Young Listeners’ Music Style Preferences

Abstract

Listeners ( N = 543) in grades 4, 5, and 6 rated their preference for 10 instrumental and vocal selections from various styles, including four popular music selections with versions performed in English, Spanish, or an Asian language. Participants estimated their identification with Spanish/Hispanic/Latino and Asian cultures, the number of languages they spoke, and the number of musical styles the adults in their family listened to at home. There were significant but small correlations between degree of identification with pinpointed cultures and preference for the four popular songs chosen to represent those cultures and significant, small correlations between preference for those and number of languages spoken. However, results on how degree of cultural identification corresponded with preference when responding to English or non-English versions of songs were mixed. There was a significant, small correlation between the number of musical styles adults at home were estimated to like and overall preference, providing data with which to consider the issue of musical omnivorousness. Overall, there was a significant interaction between mean preference ratings by grade level, gender, and selection. With specific vocal selections, girls rated female performances higher than did boys, and boys rated male excerpts higher than did girls, with interesting grade-level patterns.