Instrumentet och Jag - En studie om hur fem manliga gymnasieelever valt sina huvudinstrument.

Sammanfattning: In this study, five sixth-form college students were interviewed in order to create a better understanding of how young people choose their main instrument. The aim was to make visible the factors which were influential in the informants’ choice of instrument in order for teachers to be able to actively work with broadening young people’s perspective on music. The collection of data was done through individual semi-structured interviews with college students at the arts programme in Sweden. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and then analysed thematically. In the results it became apparent that the male family members were particularly influential on the informants’ choice of instrument. The results also showed a correlation between sex and homogeneous role models. Furthermore, the results showed that the phonetic and kinaesthetic properties of the instruments were also of importance in their choice of instrument. In conclusion the results show that there are established connections between gender and choice of instrument. This was reflected in the students view of instruments, practice of genre and norms in the music education they had partaken in. The informants’ statements show that their main influences have been from factors outside of the school environment, which was described as uninspiring. An effort towards a better music education must thus be made in order to widen all students’ musical interests.