Abstract
This study was designed to examine: (1) American and Asian students’ ability to identify music of their own and other cultures; (2) students’ preferences for and their descriptions of multicultural music; and (3) the relationship between students’ musical descriptions and their preferences. Participants were 100 undergraduate and graduate nonmusic major students from a large Southeastern university. Of these 100 students, 50 were American, and 50 were Asian, 10 each from China, Korea, Japan, India, and Indonesia. These participants completed questions regarding descriptions and preferences for musical excerpts from Western and six Asian cultures. Results revealed that: (1) Asian participants identified music of their specific culture and Western culture significantly more often than American participants; (2) both American and Asian participants preferred Western music significantly more than music of Asian cultures in general, though Asian subgroups preferred music of their own specific subculture more than American participants. (3) American and Asian participants used similar adjectives to describe both Western and Asian musical excerpts; and no relationship was found between participants’ descriptions of musical excerpts and their musical preferences. Previous researchers have suggested the use of multicultural music with music therapy clients from other countries. Data from the present study indicate that clients from Asian cultures may, in fact, prefer traditional Western music.
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