A study on the musical choices and habits of listening to music of bachelor's degree students studying in state conservatories where classical music is taught

This study aims to evaluate music preferences and habits of listening to music of university students who study in state conservatories where classical music is taught in accordance with certain variables and to present an analysis of the existing state. Conservatories are educational institutions set up for the purpose of educating artists and performers, and thus it is also aimed to determine the factors affecting musical preferences of future artists and performers. The study was carried out on Bachelor's Degree students of Music Departments of Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory, Zonguldak Bülent Ecevit University State Conservatory, and Eskişehir Anadolu University State Conservatory throughout the Spring Semester of 2013- 2014 academic year. In order to collect the necessary data, a questionnaire consisting of completely structured and open ended questions was conducted. SPSS 15.0 was used for data processing. For descriptive statistics, frequency (f) and percentage (%) measures of dispersion were used, and Chi-Square Independency Test was applied to determine whether there existed a significant correlation between some of the findings. The results of the study show that students most often prefer the kinds of music they are taught, and the fact that the performer was educated in music is a key factor in their choice of performers. Moreover, it was found that students listen to W. A. Mozart, J. S. Bach, and L. v. Beethoven the most, and that they choose to listen to Turkish performers the most. Students most often prefer pieces from Romantic and Classical Era, and it was found that the kind of music they are taught at school affected their choices of music the most, and that the kinds of music they preferred to listen to changed during their course of study. When musical preferences of conservatory students were analysed according to gender, whether there are musicians in their families, whether they perform music outside school, and the instruments they are taught, no significant difference was found. However, there were significant differences in some of the findings when the same variables were compared to students' habits of listening to music.