Rationales and Functions of Disliked Music: An In-Depth Interview Study

Music serves to satisfy emotional and social needs. In its individual quality as liked or disliked music, it can also be used to create and affirm one’s own identity. While studies on musical preferences are abundant, dislikes have rarely been considered in musical taste research. The current study is centered on the rationales and functions of musical dislikes using semi-structured interviews with participants from different age groups (N = 21). The observed rationales for disliked music followed three main themes of (1) object-related reasons such as the composition, the lyrics, and aesthetic dichotomies, (2) subject-related reasons such as emotions evoked – or not evoked – in the listener, physical reactions, self-related and normative reasons such as a mismatch with the self-image, and (3) social reasons which reflect a rejection of the values presented by the music and its fans and therefore underlining the importance of social distinction as a function of musical dislikes. Other functions include identity expression, the avoidance of negative emotional and physical states, and the implicitly expressed demonstration of musical competence. The explanations for disliked music are based on both an excess or lack of certain qualities of the music or emotional reaction to the music, pointing to the idea of a missing ideal mean of music. Quantitatively, the rationales found relate to a combination of reference points which is mainly the music, but often in combination with the lyrics, the performance, the artist, and the fans. Further, the degree of dislike ranged from a slight dislike to strong hatred. To conclude, musical dislikes are a complex, multidimensional component of musical taste. Taking musical dislikes into account, the diversity and complexity of an everyday aesthetics of music can be captured, extending our understanding of attitudes toward music and the functions of music.

Zoltán Kodály gives a hand to secondary school students in recorder performance and attitudes toward music in Turkey

Kodály-inspired pedagogy enables students to participate effectively in a music course by engaging in active musical interactions with folk songs and melodies. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of Kodály-inspired pedagogy on recorder performance and attitudes toward music of secondary school students. A quasi-experimental design was used in the study. The experimental group was taught using Kodály-inspired pedagogy and the control group using the general music teaching methods for 9 weeks. A two-way mixed-design analysis of variance (ANOVA) and content analysis were used to analyze the data. A Recorder Performance Grading Key, music course attitude scale, and open-ended questions were used to collect the data. Consequently, the findings indicated that Kodály-inspired pedagogy had a significant effect on the students’ recorder performance but the researchers could not find a significant effect on students’ attitudes toward the music course. Moreover, students in the experimental group reported improvement in their recorder performance and attitudes toward music education. The researchers recommended including information about the implementation of Kodály-inspired pedagogy in music teacher textbooks, providing in-service training for teachers to enable them to use Kodály-inspired pedagogy.

Lifestyle segmentation of Czech food consumers: how sustainability and listening to music correspond to consumer lifestyles

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to segment Czech consumers based on their sustainable food consumption and their relationship with listening to music. Specifically, the authors attempt to answer the following question: is the relationship to music a segmentation difference for young consumers in the case of sustainability? The food-related lifestyle (FRL) concept is used as a framework; little attention has been paid to the FRL profile in the context of certain types of consumer orientations toward sustainability as a social value among consumers in Czechia.Design/methodology/approachIn this research, the authors used 22 items related to sustainability (identify sustainability-oriented and health-oriented variables and socially and ethically oriented variables). The statistical data analysis techniques included factor analysis and cluster analysis. The results of the cluster analysis are the market segments. The total sample consists of 331 university students from Czechia. These data are from a continuous research project. A factor analysis identified six factors with satisfactory reliability coefficients. Using factor scores, a cluster analysis was run, resulting in four segments. These segments were further analyzed and described toward their sustainability orientation.FindingsFRL concept was used to evaluate whether there are differences in the profiles of consumer orientations. Results emphasize the importance of personal characteristics and attitudes toward music, which in turn affect strategies to communicate with different segments to promote sustainable foods. Each segment has statistically significant differences in terms of its FRL.Originality/valueThis study explores the link between attitudes and behavior and suggests strategies to better understand the effect of information on consumer behavior. The results can help practitioners develop labeling strategies for fair-trade and sustainable foods to better focus on specific segments of consumers. This can be relevant when a sustainable food market is just starting, but hopes to reach more maturity in Czechia should be of the utmost importance for investors making long-term investments.

A Christian Art? Søren Kierkegaard’s Views on Music and Musical Performance Reconsidered

While the only extensive discussion of music in Kierkegaard’s work is the famous treatise based on Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni in the first part of the pseudonymous Either/Or (1843), Kierkegaard did write other brief passages, in which he made comments on musical aspects. Two recent articles have pointed to attitudes toward music in such passages which seem to differ from the negative evaluation of music as a religious or theological medium in the first part of Either/Or by the fictitious aesthete A. With a point of departure in the two mentioned articles, I attempt to further discuss the possible relationship between the ethical and the aesthetic in Kierkegaard’s musical thought, involving passages from both parts of Either/Or as well as a few journal-entries. Finally, Erika Fischer-Lichte’s distinction between staging and performativity is brought to bear on these issues.

Singing Ability, Musical Self-Concept, and Future Music Participation

Research on adults who identify as “tone deaf” suggest that their poor musical self-concept is shaped by a view of themselves as nonsingers even when their perceptual skills and singing ability are not significantly worse than the general population. Many of these adults self-selected out of further participation as children but expressed regret as adults for lost opportunities. The purpose of this investigation was to explore the role of musical self-concept, attitude, and related variables in predicting students’ decisions to participate in elective music instruction in junior high and whether those same variables were related to their assessed singing ability. Findings suggest that family music participation and positive attitudes toward music, particularly their view of themselves as musicians, can predict with 74% accuracy which students choose to continue in elective music. Musical self-concept was also a unique predictor of singing accuracy performance, suggesting a connection between students’ actual singing ability and their view of themselves as musicians.

Music and the Jesuit “Way of Proceeding” in the German Counter-Reformation

The present essay considers the Jesuits’ relationship to musical culture along the confessional frontier of Germany, where the immediate presence of religious difference led to an explicit marking of space and boundaries, not least through visual and aural media. While Jesuit reservations concerning the appropriate use of music were always present, individual churches and colleges soon developed ambitious musical practices aimed at embellishing the Catholic liturgy and stimulating religious affect. The present essay traces a gradual shift in Jesuit attitudes toward music between roughly 1580 and 1650, showing steady growth in the Society’s use of musical resources in churches, colleges, hymnbooks, processions, and theatrical productions in the confessionally-contested German orbit.