Emerging Solutions for Musical arts Education in South Africa offers peer-reviewed articles prepared for the 2003 Conference of the Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education in Africa held in Kisumu, Maseno, Kenya. Not only does this publication voice the solutions offered by 31 authors from the African continent and beyond, but it presents in a unique and highly accessible fashion the collective voice of the conference participants. True to the spirit of ubuntu - an individual is only a person through other people (their communities) - this publication is a reflection of the essence of an overarching sub-Saharan philosophy; the contents represents a conference where papers were not presented, but where conference participants engaged to discuss solutions for the musical arts on the African continent. While the individual voice has been given its rightful place, the collective voice represents an emergent song composed by the scholarly community in oral fashion. This publication provides insight into the problems of musical arts education in Africa; and solutions for musical arts education.
The unprecedented developments in education, information and communication technology that took place during the last decades of the twentieth century have led to a metamorphosis of processes and practices in almost all spheres of human endeavours. Higher education has undergone important paradigm shifts, which include the shift from a teacher-centric system of learning to a student-centric system of learning, and the replacement of the traditional practice of learning over a specified period of time by the concept of lifelong learning. Education technology (ET) and information communication technology (ICT) today play an important role in productive and relevant learning. In this context, it is necessary to appreciate the fact that the first step towards realizing the aim of making our society a continuously learning society is to make education accessible and affordable for all.