Training Amateur Bandsmen to Perform at Functions: COLTEK Band in Perspective

Abstract

(UEW) in Ghana which hosts students pursuing Technical and Vocational as well as Business Education programmes on full time, part-time and distant basis. It is one of the institutions amalgamated into the University, among the National Academy of Music (NAM, in Winneba), School of Ghanaian Languages (in Ajumako), Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute (in Winneba), Winneba Sports College (in Winneba) and College of Agric (Mampong). The university has its main administration in Winneba, having the North, South and Central campuses in the same municipality. The College of Languages of Education at Ajumako in the Central Region of Ghana, the College of Technology Education (COLTEK) and the College of Agriculture Education in Kumasi and Asante-Mampong respectively. At every major function or ceremony by the university, the role of the winds ensemble in providing music at the ceremony is indispensable. Three anthems are rendered in the following order: the Ghana National Anthem, the University's anthem (also known as the Victory Anthem) and the National Song (Yɛn Ara Asaase Ni). These anthems are rendered with accompaniment by the band. With the band's availability in the Winds Unit of the university's Department of Music Education, the anthems are rendered to the admiration of allstudents, staff of the university as well as special invited guests. It is even on record that the then president of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency, John Dramani Mahama (President, 2012-2016) who attended the 2014 congregation ceremony in Winneba campus pronounced the rendition of the Ghana National Anthem by the Winds Band of the university as the best he had heard so far. Similarly, he considered the Victory Anthem of the University as the best among the university anthems in Ghana. This is probably due to the quality of the performance of the band as well as what music can do in such contexts. Music is experienced in many different contexts and plays an important role in many social contexts such as weddings, funerals, and parties. Blood and Zatorre (2001) observed the importance of music to human beings and stated: music affects us in ways that are personal and require psychological explanation: music energizes, surprises, soothes, delights, and otherwise shapes our emotional states. Research in cognition and neuroscience supports the idea that pleasure and emotions are key motivations for listening to music. Not only does music activate-pleasure centers‖ in the brain. (p.34