Abstract

The numerous factors affecting secondary school students’ musical preferences show how difficult the role of music educators is. Their task is to use competent, creative music teaching to lead students away from an emotional, connotative approach towards a syntactic strategy of listening, to develop analytical musicological processes, and to gradually develop their musical tastes with a highquality aesthetic value system. Research into the relationship between socio-demographic variables and musical preferences among students in year 1 and year 4 of gymnasiums and vocational schools has affirmed differences in knowledge of and preferences in attested musical styles according to sex, type of school, age, and academic performance. The results of this research indicate the need to include music instruction in vocational schools, educational institutions that lack music programmes, as well as the need to increase the breadth of existing music programmes so that young people in their formative years, in addition to building a positive relationship towards artistic music, develop openness and tolerance towards various cultures and subcultural phenomena.