Adolescents' evaluation of classical music after visiting a live concert

Abstract

Audiences for classical concerts are aging. To avoid empty concert halls in the future, concert promoters try to find ways to motivate young people to attend classical live concerts. According to the studies of Hamann (2008), the age spectrum of today’s audiences is not an age-effect, but rather a generation effect, i.e. adults do not develop a preference for classical music as they grow older (age-effect). Rather, adults born sixty years ago grew up with more classical music and visited more classical concerts throughout their lives. In recent years, a lot of effort has been put into getting young audiences interested in classical music and to influence adolescents’ musical preferences.

Studies on musical preferences differentiate between the evaluation of actual played music and the evaluation of categories representing musical styles. The present exploratory study analyses musical preferences of 38 adolescents by comparing their preferences for specific style categories with a real concert experience. Participants visited either a so called “Yellow Lounge†concert (classical music performed in a club), a concert in a traditional concert house in Berlin, an opera, or listened to an extract of a symphony during their music lesson at school.

In the context of this study, the concerts were rated positively by the majority of participants. The percentage of participants who listed classical music as one of their favourite musical styles lay at 36.8%, but 78.9% of the participants rated the live concert as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. Positive aspects of the concert included the musical style, the young audience (Yellow Lounge), the programming (concert and opera) as well as the more traditional concert venues (“Konzerthaus†and “Philharmonie†in Berlin). After the live concerts, adolescents’ interest in visiting further classical concerts increased; however, the interest did not increase for adolescents who listened to an extract of a symphony during a music lesson. None of the participants showed an increased wish to visit any other type of concert, such as pop concerts or musicals.

The main findings of this exploratory study suggest that even though studies on musical preferences do not find classical music to be the most popular style, the majority of participants in this study enjoyed the classical music played during the concerts. Even after just one experience of a live concert, participants’ interest in attending further classical concerts increased. Therefore, attendance at classical live concerts, as an addition to the music curriculum, will increase adolescents’ interest in classical music.

Keywords: music preferences, classical concert attendance, adolescents and music