Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter I:

Introduction

Rationale:

            People hear it every day. They appreciate its wonderful melody and sometimes, they also hum with its tune. A person goes about their life with this one little thing that could change his/her day: music. Music may be as simple as a lullaby or as intricate as Mozart’s piece, but it is still what it is—something that gives a person a positive feeling towards the world and oneself.

Music never fails to captivate people, both the young and the old. People associate almost everything with music. Because of its universality, it immediately creates a strong bond between people from different races, cultures and traditions. It gave different levels of emotions much to the awe of the listener. People spent loads of cash just to make music, but why do we really need to go to the extra mile just for this? What is really with music that makes us do so much just to get a taste of it?

Music evolves as much as the people making it do. This is the basic reason why people never grow tired of it. Second, there is a variety of music genre to choose from in the industry, making it a lot easier for people to decide what genre they think will suit them. This makes music an effective tool for communication (Ulrich, 1957). This in turn promotes understanding among the people.

Music is widely used among people from all walks of life across the globe. Until now, it is still an enigma for psychologists on why people differ in their preference in music knowing that they come from the same race, age, gender and status quo. As cited in Shafer (2008), LeBlanc said that music has become one of those areas wherein psychological findings were insufficient and lacking because of its subjectivity. Although music revealed insights about aesthetics; social behavior and emotional processes still cannot be investigated in an objective manner.

Upon hearing the latest hits from the radio, one never ceases to relate his/ her life to the tune and lyrics of that particular song. That in itself is the music preference of the person. According to Grant (2005), individuals are subjected to a lot of radio stations and music videos that could influence their music preferences. She also concluded that every person has his own choice of music genre and choice of song. Other people are more open to embrace different music genres and appreciate each of it because of the people from his/her environment (Abenoja, Gases, 2010). In a research conducted by Dollinger (1993), the type of music has its own appeal to its listeners. So it is common for people to jump from one music preference to another, as long as it suits their personal preference.

High school students are exposed to the media and the environment every day. It is given that they know a handful of songs wherein they could select the best thing that suits their ears since they listen to the radio for more or less ten hours a week according to a study by Buta (2001). What they see in the media plays a big role in shaping the music preference of high school students.

Aside from listening to the radio, students spend their time mostly in school. It is the best place for them to meet and interact with different kinds of people. The theory which supports this is the Social Impact theory, which says that there is a greater chance that a person will react to a social influence when the group influencing is close to the person according to Latane & Changing Minds (Abenoja, Gases, 2010).

Given the liberty to choose the one’s own music genre may entail variety of the music preferences among people. Although the same in one’s age, gender, degree of intellect and status in life, music preference still differ. The question is, up to what extent?

The researchers formulated this study mainly because this aims to know, and hopefully help predict the music preference of the group chosen. . In order to know what kind of music preference do students from the different types of high schools in Cebu, this study provides an in depth discussion on the essence of music preference. The type of school, age, gender, and socio-economic status are considered, and put into the limelight as the primary factors that affect the music preference. The personal preference of the students is also taken into view.

Statement of the Problem:

This study aims to know the music preference of three different high schools in Cebu City, namely, Mabolo National High School, St. Theresa’s College and UP High School Cebu. These three fall under the categories public high school, private high school, and special science high school.

Objectives

Based on our main problem, we formulated different sub-problems that could support and deeply understand our study.

This study aims to:

•          Gain the student profile of the students in Mabolo Night High School, St. Theresa’s College and UP High School Cebu in terms of age, gender, year level and the socio-economic status
•           Identify the music preference of the students in Mabolo Night High School, St. Theresa’s College and UP High School Cebu.
•     Evaluate the influence of the types of school (public, private and special science) on the high school student’s music preference.

Significance of the Study:

The research study would be of great help in the fields of Music Psychology and Musicology. The results of the study serve as a guide to composers and singers, or the music industry in general.

Knowing the music preference of the new generation may also help psychologists in giving consultations and counseling to parents and teenagers to improve their relationship. Since music is a good communication tool, it can be effective in relaying messages to the listener.

This study can help listeners know and understand what the teenagers’ music preference is. High school students are the main focus of this study, there should be awareness on what type of music should they listen to. It also allows them to discover more music genres that are not trendy in the type of environment that they have.

 This study also proves that the type of school does not affect the music preference of their students. This study is important since it crushes out the idea of discrimination among students from the public and private high schools. The students listen to more or less the same kind of genre regardless of the school that they are in.

Lastly, this study can help further researchers on their pursuit to know anything and everything about music and music preference. Researchers could tap in information about the factors on why students choose that kind of music preference, on how they came to know about a certain music genre, and the like.

Chapter 4: Research Methodology

Chapter 4: Research Methodology

Overview

The study is entitled “A Comparative Study on the Types of School and the Music Preference of the High School Students in Cebu City”. The study will be conducted in order to compare the music preference of the high school students from each type of school. The data gathered from this research instrument will be computed for interpretation. In this manner, the researchers will find out what the type of school affects the high school students’ music preference the most.

Research Design

The study is a descriptive research. The researchers use descriptive research because it obtains absolute profile of people, explain events and situations. In this case, the researcher would like to know if the different types of school may it be public, special science or private high schools affect the music preference of high school students. Other factors including the student’s profile is considered in order to support the assumption. The researchers also used this kind of research because it helps us formulate rational and logical conclusions by collecting data from the respondents.

Research Participants

Participants for this study will be 60 students; 20 students from first to fourth year students from St. Theresa’s College, University of the Philippines High School Cebu and Lahug Night High School. These schools fall under the following categories: private sectarian, special science and public high schools.

Research Instrument

A three-page questionnaire which is divided into three parts will be distributed to the respondents. The first part includes the personal background of the respondent. The second part contains the list of music genres and sample songs to determine the music preference of the respondents. The third part includes the evaluation of the preferred music.

Sampling Procedures

The sampling method that the researchers will use is the convenience sampling method. It is a non-probability sampling in which the researchers choose subjects selectively considering managing three schools with different curriculums. Aside from this, the location of St. Theresa’s College from Lahug Night High School and UP High School Cebu are not relative. The researchers also consider having random interviews for testimonies to support the study.

Data Collection

            A survey will be conducted for the collection and gathering of data. The survey will be done in 3 weeks time, from February 28-March 15.

The questionnaires will be distributed to 20 high school students from each year level in St. Theresa’s College, UP High School Cebu and Lahug Night High School. The respondents will fill up the personal information asked in the questionnaire. The respondents will then be asked to rank in a scale of 1-10, 1 being the least likeable and 10 being the most likeable. This part will serve as the evaluation of their preferred music. They will also be asked to determine the factors on why they like that type of music preference on the last part of the questionnaire. There will also be an exclusive one-on-one interview will be done to 8 random high school students from each school to testify their preferred music.

Data Analysis

High school students’ socio-economic status will be checked by the researchers according to the standards of BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue).

For the most preferred music genre, the ratings will be summed up. The genre with the highest rating will be ranked first, and so on. Then the evaluation will be interpreted by the researchers according to their agreed and disagreed statements.

For the factors the influenced the music preference, the agreeable factors will be listed differently from the disagreeable factors. These agreeable factors will then be grouped, depending on the number of students who chose it on each school. The disagreeable factors according to the students will also be grouped. Our aim here is to know what the primary factors of the influence of the students’ music preference, but we would also like to give importance on the other factors of their influence in order to support the data.

Chapter 3: Theoretical Framework

Different people have different personalities. They may be exposed to different types of environment so they may yield various musical preferences. The reason why people prefer different kinds of music has been taken on different angles already. Until now, nobody can give a single, precise answer on why people do such things.

The researchers listed the theories that would support the study on the music preferences of high school students in line with the type of school that they are in. The theories that are selected are further grouped to make a systematic framework that would serve as the basis in making the study.

The theoretical framework is focused on the following: the environment, individual and his/her music preference. Supporting these elements are two theories of music preference, and a theory explaining the development of human beings.

Le Blanc’s Interactive Theory of Music Preference

According to Shafer (2008), LeBlanc's music listening preference theory covers a whole system of input information. His theory organizes the variables of music listening preference in a hierarchical flow chart with eight levels. Droe (2006) even supported this by expounding the different levels of LeBlanc’s theory. Level 1 consists of physical properties and cultural influence, being the input level. Levels 2, 3, and 4 include physiological enabling conditions, basic attention, and current affective state. LeBlanc said that these variables can affect the listener, whether he/she is willing to listen to the music or not. A personality, training, and maturation influence is a part of level 5. These are considered as the personal “characteristics” or traits of an individual, which play a role on the decision of an individual. All of these things undergo brain processing, decision point, and preference judgment, which is n levels 6, 7 and 8. The teacher or parent may be considered as a variable on the input level while music training is a product of music education at the fourth level.

The theory of Le Blanc states that the selection of music is influenced by the relationship and interaction between various factors (Shafer, 2008).  However, the theory didn’t give much significance to the usage of music on music preference. According to Shafer, LeBlanc’s theory did not also mention the connection between the listener and the music they prefer to.

The Reciprocal Model of Music Preference

Hargreaves, Miell and Macdonald’s theory is deeply rooted in Le Blanc’s though this theory does not specially focus on music preference. It rather focused on the responses to music between the interaction of the music, listener, and the listening context which could further establish the music preference of the individual (Shafer, 2008). However, the theory does not clearly state on how the different variables mesh together. Predictions on how the factors interact to form the music preference are also vague.

Hargreaves, Miell and Macdonald’s theory explains the relationship among the different components: the music, the listener, and the listening situation. Shafer (2008) says that music varies according to its genres, styles. Its complexity and familiarity to the listener matter. The listener differs in age, gender and his/her socio-economic status and the knowledge and training in music. When the listener listens to the music, it creates an immediate response. These responses are physiological, cognitive and affective. He states that physiological response refers to the level of engagement the music and the listener have. The attention, memory, perceptual coding, expectation, discrimination and evaluation of the listener to the music are the cognitive response. Likewise, the emotional responses, like/dislike and the mood is brought by the affective response. Shafer (2008) further explained that these responses depend on situations like social and cultural contexts, everyday routines, activities, and the presence or absence of others that the listener is undertaking.  This is complete evidence why the music preference of one person changes through time (Shafer, 2008).

Piaget’s Cognitive Stage Theory

Jean Piaget’s Cognitive Stage Theory brings a clear view on child development, as each child matures and goes all through a series of stages. These stages are a basic foundation in which children develop the concept of standardization.

Cognitive Stage Theory is composed of four stages. First, the sensory motor stage (birth-2 yrs. old). The infant builds a foundation of reality through interactions with the environment in this stage. The infant is able to assimilate and accommodate objects by himself/herself. The preoperational stage (ages 2-4) states that the child is unable to conceptualize objects abstractly and need concrete physical things and situations for the child to understand it. The concrete operations stage (ages 7-11) states that the child now develops abstract concepts, thinks logically and is now able to explain physical experiences. In the formal operations stage (ages 11-15) he or she is already capable of deductive and hypothetical reasoning and is mature enough to make rational judgments.

Votroubek and Townsend (1997) states that there are also four factors that can affect the development of individuals based on the Cognitive Development Theory. These are physical maturation, physical environment, social experiences and equilibration. Physical maturation pertains to the development of the individual’s physical traits including the brain and Central Nervous system. According to Piaget as stated in Licup and Rendon (2010), experience with the physical environment entails operation of the child to the object in his/her environment and his/her reaction to that thing. He also describes social experience as the effect of “cultural or educational experiences” including the knowledge of play. Votroubek and Townsend (1997) adds that the development of the child should be balanced or in a state if equilibrium.

Figure 1 found on the next page show the cyclic interaction between the variables. The individual (control group) lies at the center of the other factors. The environment directly influences the individual, so he/she acts in ways that is appropriate for the situation. These actions are thus explained in Piaget’s Cognitive theory. Since the focus of the study is music preference, the LeBlanc and the Reciprocal Feedback Model of music preference explain the response of individuals when they hear music.

Fig. 1. Theoretical framework.

Conceptual Framework:

The theory of Piaget is included mainly because it focuses on how an individual go through the different stages of his/her life.  The researchers focus on the stage where high school students are classified, which is in the formal operations stage. The formal operations stage is described as the stage where the individual can already choose what he/she likes best based on his/her standards, or preference.

The researchers assume that high school students do not need the assistance of their parents to make even the smallest decisions of their lives. It is already the decision of high school students to judge the music that they are listening and mix and match their own playlist. Nonetheless, their decisions can still be affected due to the environment that they are situated in. It is still up to the individual if he/she chooses to be affected by these external factors.

            In figure 2, the environment and individuals are further identified to give specifics to the study. The school gives ground for interaction between individuals which may share or differ in personality. This figure focuses on the reaction of the student when he/she is introduced to music which is new to his/her ears. The student may quickly develop a connection with the music, or he/she may disregard it because of social and environmental factors (i.e. friends).

These factors can then “filter” the music preference of the students.

Fig. 2. Conceptual Framework.

Operational Framework:

The students from public, special science and private sectarian high schools are the last variables that are involved in the study. This framework aims to find out how the different types of school influence the music preference of their students. Piaget mentioned that an individual can already decide for her own during high school years (formal operations stage) but then the environment may affect the decisions that he/she make indirectly. We assume that the individual’s age, gender and socio-economic status and level of intellect can determine his/her preferred music by knowing which type of school he/she belongs.

The music preference of the students may be taken by knowing their preferred music genre. Country, jazz, blues, easy listening, hip hop, RNB, classic, rock and gospel are the types of music genres included in the study.  

Figure 3 shows the students and the music genres that are to be chosen from. Since the different factors/theories cited already filtered the music preference of the students, it is time for them to decide their own music preference. The types of schools are already focused on the last framework. This means to show that the researchers are considering the types of school as a primary factor on why students differ in their music preference.

Fig. 3. Operational Framework.