Music Preference 1 - Brent Hugh's personal and business web pages

Music Preference 45
the students are very young. This research shows that preferences for individual pieces within
one particular musical style can be significantly and substantially changed in public school
students from 1 st grade (age 6-7) through 8 th grade (age 13-14). Other research suggests that
similar results hold in changing preferences for musical styles and indeed for music in general:
musical tastes can be affected in young students (Novak, 1994; Hargreaves et al., 1995;
Hargreaves, 1996, p. 101-102; Fung, Lee, & Chung, 1999-2000; Peery & Peery, 1986). On the
other hand, this research shows that in the population of high school students studied (group HS),
it was very difficult to change the preference ratings of even a few individual pieces. If it is
difficult to change students' attitudes towards a few particular pieces under relatively
advantageous circumstances (a live performance, a good instrument, students self-selected as
having an interest in performing music), then it may be even more difficult to affect attitudes of
students this age for entire musical styles. Again, literature supports the generalization of the
results of this study; general musical taste is more set in older students (Fung et al., 1999-2000;
Stipp, 1990; Rubin et al., 1998).
Studies have disagreed as to the exact ages at which musical attitudes are more and less
susceptible to change, and results the present study suggest that different models of attitude
strength toward music over the lifespan apply to different subgroups of the general population.
But there is general agreement in the literature that younger students are more open to various
unfamiliar styles and older students are more set in their musical preferences (Fung et al., 1999-
2000).
The message, then, for music educators who wish their students to develop an interest in or a
love for any music that is not actively marketed to this age group by society--and this would
include classical music, but also genres such as folk music, world music, jazz, opera, musicals,