The music curriculum in Hong Kong secondary schools — intentions and constraints

Abstract

This paper has three purposes: it reviews the official aims of the formal music curriculum as promulgated by the Hong Kong Government, compares them to teachers’ perceptions of those aims and analyses the explanations of teachers for the pedagogic approach they emphasize. The analysis indicates that a balanced music curriculum is promoted which incorporates three components, namely: listening, performance and composition as its key dimensions. However, a combination of quantitative and qualitative data, collected by questionnaires and interviews showed that musical experiences associated closely with listening were perceived by teachers to be more important than the other components. What emerged most clearly from the explanations of the teachers was the extent to which the prevailing ethos of schooling in Hong Kong, which places a premium on the transmission and objective assessment of academic knowledge, was seen to be a powerful influence on the music curriculum. The result is an implemented music curriculum which is constrained by the broader context of schooling and is heavily.oriented to providing students with listening experiences.