Abstract

Music plays an important role for adolescents since personal and social identities are formed during this period of life, but they also build musical preferences. Within this paper, an online survey was conducted, which included 200 respondents, i.e. primary school students from five Croatian counties aged 13 and 14. The aim of the research was to find out the musical preferences of students and whether sociodemographic variables and music teaching influence their preferences. The girls showed a slightly greater preference for all types of music offered, and especially for popular music. Respondents whose parents are involved in music are significantly more inclined to artistic and popular music. When it comes to place of residence, significant differences were observed in the preference for rock music, which is significantly higher among respondents from the city. Respondents who estimate that there is an impact of music teaching and those who listen to compositions from classes at home report an interest in art music significantly more often. The results of the research indicate the need for greater involvement of music teachers and parents in acquiring children’s musical preferences, especially towards quality music.