Date: 25 May 2006
Multiculturalism is among the most common topic discussed in the Music Education Conferences. Most countries started to concern about multiculturalism after a large number of immigrants migrated into a certain country and form a multicultural society to the country. Consequently, education in these countries plays an important role to help students understand the local and diverse ethnic culture in which they live.
Malaysia successfully announced its independency from British Colony in 1957 under the co-operation of the three major races; the Malays, Chinese, and Indians; Besides these three major ethnic group, according to the 2000 demographic census, Malaysia has a population of 23.27 million consisting of 61 percent Malays, 30 percent Chinese, 8 percent Indians and one percent of other ethnic groups. They are the Dayaks, Kadazans (Dusuns), Bajaus, Melanaus and Muruts from Sarawak and Sabah regions; the aborigines of Peninsular Malaysia and minor Europeans and Eurasians. These different races formed a multicultural society in the country. However, being once a part of the British Empire, education in Malaysia has been colored by British thinking. For music education, it usually means studying the Western European music.
The educational system in Malaysia could be divided into different medium-language schools; for elementary schools, there are Malay schools, Chinese Schools, and Indian (Tamil) Schools. These elementary schools teach students in their mother-tongue language rather than the national language (Malay language is the national language, but it is still a compulsory subject in all sorts of schools). All elementary schools compliance the national curriculum, and music education has been compulsory in all elementary schools.
For high schools, all high schools teach students using national language except the Chinese Private High Schools, and this formed a special term for the previous stated high schools as the “government high schools”. Government high schools follow the national curriculum, and music education is no longer compulsory; while Chinese Private High Schools has their own curriculum that is established by another group of experts (under these schools’ chief educational department), and music education is also an elective subject.
The Chinese Private High Schools’ curriculum is written based on the national education curriculum, but is modified to be more adaptive for the students who learn in the private high schools that is taught in the student’s mother-tongue language (Chinese language). However, for the music education in Chinese Private High Schools, due to the influence of the British thinking, very little attention has been paid to either the Malaysian traditional music (these including the Malay Malaysian, Chinese Malaysian, Indian Malaysian and other music culture in the country), or any other music culture of the world except Western European music cultures.
Chinese Private High Schools in Malaysia has undergone educational reforms since 2005. The reforms started after the educators realized the importance of integrating the local elements into the educational system. To be independent from foreign country’s curriculum and to focus on the local heritage become part of the weight bearing point in the educational reform. The objective of this change is to draw back the attention from others to the local heritage. The culture in Malaysia is multiple, music culture itself is also multiple, thus, multicultural music education is very much emphasized in the new music curriculum. However, the changing of the music curriculum doesn’t mean to ignore the Western European music culture until they are all been canceled from the curriculum, but is to make the curriculum more multiculturalism. To achieve this goal, local musical heritage such as the Malay Gamelan, Caklempong, the Chinese orchestra, Chinese Opera, the Indian Sitar, and the Kadazan music would be taking their place in the new music curriculum.
Towards the understanding of the concept and its historical perspective of the forming of multicultural music education in the world; the importance and the methodologies of promoting multicultural music education, has becomes the crucial element in reforming a new music curriculum to the Chinese Private High Schools in Malaysia. In this paper, I will address on the rationales of multicultural music education; the concepts of multicultural music education; and some approaches, and challenges to multicultural music education for the Chinese Private High Schools in Malaysia.
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