Processos de aprendizagem musical entre estudantes e indígenas Fulni-ô em uma escola pública de Ensino Médio de Paudalho-PE

Abstract

This research analyzed music learning and practices shared between high-school students and Fulni-ô Indians in the sociological perspective of music education as a social practice. We conducted this case study in a public high school and the Indian reservation using semistructured interviews with Indians and focus groups with students. Because the music education transcends the knowledge of repertoires and the objectification of elements of music as resources to musical (re)creation, we emphasized especially the subjects behind the music. While dealing with the interaction between Indians and non-Indian students, we understood the processes of music learning through the theoretical contribution of the studies on interculturality. The music presented by the Fulni-ô Indians as a diacritical mark was not familiar. Approaching this musical culture through direct contact with Natives provided us a broader knowledge of non-Native music and the Natives’ and students’ identity. Observed in its aesthetic-sound elements, from previous knowledge and information shared by the Indians, music led to search for meanings within the Fulni-ô social diversity. It has also enabled us to think about the identity of these Indians and that of Indians in general, proving to be a potential for different ways of learning, such as overcoming some prejudices and stereotypes. The musical partnerships between students and Indians also allowed learning about the music of the Other and about our own. Thanks to the Fulni-ô at school, the musical partnerships revealed possibilities and limits, allowed learning processes, and contributed to deconstructing the idea that Brazil has a unified national culture. The musical practices shared by the Natives and the explanations and conversations allowed the students to reach other fields of knowledge reflect on the meaning of life itself. These practices provoked reflections and modified the way students perceive themselves and the Other.