Music in School: A Subject and Its Object. Results from the Pilot Study 'Musikunterricht aus Schülersicht'

Abstract

Very little empirical research has been conducted on teenagers' attitudes towards music lessons in school. Our recent study "Musikunterricht aus Schülersicht" (MASS) collects comprehensive data on this issue. Its major aim is to identify what students perceive as the central curricular contents of their music lessons. But MASS also asks: How do students experience and evaluate their music lessons? What do they expect from music as a school subject? What image does the subject have in terms of relevance and difficulty? The study explores these questions by looking at the connections between students' attitudes and curricular as well as extra-curricular factors (such as musical preferences or prior instrumental training). Our data stem from an online survey, in which 735 high school (Gymnasium) students of all ages participated, and from narrative interviews with students in their senior years. It becomes evident that attitudes are divided: music lessons in school appeal to teenagers with prior musical (instrumental) training, but less to those without; on average, girls like the subject more than boys do; teenagers who prefer "classical" music show a positive attitude towards the subject, those who prefer other kinds of music a more negative one. Overall, students perceive Western art music to form the core of music lessons even today; historical and theoretical approaches to music are perceived to predominate, performance-oriented approaches (such as dancing) to be largely neglected. All this raises the question of whether music as a school subject has an excluding effect, whether it misses important opportunities to offer new forms of interacting with music, especially to students without prior musical education or training.