INTRODUCTION

Traditionally, professional music education, not just in Ibague but in Colombia, has been based on the study of European music, which has resulted in Colombian music being set aside (Muñoz, 2015). This phenomenon has been debated in the field of music education by authors such as Ayala, (2013); Ochoa (2011); Gallardo (2016), and also in the proposal to teach musical grammar based on traditional Colombian music melodies, based on the theoretical framework of the modernity/coloniality project, of which authors such as Anibal Quijano, Maldonado Torres and Walter Mignolo are part of.

This paper is framed in decolonialism, its main aim is to identify and analyze the additional curriculum of professional music education programs in Ibague that include Colombian music, in order to define specific characteristics of its musical presence. The aforementioned due to the fact that in Ibague (dubbed as Colombia’s musical city) its emblem institution for music studies, the Conservatory of Tolima, forbid the study of Colombian music up to the 90’s, hereinafter, Colombian music has slowly made its way into the institution (Arias, 2018).

From the beginning, this study considered the fact that professional music education programs in Ibague are exclusively offered by the Conservatory of Tolima^., a hundred-year old institution with a robust history, that started offering its professional music education program only in the 90’s, it was called Bachelor’s degree in Music; a second program, Master’s in Music, was added in 2007 (PEI CT^., 2015). The initial scope was based on this institution and these programs.

In order for readers to understand the program of curricular inclusion of Colombian music in professional music education programs in Ibague, please refer to the article ‘The Entry of Colombian Music to Higher Education in the Conservatory of Tolima’ (Arias, 2018).

METHOD

This work is part of the project entitledColombian Music in Professional Music Education Programs in Ibague: Notes on Curriculum and Coloniality, which applied case study as research strategy of the phenomenon of lack of inclusion of Colombian music in the emblematic institution of Colombia’s musical city. This article focuses on identifying Colombian music present in its additional curriculum.

As per Posner (2005), the official curriculum “is described in official documents” (p.15) and is different from the additional curriculum because the latter is made up “by experiences proposed outside of the formal curriculum” (p.15). The additional curriculum includes academic activities that take place outside the classes and curriculum, it is characterized by students’ voluntary participation and by the absence of grades or scores to impact the program’s academic performance, which has also been confirmed by the study of Castro et al., (2014) Inclusion of Artistic Education in the Professional Training Curriculum.

This article describes an analysis of additional -or complementary- curricular spaces, which by nature are not very visible in the official curriculum. The first step was the identification of said spaces, as a result, it was found that the Conservatory of Tolima mostly hosts an annual concert season, which is agreed upon with the Ministry of Culture, as well as an International Piano Festival, and other events such as workshops and events to which the institution is invited. Given the particularity of the institution’s program, 2015 was selected for an analysis that comprised all of the events of that year.

Figure 1:
program booklet of the 2015 concert season, Conservatory of Tolima.

When the additional curricular spaces were identified, a collection and documentary review of the events’ program booklets -recitals, concerts and workshops- was conducted, since these constitute the primary source of information. These include input on which Colombian music is being interpreted, in which formats, its regions of origin and which music is predominant in the institution’s stage scene.

Program booklets were obtained in physical form and in digital format, they were provided by the institution’s Archive Office and Academic Coordination. Then, the information was organized in different categories, and the analysis and interpretation technique suggested by Stake (1999) was applied, it is presented in three procedures: (i). Categorical sum or direct interpretation; (ii). Correspondence or models; and (iii). Naturalistic generalizations. These processes are described as follows:

1. 1. Categorical sum or direct interpretation: are two ways of providing meaning to the cases; categorical sum consists in conducting a sum of the information in order to arrange it, since some data or examples considered individually might lack meaning; in this case, the researcher notices the existence of apparently isolated data which are connected to others, thus categorical sum helps correlate the information and provide meaning. Direct interpretation takes place when individual data or examples offer a meaning by themselves. These two ways of conducting analyses are selected by the researchers’ intuition upon being in contact with information during and after fieldwork, therefore it cannot be anticipated and depend on the interaction with the phenomenon under study.
2. 2. Correspondence and models: collected information is analyzed looking for correspondences with existing models that are present in the literature or theoretical framework. Following the categorical sum and direct interpretation, the information is analyzed and researchers look for correspondences with established models, this study pertains the phenomena of coloniality and Eurocentrism, without dismissing other possible emerging models in the study.
3. 3. (Naturalistic generalizations: Stake (1999) asserts that although case studies are not a sample study by which theory can be created to generalize the studied phenomena, it allows to understand phenomena that are general and familiar for the research readers, which can be projected as conclusions and life lessons resulting from the case.

Colombian music was analyzed based on three topics: (i) musical instruments, (ii) instrumental formats and (iii) setlists. These lead to an identification of the style of Colombian music and/or place of origin, composers and other facts of interest. For this article, Colombian music is understood as diverse genres and musical styles that comprise national folklore, including folklore pieces that have crossed the boundaries of popular, academic or commercial music.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that this work is not a quantitative data analysis, although data that could have a quantifiable nature was found.

DISCUSSION

3.1 Alberto Castilla Concert Hall: Curriculum as Place

The first factor that comes to light after reviewing the additional curriculum of the Conservatory of Tolima’s professional music education programs is the physical space in which they take place. The Alberto Castilla hall, built in 1931 (PEI, 2015), became a national monument by means of Law 112 of 1994, just as most of the institution’s facilities.

The concert hall has a series of key aspects, such as the fact that this physical space is not part of the official curriculum, which is a stark contrast since it is the first building visitors see when entering the institution, it is a place that is filled with important historical information for the city. This is the main stage of the Conservatory of Tolima’s professional music education programs.

The Conservatory of Tolima, with its concert hall, fits what Pinar (2004) and Kincheloe (1991) defined as the curriculum as place. For Kincheloe “the place is a place as long as it can be linked with history” (1991, p.8), and subsequently, Pinar defined it as “the concept that intertwines the particularities of history, culture and subjectivity” (2014, p.241). Consequently, the place is a space that allows rebuilding the past thanks to the existence of vestiges, which Kincheloe calls treasures.

Despite being founded in 1550, Ibague does not have a historical center and its architectural heritage is scant^.. Amid this reality, the Alberto Castilla hall is a live vestige that represents republican architecture in the city as well as Colombia’s musical city.

The curriculum as place is evident in this treasure that is the Alberto Castilla hall and in its abundant details, which comprise sixteen oil paintings that depict important academic or classical musicians -central European music of the 16^th and 20^th centuries- and its design for chamber orchestras.

Moreover, this concert hall has plenty of stories of different artists who have played music in it and of other events that give meaning to the place^.; each concert is a merger of architecture and music, which results in a knowledgeable and academic culture of music that is typical of European conservatories that sustain a musical tradition dating back several centuries of classical and academist music. This place is a living example of the hegemony of classical music, and at the same time, in a hidden curriculum, of the exclusion of non-European popular music.

This curriculum as place is also a curricular space that is open to the city and that complements students at the Conservatory of Tolima, it provides a learning experience on classical music and academic music culture. In it, a large amount of concerts converge, which are presented as practical learning spaces for musical auditions that benefit students at Conservatory of Tolima and the public in general, who have free access to the events throughout the year; citizens may enjoy a living treasure of Colombia’s musical city.

3.2 Additional Curricular Spaces

The Alberto Castilla hall is where the additional curriculum of the Conservatory of Tolima’s professional music education programs take place; it is nurtured by a significant amount of artistic events organized by the institution and that are grouped in two moments: (i) the IV “Oscar Buenaventura” International Piano Festival, and (ii) the 2015 concert season. Students participated in these events as attendees and/or members of musical ensembles, as per the research of Carter (2019): “Perspectives on the Inclusion of Performance in Secondary School Artistic Education in Latin America”.

The first version of the International Piano Festival organized by the Conservatory of Tolima took place in May 2009, and its 2017 version was its sixth. The event is a posthumous tribute to musician Oscar Buenaventura, who was part of a musically-trained family from Ibague^., he was a student of the Conservatory of Tolima and furthered his musical training in the United States, he had a notorious career in the middle of the 20^th century. However, despite his trajectory, this instrumentalist has been gradually forgotten (Prudencio, 2004).

Figure 2:
program booklet, IV Oscar Buenaventura Piano Festival, Conservatory of Tolima.

The VI Oscar Buenaventura International Piano Festival took place on May 11^th-15^th 2015; 24 pianists were invited, four from abroad, ten national and ten local, they played eleven concerts and participated in a conference.

The second moment, which contributes the largest amount of events organized by the institution, is the 2015 concert season, mostly funded by the Conservatory of Tolima and supported by the Ministry of Culture’s National Program of Cultural Agreement. This season amounted to 43 events (one event each four days) between March 3^rd and December 4^th, 2015. The academic community (students and teachers) of the Conservatory of Tolima partakes in the annual concert season with diverse ensembles.

Aside from concerts, no other additional curricular spaces were found; the lack of theoretical learning spaces is noteworthy, these could strengthen the curriculum as place and add variety, since concerts are by far the only existing learning space. Additionally, one forum and one workshop were found in the program booklets.

RESULTS

Music Present in the Additional Curriculum

Classical Music: Dominating the Additional Curriculum

Tables 1 and 2 (see Annex 1 and 2) indicate the number of events held in 2015; Table 1 refers to the VI Oscar Buenaventura International Piano Festival and Table 2 refers to the events of the 2015 concert season. These include the date of each concert, the ensemble playing at the show, the number of Colombian pieces that were played compared with non-Colombian pieces, as well as continent and country of origin of the setlist -European, North American, Latin American and Colombian- African or Asian origins were not found.

In the 43 events in the concert season, concerts number 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12, 13,14, 17, 25, 28, 29, 31, 36 and 41 exclusively performed European music, a total of fifteen which account for over a third of the events performed. Only concerts number 10, 18, 33 and 40 did not feature European music, four events that account for less than a tenth of the concerts. Regarding the Piano Festival, twelve of the concerts featured European music. The first takeaway is that European music dominates the additional curriculum.

On the other hand, Colombian music was performed in nineteen events of the concert season, in concerts number 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 30, 32, 34, 35, 37 and 42, less than half which account for 44%, and only one event, concert number 34, was exclusively dedicated to Colombian music. It is clear that events that featured Colombian music featured it in a minimum amount of the program’s pieces, sometimes even playing one piece among eleven or eighteen foreign pieces. In the Piano Festival, Colombian music was present in two of the twelve events, in concerts number 4 and 10, with two short pieces.

Although this is not a statistical study, it is clear that Colombian music is underrepresented in the concerts performed in 2015, even North American music had two exclusive concerts in the annual concert season (10 and 40) versus one exclusive event for Colombian music.

Musical Instruments and Formats

A review of the musical formats and instruments used to perform Colombian music shows that student music groups performed only in event number 23 of the 2015 concert season, the group is part of the Music School and is dedicated to Colombian music. Formats in the other concerts include the main, children and teens’ symphonic orchestras; concert bands; flute and trombone quartets; soloist instruments (accompanied by the piano) such as trumpets, clarinets, saxophones and voice. There were also ensembles such as orchestras and chamber orchestras, guitar ensembles and jazz bands. Ospina (2015) ratifies this in an article entitled “Outlook of Knowledge Built on Jazz in Graduation Projects for the Bachelor’s Degree in Music at Universidad Pedagogica Nacional”.

Although instrumental formats of Colombian music in the 2015 concert season are almost inexistent, there is the exception of the student music group -which is part of the Music School^.-. Nevertheless, despite the fact that there is only one Colombian music ensemble, it is noteworthy that classical music ensembles, such as the symphonic orchestra, staged Colombian setlists, opening spaces to that music in a practical way.

The concert band included Colombian music in four of its shows in the concert season (events 2, 8, 22 and 31), as did the main, children and teens’ symphonic orchestras (events 11, 19, 30 y 42), the singing and choir students (events 18, 21, 24 and 37); chamber music ensembles such as the flute quartet, guitar ensemble, children’s chamber music orchestra and the clarinet quartet all performed some Colombian music in five shows (4, 7, 16, 27 and 32). Moreover, soloists of saxophone, piano and guitar played Colombian music in three events (7, 20 and 24).

The aforementioned significantly illustrates an interest by ensemble directors and students’ soloist work to incorporate Colombian music into their shows, a situation that can be contrasted with the fact that there is only one format of Colombian music, the student music group, which featured one show throughout the year (event 23).

Setlists

Table 3 (see Annex 3) shows different Colombian music pieces that were played in the 2015 concert season and the VI International Piano Festival, it gives a description by composition, author, rhythm and region of origin. In 2015 a total of 32 Colombian pieces by 25 composers were played; some of these pieces were played in three occasions (on different dates). In total, Colombian music was played 41 times.

Figure 3
Colombian music setlists featured in 2015 were dominated by Colombian Andean music,

mostly by bambucos and pasillos, followed by guabinas and torbellinos. Rumbas criollas, merengues campesinos or cañas are not present. Colombian Andean music is reduced to and represented by those four genres of songs.

Colombian Andean music is followed by music from the Atlantic coast: mostly by cumbias, followed by vallenatos, porros and mapales. Puyas and instruments such as gaitas (fipples), tamboras (drums) and other rhythms of the area are not present. Regarding the Pacific coast, the only genre present is currulao, in the popular song Mi Buenaventura. Lastly, calypso music is the single rhythm of the islands that was performed in the season.

In total, and out of the country’s vast sonority array, only ten Colombian rhythms were performed in the Alberto Castilla hall; there was absence of representation of indigenous music, music from the department Nariño or the region of Llanos Orientales (Eastern Plains) .

In terms of the composers, some are prominent academic musicians such as Gentil Montaña; others both popular and academic musicians, such as Luis A. Calvo; others are musicians with significant commercial impact, such as Lucho Bermudez, Jose Barros and Carlos Vives.

Among the 32 Colombian pieces played, two are composed by Andres Mauricio Acosta, a teacher at the institution (Color torbellino, event number 11, performed by the teen symphonic orchestra; and Combeima, Historia de un bambuco en cuatro estancias, event number 34, performed by the concert band). Likewise, a Colombian piece composed by Gabriel Soto, a student at the Conservatory was performed, (Rapsodia bambuco, event 34) a piece written for the French horn and piano.

These facts show that Colombian music is a topic of interest for teachers and students at the institution -at least from a creative point of view- but that it is far from being part of an institutional mission, otherwise, there would be greater efforts to foster Colombian music ensembles; to assembly, arrange, compose and stage this type of music, and to further spaces for reflection and dialog about Colombian music.

4. Final Reflections (Naturalistic Generalizations and Conclusions)

The study’s results reveal the classical music dominates the complementary curriculum space and that Colombian music is underrepresented. Classical music’s supremacy is palpable in the formats and performed setlists, although many of the formats play Colombian music and the program includes two Colombian pieces composed by members of the academic community at Conservatory of Tolima, which evinces an interest in Colombian music by some students and teachers.

Similarly, the study has found that popular and North American music have greater presence than Colombian music, yet it is not the same as classical music’s.

In terms of formats and types of Colombian music in the complementary curriculums, it is identified that Colombian Andean music takes the lead, followed by music from the Atlantic coast, with a small participation of music from the Pacific coast and the islands. Music from the Eastern Plains and indigenous communities are not represented at all.

These findings concur with what has been suggested in the framework of colonial studies, which is that prior knowledge of racial communities is inserted in common knowledge as it is whitened and mixed with classical or academic music. In fact, the degree of inclusion of Colombian music in this complementary curricular space is connected with the level of academicism and whitening of said music, with Colombian Andean music having experienced the largest degree of whitening, followed by music from the Atlantic coast, which has had an important commercial surge since the 50’s.

On the other hand, music that has had less whitening, such as that of indigenous people, is not yet present in the Conservatory of Tolima’s concert hall. This is more evident when musical formats, which are generally of classical music, are considered and when a single format of Colombian music, the student music group, is presented as a hybrid set of student music groups of Spanish origin, mixed with instruments of Colombian origin, such as the tiple, proposed by Morales Pino at the end of the 19^th century^., and which helped whiten Colombian Andean music -its rhythms, musicians and musical instruments- removing an stigma of inferiority.

It can be appreciated that inclusion of Colombian music in the complementary curriculum is in part due to the interest of students and some teachers, but clearly, there is a lack of inclusion policy by the institution, i.e., making structural decisions such as the creation of ensembles, organization of academic events -music congresses, talks, conferences-, as well as musical events to encourage dialog, study and understanding of Colombian music.

This article is not intended to debate whether conservatories should redefine their musical profile or not, but it is noticeable that the Conservatory of Tolima is at a crossroads: on one hand, being a conservative institution of European music, and on the other, being a musical university that trains teachers and instrumentalists to work in a field that is mostly controlled by popular music.

Studies such as that of Green (2003) and Zuleta and Jaramillo (2003) show that in the Colombian and global market, classical music accounts for less than 4%, while popular and local music achieves figures that range between 58% to 95%; added to the disappearance of symphonic orchestras throughout the country,^. and to the low audiences of that music. Faced with this reality, the Conservatory of Tolima stands as a sole champion of the symphonic movement and its struggle is materialized in its concert season and Piano Festival de Piano, which gifted the city of Ibague with 53 concerts and recitals in 2015, these events are held annually by the institution.

The university’s dilemma seems to be modernization vs tradition. Conservatories are few of the spaces in which classical music is still alive, but at the same time, they train musicians who lack studies in popular and national music. Seemingly, knowledge of professional musicians on their own country’s music is attained in a parallel curriculum that occurs in their daily practice of making music alongside other musicians in informal educational spaces (a compared study on the topic would be worth undertaking).

The aforementioned merges with an element: regarding the curriculum as place from the standpoint of Colombian and national music. Where does Colombian music belong? Where does it get made? Should a musical university design curriculums that agree with the knowledge they set out to teach?

A remarkable and noteworthy situation took place during the VI Oscar Buenaventura International Piano Festival, the concert’s main performer was a Cuban musician and the setlist he played was entirely European. However, at the end of the concert, the audience applauded him and asked (without words) for him to perform Cuban music; the performer took to the piano to play Cuban music for another thirty minutes (author’s field journal entry, 2015). Why did the event’s program of the concert hall fail to include Cuban pieces in the first place?

It is worth debating if the curriculum as place annuls other cultural practices, e.g., popular music is better appreciated outdoors and in open stages, and not in classical music auditoriums, this specific inquiry is beyond this paper, but it can be suggested as further research question.

CONCLUSION

Finally, the double curricular nature of concerts stands out. On the one hand, participating in the musical ensemble is part of the official curriculum, thus, at some point of their professional career, students will have to be part of a band. But on the other hand, concerts are an unequivocal part of the additional curriculum to the extent that students and citizens in general can attend these events and can voluntarily be part of the ensembles without having to be enrolled in the subject of Ensemble (as it is featured in the curriculum) .

This double curricular nature of concerts leads to thinking about the positive elements that could result from managing a curriculum that enables greater social projection for the university -a key element of this Conservatory- an expanding annual concert season offering a concert every three days, would undoubtedly accomplish a significant social component for the city and with savings, since performers include musical ensembles of great level made up by musicians in training that benefit the institution, other students and the community in general.

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