An overview of the musical experiences of adolescents, both at school and outside of school

Abstract

High school students, whether studying music as a school subject or not, typically tend to be passionate about their musical likes and dislikes. This paper reports on some recent research undertaken with high school students (both music and non-music students) in several schools in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia. The research is part of a larger study exploring relationships between academic achievement, self-concept and musical activities of adolescents. Via a researcher-designed survery, students responded to questions about their music listening habits and the extent of their involvement in learning a musical instrument, as well as related aspects such as practice habits, creating music, usage of computer music technology and whether or not music is being taken as a school subject. This paper presents a summary of the data collected and considers how the findings could have some influence on music curriculum development.