Department of Performing Arts

Permanent URI for this communityhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12504/15

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Between promise and pragmatism: teacher and student perceptions of artificial intelligence in secondary school music education in Mbarara city, western Uganda
(European Journal of Contemporary Education and E-Learning, 2026-07-22) Busobozi, Nicholas; Ekadu, Peter Ereu
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly positioned as a transformative force in global education, yet its implications for music education in sub-Saharan African secondary schools remain critically underexplored. This study examined teacher and student perceptions of AI in secondary school music education in Mbarara City, Western Uganda, with particular attention to opportunities, structural constraints, and ethical dimensions. A qualitative multiple-case study design was employed across six purposively selected schools two urban modern, two peri-urban, and two remote to capture the full spectrum of resource conditions in the region. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 music teachers (T1–T12) and 6 head teachers (HT1–HT6), four focus group discussions with 60 lower secondary students (FGD-1 to FGD-4), and key informant interviews with 2 curriculum specialists (CS1–CS2) between February and June 2026 (N = 80). Thematic analysis produced three salient themes: guarded optimism about AI's pedagogical affordances, structural and institutional constraints limiting access and implementation, and ethical and cultural tensions arising from concerns about AI's alignment with indigenous Ugandan musical values. Guided by the Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989), Vygotsky's (1978) sociocultural theory, and Gay's (2010) culturally responsive pedagogy framework, the findings reveal a pronounced digital divide between urban and remote schools and a coherent pattern of principled pragmatism among participants. Ethical concerns centred on cultural authenticity, data bias, and intellectual ownership. The study contributes to the emerging discourse on AI in African music education and offers evidence-based recommendations for policy, practice, and research.
Electronic music devices and software in music teaching and learning at the department of performing arts, Kyambogo University
(Kyambogo University [ Unpublished work], 2021-03) Busobozi, Nicholas
This was a study to examine how Electronic Music Devices and Software (EMDS) were used to enhance music teaching/learning at the Department of Performing Arts, Kyambogo University. The study aimed to evaluate how available EMDS were utilized in teaching/learning music, examine the effect of use of EMDS in teaching/learning music, and find out the challenges that hampered utilization of EMDS in teaching/learning music. A mixed study design both qualitative and quantitative was used, where both the Laird’s Sensory Theory and the Peter Principle’s Theory were applied in trying to understand variables of the study. The response rate of 78 respondents (100%) participated, where purposive sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used. The study employed questionnaire, interview, and document review, observation, and focus group discussion methods to collect data. Data was analyzed in themes, by coding and sorting similar responses. According to the findings, lecturers used the available EMDS to teach students both theory and practical skills in music, the use of EMDS had a positive effect on music teaching/learning, and inadequacy in knowledge, electricity power supply, internet connectivity, and virus attacks hampered the use of EMDS to teach/learn music. The study recommended; lecturers to be skilled more in using EMDS, timely repair of EMDS, and provision of alternative power supply to run EMDS continually. Further studies could be conducted to explore attitude of stake holders in using EMDS to teach/learn music
Endingidi (tubefiddle) pedagogy in bunyoro kingdom: individual mastery, narrative transmission, and solo performance traditions in Ugandan music education
(African Musicology Online, 2026-04-29) Busobozi, Nicholas; Peter Ereu Ekadu
This article examines Endingidi pedagogy in Bunyoro Kingdom, Uganda, analysing how this single-string tube-fiddle tradition transmits individual mastery, narrative competence, and solo performance skills across generations. Drawing on eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork, participant observation, and indepth interviews with seven master Endingidi performers, the study employs Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) within an integrated theoretical framework combining Community of Practice theory, Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development, ethnomusicological transmission theory, decolonial pedagogy, and embodied cognition. The study identifies seven analytically derived pedagogical principles: individual agency, narrative competence, technical mastery, improvisation, intimate performeraudience relationships, portable learning, and intergenerational mentorship. Crucially, for each principle, the study documents not merely what is learned but the processual HOW — the specific mechanisms through which integration is achieved. These mechanisms include the Graduated Release of Autonomy (GRA), parallel curriculum sequencing, periodic performance assessments, variation assignment pedagogy, audience reading exercises, contextual diversity strategy, and individualised ‘reading the learner’ instruction. The findings challenge ensemblecentric assumptions in African music education scholarship, extend Community of Practice theory, and contribute a replicable decolonial pedagogical framework applicable to indigenous instrument education across sub-Saharan Africa.
Integrating electronic music devices into lower secondary school music education in Gulu city, Uganda: pedagogical affordances, infrastructure challenges, and emerging hybrid models
(International Journal of Recent Advances in Multidisciplinary Research, 2026-06-24) Busobozi, Nicholas
Background: Electronic music devices are reshaping music pedagogy globally, yet evidence on their deployment in post-conflict urban settings in sub-Saharan Africa remains scarce. Lower secondary schools in Gulu City, Northern Uganda, have begun acquiring digital keyboards and music software, yet systematic evidence on their pedagogical deployment, affordances, and structural barriers to effective use is absent from the literature. Objectives: This study investigated the pedagogical affordances of electronic music devices in lower secondary school music education in Gulu City, identified infrastructure challenges constraining their integration, and examined hybrid instructional models constructed by teachers and community musicians. Methods: A qualitative mixed-methods design was employed. Purposive sampling was used to select five lower secondary schools in Gulu city. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with twelve music teachers, four focus group discussions with sixty students across Senior One to Senior Four levels, structured interviews with five school administrators, and key informant interviews with four community musicians. Thematic analysis guided data organisation and interpretation, cross-referenced against the Technology Acceptance Model and constructivist learning theory. Results: Three themes emerged. First, electronic devices expanded students' creative and compositional capacities and enhanced multimodal engagement, though pedagogical value was mediated by teacher competence and inadequate maintenance budgets, and instructional intent. Second, unreliable electricity supply, inadequate maintenance budgets, and limited internet connectivity constituted persistent structural barriers that truncated the devices' instructional potential. Third, teachers and community musicians were collaboratively constructing instructional potential. Third, teachers and community musicians were collaboratively constructing hybrid models that wove digital tools with traditional Acholi musical practices, producing culturally responsive and contextually adaptive pedagogical approaches. Conclusions: Electronic music devices hold genuine promise for transforming lower secondary music education in Gulu city when embedded within sound pedagogical frameworks, supported by adequate infrastructure, and anchored in local cultural knowledge. Targeted investment in school electricity, in- service teacher training, and formalised community musician partnerships are recommended.
Integrating indigenous music instruments into Uganda's competency-based curriculum : a qualitative multiple-case study of opportunities, challenges, and decolonial pathways in Wakiso district secondary schools
(European Journal of Contemporary Education and E-Learning, 2026-06) Busobozi, Nicholas; Ekadu, Peter Ereu
Uganda's Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) for lower secondary schools signals a transformative shift toward learner-centred, contextually responsive education, yet integration of indigenous music instruments Adungu (bow-harp), Endingidi (tube-fiddle), Akogo (lamellaphone), Engoma (drums), and Enanga (trough zither) into formal music education remains substantially underexplored. This qualitative multiple-case study investigated the opportunities, challenges, and decolonial pathways for integrating indigenous instruments into CBC music education across six secondary schools in Wakiso District, Uganda. Drawing on decolonial pedagogy, indigenous knowledge systems theory, and sociocultural learning theory, the study employed lesson observations, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and document analysis with 114 participants: 18 music teachers, 90 learners (S1–S4), and six school administrators. Thematic analysis revealed four opportunity themes CBC's competency orientation, cultural relevance imperatives, learner-centred pedagogies, and assessment flexibility alongside four challenge themes: instrument scarcity, teacher capacity gaps, colonial curriculum legacies, and resource inequities. Four decolonial integration pathways emerged: community-school partnerships, teacher professional development grounded in indigenous epistemologies, curriculum localisation embedding indigenous instruments as core content, and policy advocacy for equitable resource allocation. Findings demonstrate that indigenous instruments can operationalise CBC principles while advancing educational decolonisation, but systemic barriers require coordinated intervention across policy, pedagogy, and resource provisioning. The study contributes empirical evidence to inform curriculum implementation, teacher education reform, and culturally responsive music pedagogy in Uganda and comparable postcolonial contexts globally.
Intergenerational transmission of Adungu (Bow-Harp) musical knowledge in Bweyale-Karuma, Uganda : a phenomenological study of indigenous pedagogy, embodied Learning, and decolonial Praxis
(European Journal of Contemporary Education and E-Learning, 2026-05-31) Busobozi, Nicholas; Ekadu, Peter Ereu
The Adungu, a multi-stringed arched bow-harp indigenous to the Alur and Lugbara communities of north-western Uganda, represents one of East Africa’s most architecturally sophisticated traditional instruments. Despite its ceremonial significance and growing presence in formal music education contexts, the pedagogical mechanisms through which Adungu musical knowledge is transmitted across generations remain substantially undocumented in scholarly literature. This qualitative phenomenological study investigates how master Adungu players in Bweyale-Karuma a multi-ethnic community in Kiryandongo District renowned across Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom for producing the finest Adungu instruments and most accomplished players transmit complex musical, cultural, and embodied knowledge to apprentices. Drawing on six months of intensive fieldwork (February–July 2025), the study employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to generate rich, experience-near accounts from eighteen participants: six master players, nine apprentices at varying stages of learning, and three cultural leaders. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, participant observation across rehearsal and ceremonial performance contexts, and audio-visual documentation of teaching interactions. Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase framework revealed seven interconnected transmission mechanisms: graduated tonal scaffolding, ensemble interdependence, embodied string memory, improvisation within communal constraints, master-apprentice mentorship, contextual performance immersion, and cultural narrative integration. These mechanisms constitute a sophisticated distributed pedagogical system that challenges deficit assumptions about oral, non-notational music education and offers critical insights for decolonial music education theory and Uganda’s Competency-Based Curriculum reform.
Intergenerational transmission of adungu (bow-harp) musical knowledge in Bweyale-Karuma, Uganda: a phenomenological study of indigenous pedagogy, embodied learning, and decolonial praxis
(European Journal of Contemporary Education and ELearning, 2026-05-31) Busobozi, Nicholas; Ekadu,Peter Ereu
The Adungu, a multi-stringed arched bow-harp indigenous to the Alur and Lugbara communities of north-western Uganda, represents one of East Africa’s most architecturally sophisticated traditional instruments. Despite its ceremonial significance and growing presence in formal music education contexts, the pedagogical mechanisms through which Adungu musical knowledge is transmitted across generations remain substantially undocumented in scholarly literature. This qualitative phenomenological study investigates how master Adungu players in Bweyale-Karuma a multi-ethnic community in Kiryandongo District renowned across Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom for producing the finest Adungu instruments and most accomplished players transmit complex musical, cultural, and embodied knowledge to apprentices. Drawing on six months of intensive fieldwork (February–July 2025), the study employed Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to generate rich, experience-near accounts from eighteen participants: six master players, nine apprentices at varying stages of learning, and three cultural leaders. Data were generated through semistructured interviews, participant observation across rehearsal and ceremonial performance contexts, and audio-visual documentation of teaching interactions. Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase framework revealed seven interconnected transmission mechanisms: graduated tonal scaffolding, ensemble interdependence, embodied string memory, improvisation within communal constraints, master-apprentice mentorship, contextual performance immersion, and cultural narrative integration. These mechanisms constitute a sophisticated distributed pedagogical system that challenges deficit assumptions about oral, non-notational music education and offers critical insights for decolonial music education theory and Uganda’s Competency-Based Curriculum reform.
Oral tradition and intergenerational transmission of musical knowledge in bunyoro kitara kingdom: the ensegu (flute) tradition - an empirical study in Hoima city
(Eastern African Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2026-05-19) Busobozi, Nicholas
The Ensegu (flute) ensemble occupies a central yet undocumented place in the ceremonial life of Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom, western Uganda. Despite its indispensable role at the annual Empango royal coronation ceremony, its intergenerational transmission mechanisms have received no empirical investigation. This phenomenological qualitative study examined how musical knowledge is transmitted within the Ensegu tradition among master musicians, craftsmen, and apprentices in Hoima City, Uganda. Data were collected between February and July 2024 through in-depth interviews, field observations at rehearsals and the June 2024 Empango ceremony, and audio recordings. Sixteen participants were recruited through purposive sampling from a community of over forty learners, comprising two master players and instrument makers, four experienced ensemble musicians, three cultural leaders, and seven apprentices. Thematic analysis revealed six interconnected transmission mechanisms: sonic role differentiation, ceremonial apprenticeship immersion, melodic interlocking pedagogy, master-to-apprentice oral coaching, cultural memory activation through Runyoro song texts, and instrument craft transmission. The Ensegu tradition constitutes a distributed pedagogical system in which musical technique, ensemble intelligence, cultural identity, and craft knowledge are transmitted as an integrated whole. Findings carry implications for decolonial music education policy and integration of indigenous pedagogical models into Uganda's Competency-Based Curriculum.
Supporting competence-based music education through electronic music devices: linking teacher capacity and learner outcomes in Uganda’s lower secondary schools
(European Journal of Contemporary Education and E-Learning, 2026-04-29) Busobozi, Nicholas; Isabirye, James
Uganda’s new Lower Secondary Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) emphasizes practical skills, creativity, and real-world application, yet music education faces persistent challenges, such as, under-prepared teachers, limited number of instruments, large classes, and inequitable access to technology. This qualitative multiple-case study examined how electronic music devices MIDI keyboards, laptops, smartphones, recording software, and notation tools can strengthen teacher capacity and improve learning outcomes in music education. The study was conducted in Masindi District, and it involved 15 Lower Secondary music teachers and 72 learners (S1–S4) across six schools. Data was collected through lesson observation, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis. Thematic analysis revealed the following key findings: electronic devices enhanced teacher confidence and pedagogical repertoire; recording and playback tools enabled reflective, learner-centered practice; learners demonstrated measurable gains in rhythm accuracy, ensemble coordination, and compositional creativity; group projects using keyboards and phones fostered collaboration and peer feedback; audio recordings provided authentic evidence for Conversation-Observation-Product (COP) assessment; and teachers creatively adapted to power outages and device scarcity through rotation schedules and offline preparation. The study demonstrates that even modest technology integration when pedagogically grounded can operationalize CBC principles, bridge teacher capacity gaps, and produce demonstrable musical competencies. Findings have implications for teacher professional development, curriculum implementation, and equitable technology access in resource-constrained contexts.

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