MUSIC

Course Overview

With the contemporary trends of globalisation, digitalization and the introduction and advancement of artificial intelligence, the 21st-century world of today has changed tremendously from before. The world of music is no exception to the great impact technological innovations have brought in the world today.  Thus, the study of music at Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu is structured as to equip the students of the course, as expected, to standout in the portrayal of contemporary social realities using performance for change and development. Towards the end of the study, students are expected to become teachers and entrepreneurs in different artistic endeavours such as Music Technology, composition, performance, Production, marketing and Management, who express both the scientific and artistic dimensions of music with grace and integrity, codify the cultural traditions of Nigeria at home and outside its shores.

Vision of the Department

To be a pacesetter-centre of excellence in the study, practice, production and distribution of music, producing highly competent and qualified music specialists capable of assuming leadership roles in the African music industry, Ensemble/Theatre, Directing and Management, Music Education, scholarship and Research, Composition and Musical Instrument Technology, and well equipped with practical concepts and tools necessary for navigating through the future of a highly innovative, digitalized and globalized world of music.

Mission of the Department

The Department of Music is committed to:

  • Developing musicianship in the students, which eventually leads to production of self-employed/reliant persons in the music profession, skilful, versatile and experienced.
  • Providing opportunity for the development of individual talents and aspirations in music.
  • Producing teachers of music for the secondary level education in Nigeria.
  • Promoting interdisciplinary approaches to the study of music that connect music scholarship to social sciences, business management, technology, education and cultural studies.
  • Producing high level manpower for the cultural, media, theatrical and entertainment industry for the general public and Disciplined Services (the Military, Air Force, Navy, Police and the Prison Bands) that will stand the taste of time.
  • Providing opportunity for continued education in music.
  • Providing manpower of a theoretical kind for tertiary institutions, research institutions, museums, arts councils, etc.
  • Elevating the status of Popular Music as a valid musical form that yields both aesthetic and material benefits.
  • Producing musicians who are skilful and experienced in European Classical music as well as in African music.

Why choose to study Music in Godfrey Okoye University?

  • Studying music in Godfrey Okoye University is an excellent choice. Our discipline is so organised as to equip the youth with skill and knowledge that are highly relevant in today’s world.
  • Music is taught with an entrepreneurial orientation in view, engaging diverse fields of human endeavour.
  • After studies the graduates of our department have no difficulty whatsoever in getting employment because music teachers for schools are highly sought after.
  • Besides, our students are well-equipped through their musical training and skill development to be self-reliant music/film producers, marketers, managers, and employers of labour too.
  • Our Students acquire broad and transferable skills and develop strong abilities in music scholarship and research, compositions of different music genres, contemporary music technology, music archiving and preservation of musical cultural heritage of a people, communication and music therapy among others, which are highly valued in the profession today.
  • Our music programme fosters a deep understanding of musical cultures (Western and African) that equips the students with the ability to create hybrid musical compositions that make African musical works acceptable in the West and vice versa, thus giving students a well-rounded global music education adaptable to different cultures.

Contact Information:

Rev. Fr. Dr. Basil Okeke. Head of Department, Music

Faculty of Arts

Godfrey Okoye University Enugu.

07038780373

frbokeke@gouni.edu.ng

CAREER PROSPECTS
RESEARCH

CAREER PROSPECTS OF OUR MUSIC PROGRAMME

There is a wide-range of lucrative job opportunities open to a degree holder in Music. They include:

  • Musicianship: performance and concert artist, Ensemble/Theatre Directing and Management, Church Musician – Choir director/directress and organist etc
  • Music scholarship: Historical-cultural researcher, music archivist/culture and Heritage management, teacher and lecturer
  • Media and Communication: Radio-TV/Film productions – Radio Presenter, a Sound Designer (Foley Artist) and soundtrack producer for Nollywood Film Industry, Content creator, and song-writer and arranger.
  • Music Technology: musical Instrument Technologist in both Western and African/Nigerian instruments
  • Music Therapist across diverse healthcare, educational, and community settings
  • Music production and distribution: Studio management, Recording Engineers, Labels and Copyright artists, Music Marketing and Ethics etc.

RESEARCH AND INNOVATIONS

In the Department of Music at Godfrey Okoye University, Staff and Students engage seriously in creative writing and scholarship. Here are some selected research works and students’ projects emanating from the department.

From the Staff

  1. Fr. Basil Okeke (PhD Musicology, PhD Liturgy)

 

  • “In the Spirit of the Liturgy: Inculturation of the Roman Liturgy and its Chants in Nigeria,” Bigard Theological Studies, Vol.43 No.2, July-Dec 2023, 1-16, http: // eprints. Gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/ 47994.

 

  • “Music Production and Distribution in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects for Environmental Sustainability,” http: // eprints. Gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/ 4939.

 

  • Music in Christian Worship Today. A Cross-Cultural Historical Study of Nigerian Examples, Tectum Verlag (Publishers) Baden-Baden, Germany 2023.

 

  • “Liturgy-Music Dynamics” in Church in Igboland and the Challenges of Liturgical Inculturation, Liturgy and Inculturation Seminar, March 8 2023, 24-62, Lic-Cadek/ Fab Educational Books, Awka, 2023, http: // eprints. Gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/ 4793.

 

  • “The Dialectics of Music and Language in Igbo Liturgical Chants,” History and Theory of choral music, Journal of Centro Studi Guidoniani, VII, 1, Arezzo Italy 2007, 9-51, http: // eprints. Gouni.edu.ng/id/eprint/ 4939.

 

  • “The Vatican II Soundscapes: Post-Conciliar Inculturation in Nigerian Liturgical Music and the Jude Nnam Phenomenon,” (Co-authored) Nsukka Journal of Humanities, (NJH), Ikenna, E. Onwuegbuna et al, in publication this year

 

  • “Music in the Liturgy of the Hours: Its History and Praxis.” (Chapter) in Liturgy of the Hours in the Nigerian Context, E. C. Anagwo et al, CALAN, Plush Prints, Benin City, in publication this year 2026.

 

 

  1. EZEUGWU, F.O. (PhD, Music Education)

 

  • STechnology and Globalization in Gbagy Nge-nge Marriage Music: A Case Study of Two Recorded Songs in Nasarawa State, Nigeria (Co – authored) Journal of the Association of Nigerian Musicologists (JANIM) https://dx.doi.org/io.1/janm.v19.i1.6

 

  • The Supreme Court Ruling on the Hijab Crisis in Nigeria and the Dynamics of Tolerance. (Co-authored). Journal of Peacebuilding & Development. sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/15423166241304235.

 

  • Nigerian Women and Mental Health Challenges: Causes, Cultural Models and Mitigation Through Music Therapy. (Co-authored) Volume 64 | Issue 04 | April 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15152809.

 

  • Thematic Extemporization – A Compositional Exploration of Mike Ejeagha’s Gwo gwo gwo Ngwo. (Co-authored) Gradiva – Volume 64 | Issue 03 | March 2025 DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15075131.

 

 

  • Preserving African values through music: illustrations with Igbo folklore. (Co-authored) Nsukka Journal of Musical Arts Research (NJMAR) Volume 4, Issue 1st June 2024.

 

  • Ezeugwu, F.O. “Musical Functions of Women in Igbo Traditional Burial/Funeral Ceremonies: A Study of Uru Onwu in Nsukka Town.” Journal of the Association of Nigerian Musicologists (JANIM), No. 12, 2018, 553 -561.

 

  • Ezeugwu, F.O. “Indigenous Music Performance in Upper Basic Schools in Enugu State: A Study of Selected Schools from Awgu, Enugu and Udi Education Zones.” Nsukka Journal of the Humanities, Vol. 26, No.1, 2018, 24 – 30.

 

  1. Chiegwu, Thomas S. (2022) “Perspectives on Professor Richard C. Okafor’s Musical Performances”, in Ugo Belun’Oji: A Festschrift in honour of Professor Richard C. Okafor, Emmanuel Umezinwa, Alvan Ikoku Nwamara, Nnamdi Onuora Oguno and Eunice Ibekwe (eds.) Pp 179-196.

 

From the Students

  1. Udodili Clara Chigbo
  • Pleasant Dilemma: Harmonizing African and Western Instrumental Music Traditions in a Composition, A Final Year Project in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of B.A. (Hons) degree in Music of Godfrey Okoye University Enugu, by GOU/U21//ART/MUS/010, July, 2025.

 

  1. Kanife Udochukwu Stanislaus

 

  • Influence of Motivation and Job Satisfaction on Music Teachers in Junior Secondary Schools in Enugu North, A Final Year Project in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of B.A. (Hons) degree in Music of Godfrey Okoye University Enugu, by U18/ART/MUC/007, July 2021.

 

  1. Eze Uchenna Alphonsus

 

  • A Study of the Influence of Popular Music on the Life Style of Youth with reference to Enugu State, A Final Year Project in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of B.A. (Hons) degree in Music of Godfrey Okoye Universit,y Enugu, by U18/ART/MUC/006, June 2021.

PROGRAMME DURATION

A BA (Hons) degree programme in Music at Godfrey Okoye University runs for a standard duration of four (4) academic years for students with complete entry requirements according to JAMB and those admitted through UTME and a three (3) years BA (Hons) for Direct Entry students who are holders of NCE single major, OND in Music or a pass Grade in Diploma in Music Education.

The Department of Music also offers a One-Year Certificate Programme in Music as an option to the B.A. Degree Programme. It runs for just two semesters (October to June), with first- and second-semester examinations. 

N.B. An aptitude or audition text in Music, set by the Music Department, is a pre-requisite for admission into all of the above categories

ALUMNI PROFILES AND TESTIMONIALS

  • ELUMERIA BECKLEY OGHENEMARO

    The knowledge and skills I acquired in composition, performance study, and music theory have been invaluable in my current role as a band leader, music teacher, and composer. The musical formation received has helped me become a mature and effective music leader and trainer of others.

  • KANIFE UDOCHUKWU STANISLAUS

    I am proud to have passed through the university, which remains a nurturing ground for talent, character, and leadership and to be part of its enduring legacy. I remain committed to contributing to its vision of academic excellence and holistic human development.

  • EZE UCHENNA ALPHONSUS

    Godfrey Okoye University has always been a nurturing ground and remains the same with advanced characteristics for growing talent, shaping character, and producing leaders with uniqueness. I am proud to be part of its enduring legacy. I will always be keen to contributing to its vision of academic excellence and overall human development.

  • UDODILI CLARA CHIGBO

    My walk through GOUNI is divinely orchestrated and I do not regret being a member and product of GOUNI as an institution. I pledge to flourish and represent creditably the University by illuminating the paths of other seekers of truth, wisdom, knowledge and understanding, having in mind the vision of GOUNI, my Alma Mater- excellence and overall human development.