Resumen de Children's modes of listening to music at home and at school
Graça M. Boal Palheiros, David J. Hargreaves
This study investigated how children listen to music, by examining relationships between their different modes of listening and different contexts, home and school. It also looked at developmental and cultural perspectives, by comparing children from different age levels and nationalities. The 120 participants were British and Portuguese children aged 9-10 years, attending primary schools, and 13-14 years, attending secondary schools. Children responded to an individual interview with open-ended questions, concerning their modes of listening to music at home and at school. Findings showed that children's modes of listening imply various levels of attention and emotional involvement with music, and depend on the context, which may be related to different functions of music. At home, few children listened to music as a main activity. They preferred listening and performing (singing, dancing), or accompanying a variety of non-musical activities (studying, playing games). At school, children listened to music often while doing musical activities (analysis, performing), moderately as a main activity, but rarely while doing non-musical activities. There were no relevant national differences, and age differences resulted mainly from specific teaching strategies at each school level.
