A particular characteristic of Nepal is that it is an extremely diverse country, recog-nizing 126 castes/ethnic groups, 123 languages spoken as a mother tongue, and ten religions (Government of Nepal, 2012, p. 4). Music has a central role in everyday life in Nepal, “permeating social life and festivities” and “often expected or mandatory for various occasions” (Treacy, Thapa & Neupane, in press). Nepal has been subsumed by a Hinduist caste system that is based on a hierarchical structure defining people’s social positioning, occupation, and ways of living, and does not recognize social mo-bility (Bennett, 2008). Even though the caste system was banned already in 1963, it still has a strong impact on all levels of the nation and its communities (Moisala, 2013), as well as in socially constructed informal institutions related to “behaviors, values, and norms” (Bennett, 2008, p. 207). The caste system affects governance at the state level, where members of the ruling castes, the Brahmin and Chettri and Newar groups, form a majority of the parliament, as well as the civil services, where for instance in the judiciary these same groups hold practically all positions (Bennett, 2008, p. 203-204). This governance pattern is also echoed in many companies, and private and public institutions (ibid), including the site of this inquiry, the Nepal Music Center. As Moisala (2013) argues, the caste system legitimizes in several ways
both symbolic and concrete discrimination and injustices against the lower castes.
Musical traditions have been passed forward to new generations in the local com-munities according to specific rules related to social life, strictures, and hierarchies (see, e.g. Grandin, 1989; Moisala, 1991) deriving from the caste system. Traditionally, musicians have been from the lower castes, which creates a particular shading of tra-ditional music-making and the status of being a musician.
Alongside traditional music practices in the local communities, Nepal has a strong and growing scene of popular and Western rock music that is freer from the socio-cultural constraints of traditional music. Rock music in particular, with its various sub-cate-gories, has taken over the musical interests of the young generation (Greene, 2001) in the past decades, and the popularity of these musical styles has been accelerated by the distribution of smartphones, iPads, and computers within the last couple of decades. Especially in Kathmandu and Pokhara, the two biggest cities in Nepal, pop-ular and rock music has taken over the public music scene, and the general attraction towards the Western lifestyle acts as a further catalyst for the appeal of Western pop and rock music (Treacy, Thapa & Neupane, in print). The third genre of music that is well represented in Nepal is the Hindustani classical music tradition. It has a strong presence in the Nepali musical landscape, and its role is particularly prevalent in higher music education.
At the higher education level, music and dance can be studied in three different cam-puses of Tribhuvan University (TU), founded in 1959. The Padma Kanya Campus provides tuition only for women, and teaches music and dance as an optional class in addition to other subjects such as language, history, and science. The Lalit Kala Cam-pus teaches fine arts and music. The music curriculum is divided into practical and theoretical parts, and the styles taught include Hindustani classical music and Nepali folk music, with the main emphasis on the first. Music studies at the Sirjana College of Fine Arts are similarly focussed on Hindustani music. Both the Sirjana College of Fine Arts and the Lalit Kala Campus offer a four-year bachelor-level education in music and dance. Music tuition at the TU campuses takes place mostly in large
groups, and due to the lack of systematic basic music studies the level of the univer-sity students is diverse (Treacy, 2020a). At Kathmandu Univeruniver-sity, programs in eth-nomusicology are offered at both the bachelor and master levels. The studies include music-making on traditional instruments, fieldwork, and basic research studies, as well as ensemble playing, composition, and arranging. None of these university-level programs, however, offer courses in music pedagogy or provide courses for educating music teachers for schools.
Despite the rich and diverse musical life in Nepal, and the few educational possibili-ties at the tertiary level, there is no nationally coordinated or funded music education system with a progression in skill levels (Aaltonen, 2017). Currently, music education is offered by music institutes, and as extra-curricular or curricular studies in some pri-vate schools (Treacy, Thapa & Neupane, in press). Yet, music teaching in schools, for instance, is mostly aimed at a performance on parents’ day, and thus lacks the basis for a profound and systematic education in music (Treacy & Westerlund, 2019). Howev-er, recent efforts in establishing music education in schools and extracurricular music institutions imply the emergence of more systematic developmental effort in this field.
The task is hardly an easy one. The emerging formal music education system needs to respond to several challenges that arise from the recontextualization of different musical traditions and the ways of conveying them to future generations, as well as to take a stance on music as an educational subject. Where pop and rock music is typi-cally learnt informally from peers or through media, the teaching and learning of Hin-dustani classical music relies on the guru-sishya-parampara model (see, e.g. Vasanth, 2013). The vast spectrum of traditional musics, and especially their relation to ethnic customs and rituals, create multifaceted institutional demands. For instance, the so-cial stigma attached to traditional musical practices, where musicians come from the lower castes, results in challenging questions such as whose music should be taught by whom, and to whom and in what ways (see, e.g. Moisala, 2013; Westerlund & Partti, 2008). Traditional music carries particular meanings of belonging, identity, and reli-gion, and thus learning the music of a different ethnic group than the one to which one belongs might be considered simply impossible (see, Westerlund and Partti, 2018). In
the words of Lange, Shrestha and Korvald (2009): “the members of other castes feel that it is not right for them to learn folk music – particularly not the music of a different ethnic group” (p. 8). Most importantly, the emerging formal music education system has brought forth a new matrix of educational aspects to be considered in teaching and learning music. As the traditional way of practising music at the community level is based on informal education, this can be understood as being “more related to socio-cultural re-production rather than social change” (Dasen & Akkari, 2008, p. 10). The role of formal education can in turn be seen as inherently “not about the insertion of
‘newcomers’ into existing orders, but about ways of being that hint at independence from such orders” (Biesta, 2009b, p. 356). Allsup and Westerlund (2012) similarly as-sert this for the wider field of music education:
The purpose of music education should be to renew the musical culture from which it comes; to remake a new generation of music lovers and practitioners;
to revitalize its historic practices; to reawaken interest in the familiar and for-gotten; to reconstruct musical ways that range from the radical to the reliable.
(Allsup & Westerlund, 2012, p. 138)
Therefore, the traditional forms of musical transmission are inevitably challenged in the new context of formal music education. Another profound challenge for music education in Nepal is obviously the lack of music teacher education programs. To meet the need for educating new music teachers and offering pedagogical in-service training for the teachers who are already practising the profession, the stakeholders in music education have sought support from international collaborations. For exam-ple, the Danish embassy supported The Nepal Music Educators’ Society in organizing a 2.5 year-long music teacher training course in 2010-2012. In 2014, with the support of the Ministry of Education, Nepal, the British Council in Kathmandu implement-ed a World Voice project in collaboration with the National Centre of Educational Development (NCED). The World Voice project aimed to enhance school teachers’
co-operational and language skills through incorporating singing in their teaching practices (British Council, 2020). Similarly, the site of this inquiry, the Nepal Music
Center, has been active in seeking assistance and collaboration opportunities from the international music education community.
1.4.2. The Nepal Music Center: A music school with a national