Griot Learning

Although the aspect of someone teaching through dancing and singing is actually quite appealing, learning history through the same methods that the Griots used would cause a lot of agony.  As high school students today, we groan about memorizing twenty vocabulary words, their definitions, synonyms, and antonyms.  Griots recited thousands of years of history as taught by those before them.  They would recite this history verbatim.  This would be equivalent to memorizing more than a page of the textbook.  It's simply inefficient and there is nothing to be learned except for the placement of one word after another.
Also, some portions of history are up to interpretation by those who are learning.  Some people will look at Alexander of Macedon and be impressed by his ability to conquer such a large amount of territory; others will look disapprovingly at him for bringing violence throughout a large portion of the world.  It seems that Griots would favor one perspective over another and only tell of that perspective when presenting their history.