Influence of Primary Personality Trait and Age on String Orchestra Music Preference

Abstract

Understanding the potential relationships between musicians’ different primary personality traits, ages, and their music preferences could be relevant in music teaching and learning. We surveyed participants (N = 362) from four groups: middle school orchestra students, high school orchestra students, collegiate orchestra students, and in-service music teachers and examined if: (a) there was a relationship between musical preferences of the four age groups, (b) there was a relationship between musicians’ primary personality traits and their preferences of string orchestra repertoire, and (c) there was a relationship between musician’s ages and their primary personality traits. Evidence supported that middle and high school orchestra students prefer music in the Arousal music attribute dimension significantly more than collegiate orchestra students and in-service orchestra teachers. Participants with Extraversion as their primary personality trait preferred repertoire in the Arousal music attribute dimension significantly more than music in the Valence dimension. In addition, Extraversion was the most common primary personality trait for middle school orchestra and collegiate orchestra students, while Conscientiousness was most common for in-service orchestra teachers.