Bel canto sangonderrigbeginsels met spesiale verwysing na die begrip appoggio – ʼn tweedelige ondersoek in die pedagogiek van Werner Nel (Artikel 1)

Opsomming Gedurende sy vaste ampstermyn (1974–2010) as sangdosent by die Skool vir Musiek van die Potchefstroomse Universiteit vir Christelike Hoër Onderwys – sedert 2004 bekend as die Noordwes-Universiteit (Potchefstroomkampus) – is Werner Nel verantwoordelik vir die tegniese ontwikkeling wat sangstudente sou benodig om vokale kunsmusiek in die Europese tradisie uit te voer. Hierdie artikel ondersoek die stemtegniese beginsels wat Nel gebruik het om sy studente op te lei, met spesiale verwysing na die sentrale en kennelik moeilike begrip appoggio. Laasgenoemde is ʼn kernbelangrike stemtegniese en -estetiese ideaal van die bel canto sangtegniek en dit word gevolglik in hierdie artikel as vertrekpunt gebruik om Nel se onderrigmetodes, onderrigbeginsels of opvoedkundige benadering rakende effektiewe asemhaling vir esteties bevredigende klankproduksie in oënskou te neem. Die metodes van data-insameling vir hierdie enkele, beskrywende gevallestudie sluit beide ʼn tradisionele en sistematiese literatuuroorsig van die bel canto sangtegniek in, sommige van Nel se handgeskrewe en getikte dokumente, asook semi-gestruktureerde onderhoude met Nel en geselekteerde deelnemers wat by hom gestudeer het en wat huidig professioneel werk as sangers en pedagoë. Abstract During his fixed tenure (1974–2010) as singing lecturer at the School for Music of the Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education – known as the North-West University (Potchefstroom campus) since 2004 – Werner Nel was responsible for the technical development that singing students would need to perform vocal art music in the European tradition. This article investigates the voice-technical principles that Nel used to teach his students, with special reference to the fundamental and admittedly difficult concept appoggio. The latter is a voice-technical and aesthetic ideal of core importance for the bel canto singing technique and accordingly it is used in this article as a point of departure to examine Nel’s teaching methods, teaching principles or educational approach concerning effective breathing for aesthetically pleasing sound production. The methods of data collection for this single, descriptive case study includes both a traditional and systematic literature overview of the bel canto singing technique, some of Nel’s handwritten and typed documents, as well as semi-structured interviews with Nel and selected participants who studied with him and who currently work professionally as singers and pedagogues.

“Dit is meer ʼn ge-juggle met jou spiere”: Insigte oor die begrip appoggio vanuit kwalitatiewe onderhoude met Werner Nel en sy voormalige studente (artikel 2)

Opsomming Die vorige artikel in hierdie tweedelige bespreking van Werner Nel se pedagogiek as sangonderwyser het daarop gefokus om ʼn agtergrond en oorsig van die bel canto sangtegniek te bied, spesifiek soos dit te make het met die begrip appoggio. Die eerste artikel het hoofsaaklik metodologiese kwessies van die huidige studie uiteengesit en en ʼn oorsig van internasionaal-gepubliseerde literatuur oor bel canto en appoggio saamgevat. Hierdie tweede artikel lewer verslag oor en bespreek die kwalitatiewe onderhoude wat met Werner Nel en sy studente gevoer is oor bel canto en appoggio. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie dui daarop dat Nel se benadering tot appoggio (en die bedoelde asemhalingstegnieke vir esteties bevredigende klankproduksie) grootliks ooreengestem het met besprekings daarvan in die relevante vakliteratuur. Die artikel sluit af met enkele gedagtes rondom die sosiokulturele belang en betekenis van hierdie ooreenstemming tussen Nel se sangonderrigbeginsels, sy studente se metode van opera sing en die tersaaklike vakliteratuur. “It is more about the juggling of your muscles”: Insights regarding the concept of appoggio as derived from qualitative interviews with Werner Nel and his former students (Article 2) Abstract The previous article in this two-part discussion of Werner Nel’s pedagogy as a singing teacher focused on presenting background and an overview of the bel canto singing technique, specifically as relates to the concept of appoggio. Its main ambit was to outline the methodology used for this study and to give an overview of the literature published internationally on bel canto and appoggio. This second article reports on and discusses the qualitative interviews conducted with Werner Nel and his students concerning bel canto and appoggio. The findings of this study indicate that Nel’s approach to appoggio (and the intended breathing techniques for aesthetically pleasing sound production) largely correlated with discussions of appoggio in the relevant subject literature. The article concludes with some thoughts concerning the sociocultural importance and meaning of this correlation between Nel’s principles for teaching singing, his students’ method for singing opera and the relevant subject literature.

A hermeneutic of vulnerability: difficult empathy in response to moral injury within whiteness

The purpose of this essay is to expose reader vulnerability by unmasking what is hidden in the reading of a (biblical) text. The working hypothesis is as follows: The mythical norm of reading the biblical text masks the issue of race in biblical hermeneutics in assuming white innocence and hiding a moral injury caused by the imperial agenda of modernity. A hermeneutics of vulnerability is suggested in order to acknowledge the moral injury that the racial implications of the imperial agenda of modernity caused and is still causing. The moral injury is mitigated by a process of difficult or unsettling empathy engendered by a hermeneutic of vulnerability. The arguments are set up as follows: the first section endeavours to figure out what lies behind the projection or construction of white innocence associated with the mythical norm (given the preponderance of race in current discourse in South Africa and the USA). The second section deals with the way a hermeneutic of vulnerability can enable a reader to credibly respond from a position of whiteness to, for example, the pressures from the decolonial turn in the discourse on race, asking what it means to be vulnerable and how one accounts for vulnerability. The third section embroiders on the consequences of accepting and revealing vulnerability, namely to show empathy and more specifically an uneasy or difficult empathy in a racially tense society. Opsomming Die doel van hierdie opstel is om die weerloosheid van die leser bloot te lê deur dit wat verborge is in die lees van ‘n (Bybelse) teks, te ontmasker. Die werkshipotese is soos volg: Die mitiese norm van die lees van die Bybelse teks verbloem die kwessie van ras in die Bybelse hermeneutiek deur die aanname van wit onskuld en die verdoeseling van ‘n etiese wond wat veroorsaak is deur die koloniale agenda van moderniteit. ‘n Hermeneutiek van weerloosheid word voorgestel om dié morele wond raak te sien in terme van rassisme wat deur die koloniale agenda van moderniteit veroorsaak word en nog steeds veroorsaak. Die etiese letsel word egter versag deur ‘n proses van moeilike of ontsetelende empatie wat deur ‘n hermeneutiese kwesbaarheid veroorsaak word. Die argumente word soos volg opgestel: die eerste afdeling poog om uit te vind wat agter ‘n konstruksie van witwees se onskuld lê ten opsigte van die mitiese norm van uitleg (gegewe die oorwig van ras in die huidige diskoers in Suid-Afrika en die VSA). Die tweede afdeling handel oor die manier waarop ‘n hermeneutiek van weerloosheid ‘n leser in staat kan stel om geloofwaardig vanuit ‘n posisie van witwees te reageer op, byvoorbeeld, die druk van die dekoloniale wending in die diskoers oor ras deur te vra wat dit beteken om kwesbaar te wees en hoe neem ‘n mens met kwesbaarheid rekening hou. Die derde afdeling verduidelik wat die gevolge is wanneer weerloosheid aanvaar en erken word, naamlik om empatie en meer spesifiek ‘n ongemaklike of moeilike empatie in rassespanning te toon.

Spatial and temporal thresholds in installation art: Jan van der Merwe’s Eclipse

The notion of thresholds and their potential to suggest liminality is usually associated with spatialities. However, I contend this notion can be extended to layered temporal thresholds and temporal liminalities. I present this argument, using postclassical narratological concepts as theoretical framework, with reference to the South African artist Jan van der Merwe’s installation artwork Eclipse (2002). In this work, various spatial thresholds can be distinguished that relate to issues of conflict, mourning, exclusion, surveillance and the suggestion of death. This is achieved by means of a no man’s land experienced when entering the artwork, where the viewer-participant finds him or herself compelled to follow a footpath surrounded by barbed wire on which clothes made of rusted metal are suspended. This journey culminates in a wall that presents three screens showing rose petals being dropped, as if into a grave. Various possible places suggest themselves: refugee camps, concentration camps, war zones and a cemetery. I argue that these spatialities are made possible by temporal thresholds that accompany them. Apart from the patina of the rusted material that suggest the passing of time, the moving flower petals in the screens repeat constantly to create not only liminal temporalities in terms of the artwork at large, but also an iterative sense of the ongoing culmination of these temporalities in death. Opsomming Die idee van drempels en hul potensiaal om die liminale te suggereer word tipies met ruimtelikhede geassosieer. Desnieteenstaande voer ek aan dat hierdie gedagte verbreed kan word na gelaagde tydmatige drempels en tydmatige liminaliteite. Ek bied hierdie argument vanuit die kader van postklassieke narratologie as teoretiese raamwerk en met verwysing na die Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaar Jan van der Merwe se installasiekunswerk Eclipse (2002). In hierdie werk kan ʼn aantal tydmatige drumpels onderskei word wat telkens kwessies van konflik, bewening, uitsluiting, dophou en die suggestie van dood aan die hand doen. Dit word bewerkstelling deur die ervaring van ʼn niemandsland wanneer die kunswerk betree word, omdat die aanskouer-deelnemer noodgedwonge ʼn voetpaadjie moet volg wat deur doringdraad omhul is en waarop klere wat uit geroeste metaal gesuspendeer is. Hierdie reis kulmineer in ʼn muur waarop drie skerms gemonteer het wat roosblare toon, asof in ʼn graf. Daar word gesinspeel op verskeie moontlike plekke: vlugtelingkampe, konsentrasiekampe, oorloggebiede en ʼn begraafplaas. Ek voer aan dat hierdie ruimtelikhede moontlik gemaak word deur tydmatige drumpels wat hand aan hand met die ruimtes gesuggereer word. Benewens die patina van die geroeste materiaal wat verband hou met die verloop van tyd, stel die herhalende beweging van die blomblare in die skerms ook liminale tydsfere aan die orde binne die kunswerk as geheel, en dryf ook – op iteratiewe wyse – hierdie tydsfere op die spits om ʼn suggestie van die dood aan die hand te doen.

Moral Values and Ethics as Antidotes for Corruption in the South African Public Service and Administration

This paper examines the relationship between morals, ethics, public administration and corruption. The argument advanced is that morals and ethics are antidotes for bureaucratic corruption in public service and administration. Currently there seems to be low ethics and morality in public service and administration in South Africa. The discussions in this paper consider the obligations under the South African National Development plan 2030, African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption, the African Charter on Values and Principles of Public Service and Administration, and the African Charter on the Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development for a corruption free and ethical public service and administration.

Criticalities of Non-Verbal Reading Competencies: An Afrocentric Ethnological Approach to Qualitative Research

Body contact and body language reading are unique and existential and, although culturally dependent and socially embodied, they are critical ethno-specific communication forms confined within contextual geo-spaces. The interactive narratives of ethno-specific, non-verbal communication in my qualitative research approach were facilitated using e-mails, web blogs and thread observations generated by senior research leaders who shared their views on appropriate Afro-ethno-specific qualitative data collection methodologies. Afro-ethno-specific qualitative data collection methodology needs a new narrative that focuses on creating Afrocentric research practices and data collection instruments that are validated for African contexts. Research findings indicate that non-verbal reading competencies that take cognizance of the application of the 3 Cs of non-verbal communication; context, clusters and congruence that are group and Afro-ethno specific were often ignored by researchers in South Africa. The article argues that the application of Afro-ethno specific non-verbal reading competencies, knowledges and skills is critical for it takes into cognizance people’s ethnic origin, culture, identity, race, nationality, norms, values, religion or belief systems.

Abraham Kuyper’s view of the natural sciences

This paper examines Kuyper’s view of the natural sciences. For Kuyper science is by design a unique creature of God, it flourishes within society, it grows and develops. It is part of creation, so even if there were to have been no fall, we would still have science. The fall, however, has impacted on science to an unimaginable extent. Science is independent of both church and state, thus science must be allowed to flourish unhampered by both. Science, for Kuyper, involves thinking God’s thoughts after him. There are two kinds of science and two kinds of people: normalists and abnormalists – what makes the difference is regeneration or palingenesis – this is Kuyper’s antithesis. Common grace is important for science without it the post-fall decline of science would be absolute. Strands of scholasticism are identified in Kuyper’s approach.

Factors that influence learners’ performance in grade 12 Accounting: A case study in the Northern Cape

This article explores the elements that contribute to the poor performance of grade 12 learners in Accounting. As far as Accounting as a school subject in South Africa is concerned, there is a growing concern about the underperformance of learners, due to both a decrease in learners who enrol for the subject in grade 12 and the low pass rate in the National Senior Certificate examination. Existing research points out that fewer students elect Accounting as a grade 12 subject and that the performance of these students is below the average pass rate when compared to other subjects. This article employed as research methodology a qualitative case study in which interviews were used to collect data. Based on the case study conducted in the Frances Baard District Municipality in the Northern Cape, this article identifies critical factors that contribute to the underperformance of learners in grade 12 Accounting. Addressing these factors may contribute to the improvement of the performance of learners in Accounting. This is relevant for South Africa, which is experiencing a serious shortage of chartered accountants and other financial and auditing professionals.

Power and freedom: Reflecting on the relationship

This article contributes to the debate on the relationship between power and freedom. Freedom is currently a burning issue in political discourses. It is therefore important to evaluate the relationship between these two important concepts and present a basis for further critique and cognition about this relationship. The article briefly evaluates certain philosophical perspectives in this regard; particularly the theoretical contributions of Oppenheim, Pettit, Kristjánsson and Morriss. By reflecting on these perspectives it is concluded that human beings’ rational capacities present them with the opportunity to imagine freedom. However the option of freedom to choose one’s own preferences is constrained by a social contract that guarantees and limits freedom. In contrast, power could interfere with freedom by eliminating specific actions or frustrating others from choosing actions or by not suppressing obstacles in this regard. The protection of freedom lies therefore in continuous negotiation, open dialogue and struggle for it. Key concepts: Power; freedom; definition; concept; liberalism; unfreedom Opsomming Mag en invloed: Besinning oor die verhouding Hierdie artikel dra by tot die debat oor die verhouding tussen mag en vryheid. Vryheid is tans ‘n brandende saak in politieke diskoerse. Dit is dus belangrik om die verhouding tussen hierdie twee belangrike konsepte te evalueer en ‘n basis te bied vir verdere kritiek en nadenke oor hierdie verhouding. Die artikel evalueer kortliks enkele filosofiese perspektiewe in hierdie verband, en spesifiek die teoretiese bydraes van Oppenheim, Pettit, Kristjánsson en Morriss. In ‘n besinning oor hierdie perspektiewe word die gevolgtrekking gemaak dat mense se rasionele vermoëns hulle kans gee om vryheid te verbeeld. Hierdie opsie van vryheid om eie voorkeure te kies, word egter beperk deur ‘n sosiale kontrak wat vryheid waarborg maar ook beperk. In teenstelling hiermee sou mag wel vryheid kon belemmer deur spesifieke aksies uit te skakel of mense se keuses vir spesifieke aksies te frustreer, of deur nie hindernisse in hierdie verband te onderdruk nie. Die beskerming van vryheid setel dus in voortdurende onderhandeling, oop dialoog en die stryd daarom. Kernbegrippe: Mag; vryheid; definisie; konsep; liberalisme; onvryheid.

[Un] Silencing the Genuine Voices of Young Emerging Scholars on Challenges Facing Young Academics in South African Universities

There is a clear systemic motive to silence and undermine the genuine voices of young academics in comprehensive South African universities. The foregoing manifests in various ways including gate-keeping publishing techniques. Senior academics do not emphasize the significance of ‘publish or perish’ mantra as needed and on time for young emerging academics. This continued invidious practice is further perpetuated by the circulating scholarly reports and the media-alike which intentionally do not pay too much attention to this ongoing injustice. Where such is reported, it is often not given too much attention, or rather side-lined and even critiqued. This research article seeks to revisit all the various challenges facing young emerging scholars in South African universities. Due to complicated ethical reasons, the author does not dwell much on pin-pointing universities one by one. Also, this is because the problem seems to be a country-wide systemic instigation to undermine the new emerging voices of young emerging scholars who were previously marginalized and kicked out of the apartheid research system. I, therefore, adopt Afrocentricity as a theoretical lens to challenge the perpetuation of this continued intentional and discriminatory practice against publishing whilst young.