ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the application of the Problem-Based Learning (PBL) instructional model to the Music Traditions of Africa course. The group with the most comprehensive presentation of their region and the most nuanced understanding of the representation issues was those working in the North Africa region. The most ambitious group was the one representing West Africa. The East Africa region's final product included an informational pamphlet in support of their oral presentation. The chapter provides an overview of the PBL project that integrated into the course. Ethnomusicology is inherently interdisciplinary and encompasses many different approaches; however, the construction of musical meaning in the study of a music culture requires a problem formulation that is interpretive in design. The inclusion of interpretation-assessment problems into the typology opens up a space for domains of inquiry such as ethnomusicology that, while grounded in analytical and critical approaches, are interpretive and dialogic in their orientation.
