 1929 and became the leading piano teacher in Johannesburg, and Percival Kirby, professor of Music at the University of the Witwatersrand for thirty-one years and an internationally acclaimed authority on African music.
Deur navorsing oor Suid-Afrikaanse musiekstudente in Europa kan agtergrondinligting versamel word om vas te stel wat die latere invloed van hierdie studente op die dissipline in Suid-Afrika sou wees. Die projek is uitgebrei na die argief van die Royal College of Music in Londen. Ongeveer sewentig van die studente wat tussen 1883 en 1910 daar studeer het, het een of ander verbintenis met Suid-Afrika gehad. Sommige studente, soos Edith Andrews wat in 1891 daar ingeskryf het, is in Suid-Afrika gebore en het uit verskillende dorpe, soos Cato Ridge, Durban, Fauresmith, George, Germiston, Grahamstad, Jagersfontein, Kaapstad, Kimberley, King Williams Town, 'Maritzburg', Parktown (Johannesburg), Port Elizabeth, Queenstown, 'Rosmead Junction', Senekal, Swellendam, Tarkastad, Uitenhage en Worcester en uit verskillende agtergronde gekom. 'n Groot aantal het hulle studie afgesluit deur die gesogte Associate of the Royal College of Music (ARCM) eksamen te slaag. Die eerste suksesvolle Suid-Afrikaanse student was Irene T. Browning van Kaapstad wat die kwalifikasie in 1900 in 'Teaching Pianoforte' verwerf het. 'n Aantal studente wat nie in Suid-Afrika gebore is nie, maar later na die land gekom het, het bygedra tot Suid-Afrika se kulturele ontwikkeling. Onder hulle tel Apolline Niay wat in 1910 een van die stigters en die eerste hoof was van die South African College of Music van die Universiteit van Kaapstad, die komponis en onderwyser Colin Taylor wat in 1921 aangestel is as visehoof van die South African College of Music, Isador Epstein wat in 1929 na Suid-Afrika toe gekom het en die voorste klavieronderwyser in Johannesburg geword het, en Percival Kirby wat een-en dertig jaar lank 'n professor in Musiek aan die Universiteit van die Witwatersrand was en 'n internasionaal erkende kenner van Afrikamusiek geword het.
Contact person: Prof HH van der Mescht.
The Music Education Unit Standards for Southern Africa (MEUSSA) research group has already produced a large number of innovative and coordinated unit standards in a wide variety of aspects of Music through research completed by doctoral and masters degree students. The first outcome was a model for developing a grid for the writing of unit standards for music education in the SADC countries. Thereafter, unit standards were developed for African Musics, the Foundation Phase and Teacher Training, Aerophones, a General Music Appraisal Programme at NQF levels 2 to 4, Music Technology for NQF levels 1 to 4, and Choral unit standards for Primary Schools. Valuable contributions were made by examiners from Australia, Brazil, Namibia, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, the USA and Zimbabwe. The findings of the research are being considered by the South African National Department of Education and the South African Qualifications Authority. There is also great interest in the MEUSSA products from the Australian Society for Music Education, specifically of Victoria, Australia.
Contact person: Prof C van Niekerk.
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