This study explored the impact of reality television shows on university music students’ engagement with formal learning environments. As participation in these shows increasingly spotlights musical talent, performance, and celebrity culture, they may impact young adult learners’ perceptions of success, creativity, and the value of formal education. The research investigates whether frequent consumption of such content affects students' motivation and academic priorities in formal music education, including classroom learning, music theory, and performance training. Using a qualitative research design, purposive sampling was employed to recruit participants, and in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 undergraduate music students who had participated in reality television shows to examine patterns of media consumption, perceptions of the relevance of formal instruction, and levels of classroom engagement. The study findings provide insights into how media literacy can be integrated into music education to bridge the gap between the impact of media and academic understanding.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected countries globally, creating numerous social, economic, and, most significantly, health-related challenges that have significantly threatened human life and wellbeing. Not a single country has been immune to the devastation caused as a result of pandemics and epidemics that emerged at different points in history. This study aims to explore how communities in historical Sri Lanka confronted epidemic outbreaks and implemented strategies to mitigate their impact. The methodology is based on the thematic analysis of qualitative data obtained from purposively selected senior members of Sri Lankan communities. Although contemporary media often depicts decease prevention practices as modern innovations, the findings indicate that many such measures were commonly used by ancient societies in Sri Lanka. These include household and village isolation, travel restrictions, social distancing, hand washing, strengthening immunity through medicinal herbal concoctions, and wearing masks. The study further elaborates that certain contagious diseases, such as measles and chickenpox, were considered divine diseases, some of which were believed to have spread as a result of intense sunlight. Overall, the research concludes that ancient Sinhalese responded to epidemics by effectively adapting to nature while maintaining mental and physical resilience.
The Vedda community is regarded as the indigenous people of Sri Lanka. Despite negative connotations attributed to the Veddas, implicating them as a community of uncivilized people as presented from a largely Eurocentric perspective, scholars and researchers have acknowledged their unique traditions, livelihood, ethics, language, and culture. The main focus of this research is to study traditional Vedda songs to evaluate depictions of their ancient livelihoods and social and familial relationships, as the oral tradition is an uncontestable means of capturing the essence of a community. Through a content analysis, the study critically evaluates purposively selected translated versions of traditional Vedda songs while integrating ethnographic techniques to cross-validate the claims. The corpus primarily includes songs that reflect the Veddha community’s livelihood, beliefs, rituals, and relationships. A mini-ethnographic case study was conducted in Dambana and Henanigala Vedda villages, which are considered traditional Vedda settlements. The study concludes that ancient Vedda songs express not only the hardships and volatile existence of the Vedda community but also highlight their resilience, spiritual beliefs, familial and communal bonds, and complex relationship with nature. This study is pertinent to the field in that it underscores the way the Vedda communities lived as represented in their songs before the overwhelming influence of external factors, which have compelled them to transition from their traditional, jungle-based lifestyle to one that closely mirrors mainstream society.
This study aimed at investigating the interplay that exists between socio-cultural factors and students’ engagement in music education. A total of 289 participants, 128 males and 161 females, aged 15 to 19 years, were sampled through stratified random sampling, drawn from three purposively selected Zambian public high schools. To align the study, a predictive-correlational research design was used in light of the activity and socio-cognitive theoretical framework. The results indicate: strong peer influence in music, strong family support, and noteworthy perceived benefits of music. Church denomination, peer influence, family support, and social benefits of music showed a significant positive relationship with students’ participation, p< 0.001. In terms of age and gender, there exists a statistically significant difference. The findings indicate that students’ participation in music education programmes is strongly shaped by peer influence, family support, and their perceived benefits of music.
This paper examines Kizino dance-musicking as a living archive through which Bakiga immigrants in Rubirizi, Western Uganda, construct, express, and negotiate place identities. Kizino dance-musicking refers to the interdependent performance of Kizino music and dance of the Bakiga, encompassing the context, costume, movement, sounds, and their meanings. Having migrated from the Kigezi sub-region and settled in Rubirizi in the 1940s and 1950s, the Bakiga draw on Kizino dance-musicking as a tool to preserve their sense of origin and belonging in the new environment. Through the texts of the dance songs, Kizino dance-musicking encodes place-based narratives by referencing Kabale, the ancestral homeland of the Bakiga. However, there is inadequate scholarly information on Kizino dance-musicking as a living archive through which communities maintain ties to place while simultaneously redefining their identities in the new environment. Drawing on in-depth interviews and document analysis, I examine how Kizino dance-musicking encapsulates memories of place and the reimagination of 'home' among the Bakiga immigrants in Rubirizi. The study emphasises the view that Kizino dance-musicking is not only a form of cultural expression, but also a critical tool for sustaining cultural memory and place identity among people who have resettled from their homeland.
