Listening to music with the aim of developing high-school students’ musical culture

Abstract

Observing society as a whole, the musical needs of an individual are most often manifested through active music playing/making and listening to mostly popular types of music. The development of one’s personal musical identity and preference for a certain musical expression starts from the earliest age, and develops and takes shape throughout life. The paper explores the subject of music listening during music education of children and young people from early and preschool education to the end of high school with the aim of gaining an insight into the course of continuous musical development of students in this field. The paper also presents the project “Hit lists of popular music” by the High School Dr. Ivan Kranjčev in Đurđevac which encourages high-school students to use the mass media in order to create so-called “playlists’’ on music streaming platforms. The results of the survey have thus shown that in the wide range of different musical expressions students can be guided in a controlled way to discover and listen to aesthetically valuable music, and that there is a positive impact on the development of their critical thinking and personal musical identity.