Music Education Tour of Kenya, Uganda and USA > Programs in Uganda > Workshops >
King’s College Budo
Budo is among the oldest, and famous high schools in Uganda. The school is located on Nagalabi hill, where the Buganda Kings' coronation ceremonies take place.
On July 11th I visited a class of thirty-five girls and boys who were assembled for the workshop, which began with piano music. Eight pianists performed music from different periods and apart from discussing technical, and musical issues, we analyzed the characteristics of the; baroque, classical, romantic and modern periods. The piano performance was followed by a performance of traditional instruments with four students who played two duets on the xylophone.
The next session was comprised mainly of questions. The first question was "How should one learn a piece"? Here, I emphasized the idea of slow practicing, fingering, recognizing patterns, like scales, arpeggios and sequences in the composition. I also demonstrated the process I would use to learn a new piece on the piano. Another interesting question came from one of the students who attended the July 7th organ recital at Namirembe Cathedral. He asked me to explain the term pas sacaglia. I briefly mentioned how it was originally an Italian or Spanish dance, and now an instrumental composition in triple meter based on a continuous bass line. I used Bach's Passacaglia in c minor as an example. The workshop with these students ended with an elaborate discussion of dynamic markings, cadences, form, rhythm and triads.
Mr. David Katuramu, an organist and pianist, is the chair of the music department and Mr. John Ssekibala is the assistant music teacher.
