Using data from the 1982, 1985, 1992, and 1997 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA), this thesis tests the effects of class, age, gender and race on the breadth of musical preferences that respondents report to liking. Specifically, the omnivore/univore framework developed by Peterson (1992) is examined. It is hypothesized that age and social class are positively related to musical omnivorousness (liking a wide variety of music). That is, older people and people higher in social economic standing will be more omnivorousness in musical preferences. The underlying theory here is that in today's society, being omnivorous is a form of cultural capital. Cultural exclusivity is no longer valued as it may have been in the past and is more often a sign of ignorance rather than status. Hence, the hypothesis is that people today will use a wide knowledge of musical forms to help them network and "get ahead." This should be more important for people as they age because the need to network as a way of moving higher in the social economic hierarchy should be more important. Additionally, it is hypothesized that women and whites will be more omnivorousness because they may feel less alienated in general from mainstream society, especially at younger ages. Hence, blacks and men will gravitate towards fewer genres of musical as a symbolic rejection of the values of mainstream society. This should also be more salient when people are younger. Overall, the findings presented support the contention the omnivorousness is replacing exclusiveness as a sign of status. Indeed, the findings show that class is positively related to omnivorousness, age is positively related to omnivorousness, being female is positively related to omnivorousness, and that whites are more omnivorous than blacks. Perhaps most interesting, however, is that the relationship between age and omnivorousness was determined to be a curvilinear relationship. No other analysts have reported this. Moreover, the findings present evidence that age may indeed be a more important determinant of musical omnivorousness than social class. Hence, it is concluded that no longer should musical preferences be examined simply as varying by social class but also as changing across the life cycle. / Master of Science

This exploratory study measured the generic music style preferences of urban South African adolescents using a cross-section of grade nine adolescent learners living in Johannesburg. Johannesburg is the third largest city in Africa and the largest in sub-Saharan Africa. Quantitatively, through a survey, the research determined which music styles were preferred and qualitatively, through interviews, established the extent to which multifarious variables affected preference. LeBlanc’s Model of the Sources of Variation in Music Preference was used as the theoretical framework upon which the study was built. A similar study, completed ten years ago on South African urban adolescents, conducted by Jennifer James, inspired this study and was used as a point of departure for this project. James’s 2000 study was entitled, Generic Style Music Preferences of Urban South African Students. Examples of fifteen generic styles of music, selected from popular, classical and indigenous traditions, were used as music excerpts in the listening test (Music Preference Questionnaire). Through purposive sampling, a total of five-hundred and sixty-eight learners in grade nine participated in the study. The learner sample used was demographically true in its representation of the country’s population. Three broad categories of variables pertaining to preference were delineated and discussed within the study. These encompassed listener, music and environmental variables. Learner variables included: music training, gender (sex), ethnic group (race and language), socio-economic status, and age. Music variables pertaining to preference included: physiological properties of the stimulus [music], complexity of the stimulus [music], and referential meaning of the stimulus [music]. Environmental variables pertaining to preference included media, peer influence, family influence, and the influence of teachers and authority figures. The study revealed that the current generic music style preferences of South African urban adolescents in order of most to least preferred were: Rhythm and Blues, Western Pop, Kwaito, Reggae, House, Hip-Hop, South African Pop, Western Choral, Metal, Rock, Gospel Jazz, Traditional African, Western Classical and Indian Classical. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Music / unrestricted

The purpose of this research was to investigate factors affecting choral music preferences of adolescents. The rationale for this research comes from the importance of teaching culturally diverse music in 21st-century music classrooms and the possibility that curricular content and ethnic identity may affect preferences for this music. Six research questions guided the study: (1) How are middle school students' preferences for choral arrangements of folk music grouped? (2) Is there a significant main effect of type of curriculum content instruction on middle school choral students' choral music preference scores? (3) Is there a significant main effect of time on middle school choral students' choral music preference scores? (4) Is there a significant type of curriculum content by time interaction? (5) Descriptively, within each ethnic group, does strength of identity relate differently to growth in scores in different interventions? (6) How do middle school students describe their reasons for their preference? One hundred and thirty-two sixth, seventh, and eighth grade chorus members (11 to 15 years old) participated in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups receiving different curricular content: music concept-based, sociocultural-based, or discussion-based. At the outset of the study, all subjects took a measure of ethnic identity. Two weeks later, all subjects took a preference pretest of eight music excerpts from choral arrangements of folk songs originating from the following cultures: African, American, Asian, and Latin American/Caribbean. One week after their pretest session, subjects took a posttest while simultaneously receiving one of three interventions based on one of three approaches to curricular content. Two factors emerged from principal axis factor analysis of pretest scores. The first factor (simple texture subscale) included arrangements of folk songs with simple unison or predominantly homophonic vocal textures. The second factor (complex texture subscale) included arrangements of folk songs with complex polyphonic vocal textures. A split-plot ANOVA analysis revealed no statistically significant main effects of intervention or time, and no statistically significant interaction of intervention and time for the simple texture subscale. A second split-plot ANOVA revealed no statistically significant main effects, but a statistically significant interaction of intervention and time for the complex texture subscale. A regression analysis revealed that adding ethnic identity scores to preference pretest scores did not help predict to a significantly better extent posttest scores for any of the three intervention groups. Subjects' open-ended responses were placed into one of four categories: musical, sociocultural/linguistic, affect, or perception of performance. Subjects in the sociocultural-based group wrote more sociocultural/linguistic comments than subjects in the other two groups, and subjects in the discussion-based group wrote more affect comments than subjects in the other two groups. Subjects in all three groups seemed to lack the musical vocabulary to describe why they liked or disliked the selections. Comments about perception of performance most often referred to subjects' perceptions that singing songs with complex textures or songs in a foreign language would be too difficult for their chorus. Numerous factors interact to affect music preferences. By continuing to study their students' music preferences, general music teachers and choral directors can gain further insights into how to best approach culturally unfamiliar music. Using a combination of music concept-based, sociocultural-based, and discussion-based curricular content may be an answer to ways to foster positive preferences for culturally unfamiliar choral music. Focusing on curricular content is important; however, general music teachers and choral directors may find success by initially introducing students to culturally unfamiliar choral music with simple vocal textures before songs with complex vocal textures. / Music Education

The main subject of my thesis is to investigate the importance of music as a leisure time activity among the high school students in South Bohemia. In the theoretical part my primary attention has been paid on music functions, the influence of music on the body and psyche, history of musical styles, music division and music subcultures. Subsequently I defined the term "adolescent" and clarified evolution specifics of this period in terms of physical and psychological changes. Then I described the concept of leisure time and characterized function, history and attitude of young people to leisure time activities. Based on the results of former researches I described the relationship of teen agers with music, role that music plays in the lives of adolescents and what are general attitudes of today's young people towards music. In the practical part I analyzed the results of my questionnaire survey, when I contacted high school students in South Bohemia and examined their relationship with music, listening frequency, musical tastes, periodicity of listening, etc.

Music fits in a larger media culture that can influence the thoughts and beliefs of many people. Specifically, there is an interest in the relationship between music and any influences it may have on political views or orientations. Based on the existing literature, it is hypothesized that there will be a significant correlation between political orientations and involvement in music and political orientations with music genre preferences. It is also hypothesized that there will be a relationship between socioeconomic status and music preferences. Furthermore, it is expected that participants will report a high level of music involvement, considering how accessible music is to many students (Agbo-Quaye & Robertson, 2010; RIAA, 2016). Results indicate that there is a correlation between political orientation and several genres, in addition to demographic variables. Participants reported a high level of music involvement and high usage of music streaming services. Additional analysis indicates that two of the top five genres participants listened to (alternative and religious music) can be a significant predictor of political orientation.

The study sought to determine the relationships of preference responses to grade, gender, familiarity, musical training, peers'/parents' listening habits, music media use, and listening contexts. Grade six through nine Hong Kong students (N = 310) completed the audio preference test followed by verbal responses to training, peers'/parents' preferences, leisure/music media involvement, and listening context. Results indicated: The preferred genres, in descending order, were Western pop/rock, Cantopop/rock, Western classical; the disliked genres were jazz, Chinese, and non- Western/non-Chinese. Preference correlated strongly with genre familiarity. Pop genres were the most familiar to all adolescents. The students' preference toward Western pop/rock and Cantopop/rock associated with several listening contexts: solitary listening, having great freedom to choose one's desired music for listening, listening to music in one's room, and listening to music as background activity. The adolescents expressed that their leisure activities were spent with their family and friends. However, they made it clear that music listening was a personal activity that very likely was listened to alone. On all listening occasions, the girls exhibited a more positive response than the boys did. With four to five hours daily leisure time, the adolescents watched TV for three to four hours while spending less than two hours on listening to recorded music, and less than an hour on listening to radio music, MTV/karaoke, and music websites. Cantopop/rock was the most pursued music style in terms of the records bought, concerts attended outside of school, their peers', and parents' most-listened-to music. Some weak correlations of preference with grade and gender were identified: the grade six students showed more tolerance to Chinese and non-Western/non-Chinese music. Boys preferred jazz more than the girls did. Private music study and extracurricular musical experiences related to Western classical and non-Western/non-Chinese music preferences whereas school music training failed to show any association with students' musical preference.