Music Education

This research compared the two music education systems of Zimbabwe and the state of Virginia in the US. Zimbabwean music education system is entirely based on these three music syllabuses; (1) Primary music syllabus, (2) Zimbabwe Junior Certificate Music syllabus and (3) Zimbabwe ‘O’ syllabus of music. In the state of Virginia, teaching of music is based on the National standards of learning and Virginia standard of learning. The comparison looked at the methodologies used by music teachers in schools as well as college lectures. Another area of comparison was on the relationship between schools that teach music as a subject, and the colleges that train music teachers to teach. The research used questionnaires and interviews to collect data. Questionnaires were mailed to schools and colleges and the sample was comprised of 10 music teachers, and 10 college lecturers. Triangulated hypothesis testing and descriptive qualitative methods were used to analyze data. The major findings of the research were as follows. Most schools in Zimbabwe do not have music as a subject in the school curriculum.