The Influence of Music Genre, Style of Singing, and Gender of Singing Voice on Music Preference of Elementary School Children

2009

Hargreaves’ (1982, 1995) research on childrens’ development of music preference, which led to the hypothesis of “open-earedness”, has often been replicated and initiated empirical studies on different aspects. The presented study adds new perspectives with its longitudinal design and its systematically controlled variables style of singing and gender of singing voice. Results of the first measurement with N=313 first graders of five schools will be discussed. Participants indicated their liking of eleven music examples from six music genres on a five-point rating-scale. For each music genre (except World Music) male and female singers were presented as well as different styles of singing (B…