About Music of Ghana: Gateway to West Africa

Music of Ghana: Gateway to West Africa allows students to explore vibrant musical traditions and cultures of Ghana as a paradigm for other traditions that resound in neighboring West African countries like Togo, Nigeria and Cameroon. Students first explore music associated with the Ashanti royal court, like the Ashanti royal trumpets, and vocal music that is connected with the Asantehene (king of the Ashanti). They also do art activities associated with the Ashanti like making kente cloth and adinkra cloth. Students learn Students also learn children’s songs and games from the Ewe culture in Ghana’s Volta region. Students also learn Ewe drum pieces and Kwahu bamboo flute songs adapted for recorder. The curriculum also includes arrangements of Dagomba gyl songs, from Northern Ghana that are adapted for Orff instruments. Each music and art activity is foregrounded with comprehensive information about each culture, as well as information about other iterations of these tradition in other West African cultures. The curriculum is driven by children’s books about Ghana, Nigeria and other West African countries. Students also explore the history of Ghana through film footage and photographs of landmarks like Elmina castle and Makola Market.

​This curriculum will be available for the 2022-2023 school year.
Each Ethnomusicology in Action Curriculum includes detailed teacher’s guides, step by step lesson plans, sheet music, printed and online children’s books with narration, online videos, downloadable music recordings, accompaniment tracks for performances and scholarly background readings for educators.