| In light of the dominant influence of popular music in youth culture and the prevalence of negative attitudes towards Western art music, it is deemed important to find ways to diffuse negative typecasting. The purpose of this study was to examine the enculturative and educative influences that shaped a love for Western art music among gramophiles, the musically-untrained yet avid listeners and collectors of Western art music, in order to provide insight for educators as to how they might create learning environments that foster a taste for this music among young people.; The specific research topics that guided the questions for this qualitative study of gramophiles were as follows: (1) familial influences, (2) school music experiences, (3) social influences, (4) formal and informal musical education, (5) the salient characteristics of the music to which they most readily respond, and (6) the meaning of Western art music in their lives.; Twelve qualified respondents were drawn from a confirmation survey posted on the electronic bulletin board of the Moderated Classical Music Listserv and an ad placed in a record store newsletter. Spradley's model for in-depth, semi-structured interview technique constituted the main means of data collection for this study. Interviews carried out via the internet, through the regular mail and by telephone, constituted the main means of data gathering.; Five major themes with accompanying sub-themes emerged from the analysis of over 500 pages of data. Although the participants in this study were an exceptional group of self-directed, self-motivated, ardent listeners there were important findings that may be applied to the greater student population with the following implications for educators: (a) casual, informal, non-didactic encounters with Western art music in the home and at school can have a positive conditioning effect on taste compared to didactic approaches in school music classes; (b) Western art music can provide an important means of emotional processing for boys (and men); and (c) significant encounters with Western art music occur in childhood and adolescence, and with them is born a desire to learn more through auto-didactic means. |
