Music Preferences and Enjoyment of Music as Predictors of Involvement of Teacher Studies Students in Music Teaching

Abstract

The study of musical preferences, enjoyment of music and students’ involvement in teaching, as a current topic worthy of attention, deserves a multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, the aim of this research is to determine the predictive power of music enjoyment and musical preferences on students’ cognitive, emotional and social involvement in music teaching, as well as on their overall involvement in music teaching, which includes all three mentioned aspects. The sample included 183 teacher studies students from four university centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Research findings confirm that enjoyment of music, based on internal motivation, is a predictor of greater involvement (cognitive, emotional and social) of students in music lessons. Musical preferences are statistically significant as a model, but they do not make a statistically significant partial contribution to the prediction of cognitive, emotional and social involvement of students in music classes. It is clear that the research findings open up the „old-new” issues of the quality of music in society, detours or some „new avant-garde”. The recommendations brought by this research are reflected in the greater activation of the emotional dimension of university music teaching, which must be closely related to the cognitive and social aspects of music. The key to success, the experience of the lecturer, and thus the atmosphere in lessons, is primary for the quality of students’ involvement in the teaching process. We need high-quality, creative and at the same time fun and emotionally rich music teaching in order to create a path of faith into stimulating and healthy development of the students’ versatile personalities with a developed attitude towards music preference.