The Effect of Demonstrator Gender on Wind Instrument Preferences of Kindergarten,Third-Grade,and Fifth-Grade Students

Abstract

This study examined possible influences of demonstrator gender on children’s instrument choices. Participants (N = 104) included boys (n = 53) and girls ( n = 51) in fifth grade (n = 27), third grade (n = 41), and kindergarten (n = 36) in six intact music classes from a single elementary school. Pretest and posttest consisted of circling (Grades 3 and 5) or placing a sticker on (kindergarten) the instrument “you most want to play” from a picture containing flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trumpet, trombone, and tuba. Treatment consisted of intact classes viewing a live demonstration of all six instruments performed by either all male or all female university music majors. Results indicated that boys who viewed male demonstrators chose more brass instruments, whereas girls who viewed female demonstrators chose more woodwind instruments, although these differences were not statistically significant. Both boys and girls who saw opposite-gender demonstrators picked brass and woodwind in nearly equal numbers.

Keywords

gender musical instrument selection elementary children preference wind instrument stereotyping

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