A study on the music cultures of high school students: The case of Tunceli province central district

The purpose of this thesis is to understand and analyze the music culture of high school students in Tunceli province. A survey was conducted with 507 students from 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades in five different schools in the central district of Tunceli in the 2024-2025 academic year. These schools are Atatürk Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, Tunceli Anatolian High School, Tunceli Türk Telekom Science High School, Sports High School, and Tunceli Fine Arts High School. Within the scope of this survey, the students were asked questions about their gender, their parents' occupations, their families' income levels, whether they are from Tuncelli or not, the types of music they listen to, how often they listen to the kinds of music they listen to, the frequency of their participation in music activities, the influence of their families on their music preferences, the impact of their friends and social media on their music preferences, the tools they use while listening to music, their language of listening to music, the frequency of listening to sayings from the Tunceli region, the instruments they play and whether they have a bağlama player in their families. Thus, a broad picture of the students' music culture was tried to be obtained. This study used a quantitative, structured questionnaire to collect data. The students' data obtained through this questionnaire were then analyzed using SPSS data analysis software with tools such as Chi-Square, frequency analysis, cross tabulations, and comparative evaluations. The results show that music is an essential part of students' lives. According to the evaluation results on music genre preferences, rap, pop, and foreign pop music were the three most popular music genres. On the other hand, there is a marked lack of interest in Western classical and Turkish art music. Folk music, especially local music specific to Tunceli, still seems to have a considerable fan base. As this shows, local cultural elements continue to play an important role in the music culture of young people. Students' interest in Zazaki and Kurdish music is another interesting finding in the study. The study also found a significant relationship between the frequency of listening to Kurdish, Zazaki, and Turkish music and the frequency of listening to sayings from the Tunceli region. The fact that there is a strong connection between the multilingual structure of Tunceli and students' listening to Alevi sayings shows that cultural heritage is transmitted among students through music for generations. It was also found that most students listen to music primarily through digital platforms using smartphones, tablets, or computers. The number of those listening to music through traditional methods, such as radio, is tiny. Another important finding is that students' music choices are shaped mainly by social media, not family, friends, or music classes. Students also show little interest in both in-class and out-of-class music activities. This suggests that students are not very interested in these activities or that the content of these activities does not match their music preferences. In addition, this situation shows that students' relationship with music is primarily individual. Our thesis, the first study on this subject in Tunceli, shows that universal popular trends and local, linguistic, and religious factors feed the music culture of high school students in Tunceli. From a cultural perspective, it has been observed that music helps young people express themselves, connect with others, and transmit their culture. The results suggest that for music to have a greater impact on young people's lives, music policies need to be rethought to include both local and global music cultures.