The purpose of this exploratory study was to measure the music preferences of South African,
junior secondary students and to find out what variables had an influence on their music
preference decisions. LeBlanc's (1982) Model of the Sources of Variation in Music Preference
was used as the theoretical background and guide to the choice of variables for this study.
After a pilot test, 10 generic styles made up of Popular and Classical music excerpts were
chosen for the listening test. Through purposive sampling, a total of 548 students were chosen
from schools in three urban settings in South Africa. The sample was made up of African,
Coloured, Indian and White students of both genders. Only a small percentage of musically
trained students were part of this sample.
From LeBlanc's model, The Listener set of variables included musical ability, musical
training, sex (gender), ethnic group (race and home language), socio-economic status and age
were investigated through both the quantitative and qualitative methods of research. Similarly,
The Music set of variables included the physical properties of stimulus, the complexity of
stimulus and the referential meaning of stimulus were also used The Environment variables
that were used were, the media, the family, peers, educators and authority figures. The
quantitative data was obtained through the listening test where students indicated their music
preference on a 5-point rating scale. The qualitative data was acquired through in-depth
interviews and behavioural observation of students during the listening test. Data from this
behavioural observation procedure was abandoned due to insufficient detail of results.
From the answers to four of the main research questions it was found that Reggae was the
most preferred generic style of music while Western Pop, Gospel, S A Pop, Jazz, Rock,
Traditional African, Western Choral, Western Classical and Indian Classical were rated in
descending order. An overwhelming preference for Pop music over Classical music was
indicated and this was seen as typical of the music preference of adolescents in countries
abroad
In a test-retest design, only three styles out of ten showed a difference in students' preference
ratings over a short-term period Significant relationships were found to exist between
students' preference decisions and race, home language and age. Musical training and sex
were Significantly related to the preference decisions of only 3 and 4 generic styles of music,
respectively. Lyrics and rhythm were indicated as most influential in students' liking of music,
and fast tempo, slow tempo, instruments, melody and harmony had a decreasing influence over
students music liking. Media had the most influence on students' preference ratings and peers,
the second most influence. Family and educators showed lower influences over student's music
preference ratings.
A prescriptive discussion on how to use these results within South African education was
presented and a recommendation for future researchers concluded this study of generic style
music preferences of urban South African students. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2000.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/9501 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | James, Jennifer Sharon. |
| Contributors | Jansen, Jonathan D. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en_ZA |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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