Psychology of Music

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Adolescents Perceptions of the Music of Male and Female Composers

Adrian C. North, Ann M. Colley and David J. Hargreaves
Psychology of Music 2003; 31; 139
DOI: 10.1177/0305735603031002291

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A RT I C L E 139

Adolescents perceptions of Psychology of Music

Psychology of Music
the music of male and female Copyright
Society for Education,
composers Music and Psychology
Research
vol ():
[- ()
:; ; ]

A D R I A N C . N O RT H a n d A N N M . C O L L E Y
UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER
DAV I D J . H A R G R E AV E S
U N I V E R S I T Y O F S U R R E Y RO E H A M P T O N

A B S T R A C T This study investigated gender bias in school students perceptions of

the work of male and female composers; 153 1619-year-olds rated six classical,
New Age or jazz musical excerpts which were attributed to either male or
female composers. Analyses indicated that gender stereotyping effects were
overwhelmingly confined to jazz, which was also the most sex-typed genre and
was perceived as more male. In the evaluations of jazz excerpts attributed to
female composers there was evidence of pro-female bias by female students and
anti-female bias by male students. There was also evidence that attributes
associated with traditional gender stereotypes were applied differently to the
same music, depending on the gender of the apparent composer.

K E Y W O R D S : bias, gender, preference, sex-typing, stereotyping

Musical composition remains very much a masculine domain, with few

female composers (e.g. Thea Musgrave) achieving the fame and distinction of
their male counterparts (see ONeill, 1997; Piirto, 1991). Research on musi-
cal eminence indicates the predominance of male composers/performers on
various measures of what constitutes great music. For example, in a series of
studies over several decades, Farnsworth (1969) investigated the eminence of
classical music composers by polling musicologists and students, measuring
the space allocated to them in encyclopaedias, and charting the frequency
with which their works were performed and recorded. The results of this vari-
ety of measures were consistent in that the most eminent composers were
without exception male. In a parallel vein, North and Hargreaves (1995)
found much the same for performers within pop music, using public polling,
measures of encyclopaedia space allocations and record sales as indicators of
chart success: males dominated the lists of the most eminent performers,

sempre :

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140 Psychology of Music 31(2)

although there were also a few notable exceptions such as Madonna and
Whitney Houston.
A second study by North and Hargreaves (1996) is also consistent with
these conclusions. In response to a questionnaire printed in The Sunday Times
(see Mills, 1995), readers were asked to nominate their favourite and the
greatest in two musical categories, namely classical music composer and
pop music performer. Although 1098 questionnaires were returned, no
female classical music composer received more than a single nomination in
either the favourite or greatest categories. Although females fared slightly
better in the pop music categories, only one (Annie Lennox) was placed in the
top 10 for favourite performers, and none were placed in the top 10 for
greatest performers. It is also worth noting that, of the other artistic
domains investigated in the questionnaire (namely films, paintings, novels
and plays), only the nominations for literature gave rise to a substantial num-
ber of nominations for works by females (e.g. Jane Austen, Charlotte and
Emily Bront, George Eliot). These studies suggest that artistic works by
females are valued less than those by males, though the exceptional case of
literature may provide some evidence that this is not the result of females
possessing a generally lower level of artistic ability.
Recent psychomusicological research (e.g. Broker, 1996; Fuller, 1994) has
drawn attention to the work of female composers who have been historically
overlooked, and it seems very likely that cultural factors rather then talent
have impeded their development and recognition.
Cultural beliefs about the attributes of males and females are transmitted
through stereotypes (see the review by Hamilton and Sherman, 1994). The
general psychological literature in this area demonstrates that stereotypes
have a powerful effect upon the way in which we interact with the world.
They can mediate specific aspects of information seeking (Kunda, 1990; Skov
and Sherman, 1986), information processing (Hamilton et al., 1990), the
interpretation of information (Darley and Gross, 1983; Sagar and Schofield,
1980), attention (Bodenhausen, 1988; Zadny and Gerard, 1974), inference
(Bodenhausen and Wyer, 1985; Krueger and Rothbart, 1988), and retrieval
of information from memory (Bodenhausen and Lichenstein, 1987; Cohen,
1981). Of particular relevance to understanding the way in which gender
stereotyping occurs is Bems (1981) gender schema theory, which specifically
suggests that gender forms the foundation of the internal cognitive frame-
works which people employ in processing new information: it follows from
this theory that gender stereotypes should affect how people differentially lis-
ten to and interpret music by males and females. Thus, stereotypes of male
and female artistic abilities, used by individuals and embedded in institutional
cultures, may impede the progress of females, and prevent their work from
being evaluated positively. In terms of music education, stereotypes may have
a powerful effect upon the interest and achievement of female students,
particularly in genres which are heavily male-dominated. Indeed, there is

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 North et al.: Perceptions of male and female music 141

abundant research demonstrating that gender is a significant issue in music

education. A number of studies have found that preference for which musical
instrument to play is gendered (Abeles and Porter, 1978; Crowther and
Durkin, 1982; Delzell and Leppla, 1992; ONeill and Boulton, 1995). Most
recently, and in line with previous studies, ONeill and Boulton (1996) found
that girls preferred the violin, flute and piano, while boys preferred the trum-
pet, guitar and drums. Greens (1997) work on school music highlighted gen-
dered beliefs held by both teachers and pupils: for example, that girls are good
at singing but lack ability at composition. Could such beliefs influence the
way in which female musical work is perceived?
Many psychological studies have shown that evaluative responses to a
piece of work can be influenced by manipulating the gender of its alleged pro-
ducer. Perhaps the best known of these studies was carried out by Goldberg
(1968), who first used the experimental methodology typically employed.
Female participants were given booklets containing six articles, in half of
which the articles were attributed to males and in the other half to females.
Articles allegedly by males were given higher ratings on 44 of the 54 meas-
ures (e.g. competence). In support of this, Paludi and Strayer (1985) found
that an academic article allegedly written by a male was valued more posi-
tively than one allegedly written by a female. In a similar vein, Ward (1981)
found that:
While there was no tendency for female works to be appraised less favourably
on quality (style, content, persuasiveness, professionalism, and profundity),
there was a marked tendency for males to denigrate the female author per se
(status and competence in the field). (p. 163; see also Elliott, 1995)

In a meta-analysis of similar types of studies, Swim et al. (1989) showed

that sex bias was very small. However, one reason for this result may be that
the studies they used varied such that in some a person was being evaluated,
while in others a product was being evaluated. In the latter studies more gen-
der bias was evident. It is also clear that a number of factors contribute to
gender bias: in a review article, Top (1991) suggests that it may depend upon
characteristics of the stimulus object or person, characteristics of the judges
and judgement situation, and the way in which judgements are provided
(p. 73). The pervasiveness of these effects remains undetermined, such that
they may or may not extend into the musical domain. However, it is important
to determine whether perceptions of musical work can be influenced by gender:
as Top (1991) and Archer (1992) have both concluded, even slight gender
bias could have substantial effects when opportunities are very limited.
The present study investigates the differential evaluation of male and
female composers by late adolescents. There are two ways in which gender
stereotyping might affect perceptions of compositions. First, as has been
found in other areas in which judgements have been examined, there may be
gender bias in evaluations of the merit of the work. A second possibility is

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142 Psychology of Music 31(2)

that attributes of the work may be perceived to coincide with stereotypical

attributes of males and females. Thus females may be expected to produce
gentler, warmer compositions while male composers might be associated
with more forceful work. In the present study, students from schools and col-
leges were presented with six pieces of either New Age, classical or jazz music
that were attributed to male or female composers by means of a short bio-
graphy. Three different genres were selected in order to examine possible
variations in gender bias as a function of perceptions of gender differences in
the prevalence of males and females working within them. Classical music
has prominent male and female performers but a preponderance of eminent
male composers, New Age music has both male and female composers and
performers, and jazz is predominantly a male domain. To obtain a measure of
the gender stereotyping of each genre by our sample, the participants rated
the likelihood of both males and females composing in each. Their percep-
tions of the music were measured using stereotypically masculine and
feminine attributes that could be applied to music, together with other attri-
butes used in studies of musical aesthetics.

Method
PARTICIPANTS
A total of 153 students (63 males, 90 females) aged between 16 and 19 years
(average age = 16.64 years) were recruited from schools and colleges in the
East Midlands region of the UK. To provide further information on the
sample, a panel of three judges (1 male, 2 female) assessed a self-report meas-
ure of musical training and experience made by participants, and determined
that, of those who had provided sufficient information upon which to base a
judgement, 70, 44 and 23 participants possessed low, intermediate and high
levels, respectively. The research gave rise to no significant analyses involving
this factor, which is not discussed further. The level of musical training was
higher among the female participants, with 22 percent and 36 percent of
those coded having high or intermediate levels respectively. The comparable
figures for males were 9 percent and 26 percent. This difference was expected
on the basis of previous studies of musical interest and training among chil-
dren and adolescents (Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music:
ABRSM, 1994: Crowther and Durkin, 1982).

DESIGN AND MATERIALS

A 2 2 3 (composer gender participant gender musical style) design
was employed in which the latter was presented between participants, and
composer gender was manipulated within participants. The attribution of
composer gender was manipulated by means of a short fictional biography of
approximately 70 words. Six biographies were prepared for each musical
style, with male and female versions of each being produced by altering the

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 North et al.: Perceptions of male and female music 143

names and pronouns where necessary. Each participant was presented with
three male and three female biographies. The six biographies within each
style were stapled on top of each other so that participants could read only
one at any given time. Each biography contained the sex-typed name of the
composer at its head, e.g. Adam Hersch, Charlotte Howarth. This was fol-
lowed by routine background information on the alleged composer (e.g.
birthplace, parents occupations), such that there was no evaluative informa-
tion concerning the composers music that might bias the participants
responses to the pieces attributed to him or her. The biographies were pre-
sented such that an equal number of participants responded to the masculine
and feminine version of a given biography: individual participants of course
were exposed only to the masculine or feminine version of each biography.
An approximately equal number of male and female participants responded
to the male and female versions of each biography. Two random orderings of
male and female composers biographies were prepared, which meant that
there were four sets of biographies within each musical style. An approxi-
mately equal number of males and females within each session were seated
at one of four tables, and on each table was one of the four possible combina-
tions of the biographies for the given musical style under investigation. These
four sets of biographies are demarcated in Table 1.
Six musical excerpts of one-minute duration were derived for each of the
three musical styles employed in the study, namely jazz, New Age and classi-
cal music (see Appendix). The classical music excerpts were composed in the
late 19th or early 20th century, and the jazz music excerpts were all contem-
porary small-group recordings of original pieces composed within the last
decade. Two random orderings of these excerpts were prepared within each

TA B L E 1 Summary of the presentation design for the six composer biographies within each musical
style

Male version of biographies 13 Male version of biographies 46

and female version of biographies 46 and female version of biographies 13
Order 1 Order 2 Order 1 Order 2
composer gender composer gender composer gender composer gender
and biography and biography and biography and biography
Presentation number number number number
order (Group 1) (Group 2) (Group 3) (Group 4)

1 M1 F4 M4 F1
2 M2 M1 M5 M4
3 F4 M2 F1 M5
4 F5 F5 F2 F2
5 M3 F6 M6 F3
6 F6 M3 F3 M6

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144 Psychology of Music 31(2)

musical style. The presentation of the two orderings was counterbalanced

with respect to the manipulation of the biographies described earlier. It was
expected that each of the excerpts would be novel to the participants,
although they were asked to note on their response sheet if this was not the
case: no participant did this.
The participants responded to the musical excerpts by circling numbers on
010 scales for forceful, individualistic, innovative, warm, gentle, soothing,
expressive, how much do you like it?, technically competent, artistic merit, interest-
ing and familiar (defined as the extent to which it sounds like the music you
normally listen to). The first six scales were adapted from the Bem Sex Role
Inventory (Bem, 1974) as stereotypically masculine or feminine characteris-
tics that may also be applied to music; the first three are masculine character-
istics and the following three are feminine characteristics. The remaining
scales were taken from earlier research on aesthetic responses to music (e.g.
Berlyne, 1971; North and Hargreaves, 1998). The participants response
booklets contained six different orderings of these rating scales to ensure that
the ratings were not undertaken in the same order for each piece of music.
Following the scales for the six pieces were two items asking participants to
rate the extent to which males/females were likely to compose in the style of
music employed during that particular session, and the ordering of these two
items was counterbalanced throughout. On the following two pages of the
questionnaire, in order to check that the six attributes derived from the Bem
Sex Role Inventory reflected the participants stereotypes of masculinity and
femininity, they were asked to rate a stereotypical male/female on each. These
two sets of ratings were given on separate pages: the ordering of the two
pages was counterbalanced. All ratings were assigned on scales from 0 (not
at all) to 10 (very), except for ratings of the musical excerpts on scales for
how much do you like it? and artistic merit, where 0 and 10 were labelled as
very little and very much respectively.

PROCEDURE
Participants were tested in quiet rooms within the educational establishment
from which they had been recruited. They were seated at one of four groups
of tables such that they could not see each others responses. To ensure that
participants did not realize that different sets of tables had different biogra-
phies associated with each musical excerpt, an experimenter was seated at
each table and, in the event of a question, participants were asked to raise
their hand and wait until the experimenter came to them. Male and female
experimenters ran each session.
The instructions to participants asked them to read a short biography of a
composer, listen to a piece of music by that composer, and then rate the piece
on several scales. These instructions then gave further general information: a
reminder to participants not to shout out any questions but to address them
to the nearest experimenter, a definition of some of the attributes used in the

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 North et al.: Perceptions of male and female music 145

rating scales, and a request to participants not to give any ratings until the
piece had ended. These instructions were read aloud by an experimenter
whilst participants followed their own printed copy. Each of the six musical
excerpts was then played and rated, and participants were allowed as long as
they required (typically about one minute) to give their ratings. Participants
were asked not to turn the pages of their response booklets and biography
booklets until they had all assigned their ratings. Once all the musical
excerpts had been played and rated, the same technique was applied to the
remaining pages of the response booklets. Participants were de-briefed at the
end of the session, and were informed of the option to tear up their responses
if they so wished (although none did).

Results
GENDER STEREOTYPING OF MUSICAL GENRES
The participants ratings of the extent to which males and females were likely
to compose in the three genres were analysed using a 2 x 2 x 3 (sex of partici-
pant x extent for males or females x genre) ANOVA. The analysis showed that
genres differed in the extent to which males and females were perceived as
likely to compose in them (F(2,144) = 6.47, eta-square = .082, p = .002). As
shown in Figure 1, females were perceived as slightly more likely to compose

7.0
7.0

6.5
6.5

6.0
6.0
Mean rating

5.5
5.5
Mean rating

female
female likelihood
likelihood

5.0
5.0 male
male likelihood
likelihood
classical
classical jazz new Age
New age

Musical genre
FIGURE 1 Mean ratings of the extent to which males and females are likely to compose in
the three genres.

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146 Psychology of Music 31(2)

classical and New Age music, but the major difference emerged for jazz,
which was perceived as more likely to be composed by males.

STEREOTYPES OF MALES AND FEMALES

To check that the participants held the assumed stereotypes of males and
females, the masculine (forceful, innovative, individualistic) and feminine
(soothing, gentle, warm) adjectives derived from the Bem Sex Role Inventory
for use in rating the extracts were first analysed with respect to participants
ratings of a stereotypical male and female. In all but one case, the adjectives
were rated as significantly more typical of the gender with which they were
associated on the Bem Sex Role Inventory (see Table 2). The exception was
individualistic, for which the result was the reverse of that expected: females
were rated higher and the result was close to significance. Thus females were
rated as more gentle, soothing, individualistic and warm, and males were rated
as more forceful and innovative.

TA B L E2 Summary of comparisons of a stereotypical male and a stereotypical female

(d.f. =150 in all cases)

Mean for Mean for

Variable stereotypical male stereotypical female t value p

Forceful 7.18 4.79 12.14 < .001

Gentle 3.74 7.20 16.22 < .001
Individualistic 5.39 5.80 1.93 = .56
Warm 4.19 7.32 16.53 < .001
Innovative 5.99 5.29 2.97 = .003
Soothing 3.74 7.27 15.36 < .001

RATINGS OF THE EXCERPTS

Before analyses of the ratings of musical quality and stereotypical masculine
and feminine features were conducted, an analysis of familiarity with the
three genres was conducted as this may have influenced the other ratings.
For each participant the mean was calculated of the ratings of familiarity for
the six excerpts they had heard. The mean ratings were then analysed using a
2 x 3 (sex of participant x genre) ANOVA. No significant findings emerged
from this analysis.
A similar analysis was performed on the participants overall mean ratings
of liking. This analysis revealed a significant difference in liking for the three
genres. The classical music (X = 5.74) was liked more than the New Age
music (X = 4.80) which, in turn, was liked more than the jazz (X = 4.15).
For the remaining adjectives, average ratings for the excerpts attributed to
a male composer and those attributed to a female composer were calculated,
so that two scores from each participant could be analysed further. Since the
music and biographies used for each genre differed, separate sets of 2 x 2 (sex

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 North et al.: Perceptions of male and female music 147

6.0
6.0
(a)

5.8
5.8

5.6
5.6
mean rating

5.4
5.4
Mean rating

Male
Male participants
participants

5.2
5.2 Female
female participants
participants
male
male female
female

Sex of composer
S f
6.6
6.6
(b)

6.4
6.4

6.2
6.2

6.0
6.0

5.8
5.8
Mean rating
Mean rating

5.6
5.6
male
Maleparticipants
participants

5.4
5.4 female participants
Female participants
male
male female
female

Sex of composer
S f
FIGURE 2 Means of the ratings given by male and female participants to (a) the artistic
merit, and (b) the technical competence of the jazz excerpts when attributed to male and
female composers.

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148 Psychology of Music 31(2)

of participant x sex of composer) ANOVAs were conducted on the adjectives.

No significant results were obtained from the analyses of the classical
excerpts. For New Age music, no significant results involving the sex of the
composer emerged, but female participants gave significantly higher ratings
(X = 6.94) than male participants (X = 5.48) to the technical competence of
the music (F(1,39) = 5.29, eta-square = .119, p = .03).
However, a number of significant results involving composer gender
emerged from the analyses of the jazz excerpts. The ratings of artistic merit
and technical competence both showed a significant interaction between the
sex of the composer and the sex of the participant: artistic merit (F(1,59) =
5.58, eta-square = .086, p = .02); technical competence (F(1,59) = 6.30, eta-
square = .097, p = .02). As is shown in Figures 2a and 2b, in both cases
female participants gave higher ratings to the music of the female composer.
For artistic merit, males gave lower ratings to the music of the female com-
poser, but for technical competence, there was little difference in their ratings of
the music of the male and female composers.
For the feminine attributes of soothing and gentle, the work of male
composers received higher ratings than that of female composers. For the
masculine attribute of forceful, the work of male composers received higher
ratings overall than that of female composers. These results are summarized
in Table 3.
TA B L E3 Significant differences in ratings of gender-stereotyped attributes for jazz excerpts
attributed to male and female composers (df = 1, 59 for all analyses)

M for male M for female

Variable composers composers F value eta-square p

Soothing 3.99 3.43 7.40 .112 .008

Gentle 4.15 3.53 6.49 .099 .013
Forceful 3.91 4.60 10.64 .155 .002

Discussion
The main question asked in this study was whether variations in the attribu-
tion of musical excerpts to either male or female composers should lead to
variations in participants responses to those excerpts. It is clear from the
results obtained that such variations in response were present but arose
almost exclusively in the evaluations of the jazz excerpts. The reason why jazz
rather than the other genres was affected in this way is evident in the par-
ticipants ratings of the perceived likelihood of the two sexes composing in
the musical styles investigated. Figure 1 suggests that the composition of jazz
music was perceived as a masculine activity, whereas the composition of New
Age and classical music showed only minimal gender stereotyping. Thus it
could be argued that gender was more salient in the evaluations of the jazz

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 North et al.: Perceptions of male and female music 149

excerpts. The finding with respect to classical music is particularly notable

given the lack of well-known females composing within this style. This sur-
prising finding perhaps resulted from participants responses to this item
reflecting stereotypical gender differences in performance as well as composi-
tion of the musical styles: that is, both males and females typically perform
classical music, whereas instrumental jazz is almost overwhelmingly per-
formed by males.
Clear evidence was found that the participants held gender stereotypes in
accordance with previous research and that, with the exception of ratings of
individualistic, the direction of these corresponded with the Bem Sex Role
Inventory. That is, males were perceived as more forceful and innovative than
females, whereas this pattern was reversed for ratings of the extent to which
the two sexes were perceived as gentle, individualistic, warm and soothing.
Having established this to be so, the findings that, in the jazz genre, excerpts
attributed to male composers were rated as more gentle and soothing than
those attributed to female composers, and excerpts attributed to female com-
posers was rated as more forceful than those attributed to male composers,
appears to be the opposite of what might have been predicted. However, the
literature on gender stereotyping reveals that, under circumstances in which
evaluations are based upon subjective rather than anchored, objective scales,
such counter-intuitive results can occur. Essentially, subjective judgements
(such as those based on ratings of the kind used here) are interpreted with
respect to stereotypes. Stereotypes of different groups may generate different
expectations with respect to a particular attribute gentle when applied to a
man may imply a lesser degree of gentleness than when applied to a woman.
Thus the shifting standards model (Biernat and Manis, 1994; Kobrynowicz
and Biernat, 1997) predicts that different standards may apply to different
groups, depending upon the expectations associated with an attribute being
rated. These predictions have been supported in a series of studies of the use
of objective and subjective scales (e.g. Biernat et al., 1991; Kobrynowicz and
Biernat, 1997). An example of a typical finding is that a woman rated as
highly financially successful had to earn less money than a similarly rated
man. Our results offer another example of the operation of shifting standards
based upon stereotypes. The same music was rated as being more gentle and
warm when from male composers (gentle and warm for a man) and more
forceful when from female composers (forceful for a woman). It is noteworthy
that this effect occurred only in the case of jazz, the only genre which was
sex-typed to any degree and, therefore, the genre for which the sex of the
composers was most salient.
The findings with respect to perceptions of the competence of the compo-
sitions were, again, confined to the jazz excerpts. For both artistic merit and
technical competence, female participants gave higher ratings when the
music was attributed to female composers, and male participants gave lower
ratings to the artistic merit of the jazz excerpts when they were attributed to

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150 Psychology of Music 31(2)

female composers. This provides clear evidence of pro-female bias by females

and anti-female bias by males in a male-sex-typed genre. Arguably, of the
attributes rated, artistic merit best reflects the participants perceptions of the
worth of the music. It is, for example, perfectly possible to have a high level of
technical competence in a piece of music which has no other redeeming fea-
tures. One possible explanation of the finding is that males were reflecting the
identification of jazz with male expertise, while females were reacting to their
perceptions of the psychological and institutional barriers which deter
women from participating in areas which are heavily male dominated.
Alternatively, or in addition, in line with social identity theory (Tajfel et al.,
1971; Tajfel, 1978), both male and female participants may have been moti-
vated to favour their own sex.
Our study, therefore, provides only limited evidence of anti-female bias.
However, it is clear from previous reviews of the literature on gender bias in
evaluations that it only arises under certain conditions (Archer, 1992; Top,
1991). One factor which may have been influential in reducing the amount
of bias in the current study is the amount of information presented to partici-
pants in the biographies. All described successful musicians, and it is possible
that the generally high level of prestige associated with this cancelled out any
effects of composer gender on participants ratings. Prestige can influence
gender bias, as Pheterson et al. (1971) found when they compared evalua-
tions of a painting attributed to a male or female artist presented as either a
contest winner or a contest entry. In the former case there was no difference
in the evaluations of the male and female work but, in the latter case, in
which there was no external verification of the merit of the work, anti-female
bias was evident in the evaluations.
In conclusion, the current study found evidence of anti-female bias in
evaluations by male participants for jazz excerpts only. The lack of any signifi-
cant effects in the other genres cannot be attributed to the absence of gender
stereotypes in this group: clear gender stereotyping was present in their rat-
ings of typical males and females. Male and female composers were also
judged differently with respect to their likelihood of working in the different
styles examined, with jazz being stereotyped most and for males. Since the
effects of composer gender were confined to jazz, it seems that gender
becomes salient in the evaluation of sex-typed genres, both in evaluations of
attributes of the music associated with stereotypical masculinity or feminin-
ity, and in evaluations of the worth and competence of the composition.
Future research may attempt to replicate these effects, and gathering qualita-
tive data may be a particularly appropriate way of investigating further some
of the conclusions reached here. In the meantime, as well as adding to our
knowledge of the role of gender stereotypes in the perception of music, these
findings also have implications for jazz education which is growing in impor-
tance within music education. In order to encourage young people of both
sexes to participate in jazz composition and performance, it is important to

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 North et al.: Perceptions of male and female music 151

both maintain awareness of, and continue to investigate, gender-related

issues which may impact upon perceptions of the music and the desire to
engage with it.

AC K N OW L E D G E M E N T S

The authors are grateful to the staff of Groby Community College, Leicester; Pope
John School, Corby; Kingswood School, Corby; Prince William School, Oundle; and
Bosworth College, Desford, for providing access to participants; and also to Joan
Brown, Rik Butcher, Wendy Craig, Michael Timms, Nicola Clarke, Lisa Connor and
Victoria Brown for assistance in data collection. Pilot research for this project was car-
ried out by Wendy Monroe with support from Nuffield Foundation grant
SOC/100(197), and these two sources of assistance are also gratefully acknowledged.

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Appendix: musical excerpts

NEW AGE
Fuse, A New Day
P. Mergener and M. Weisser, Timber-Wave Reflections
Simple Minds, Someone Up There Likes You
Suzanne Ciani, Mosaic
Tangerine Dream, Song of the Whale (Part 2)
Trisan, May Yo I

JAZZ
Chick Coreas Elektric Band, Eye of the Beholder
Eric Marienthal, Crossroads
John Patitucci, Spaceships
John Scofield, Meant to Be
Kenny Wheeler, Double You Double You
Joe Henderson Quartet, Pentagon

CLASSICAL
Delius, Paris The Song of a Great City
Prokoviev, Ballet Suite, Das Madchen Julia
Prokoviev, Romeo and Juliet, Part 6
Saint Saens, Organ Symphony No. 3, Adagio
Shostakovitch, Symphony No. 5, Allegretto
Shostakovitch, Symphony No. 9, Moderato

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154 Psychology of Music 31(2)

A D R I A N C . N O RT H
is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Leicester.
His research interests lie in the social psychology of music. His most recent publica-
tion (with D.J. Hargreaves) is Age Variations in Judgements of Great Art Works,
British Journal of Psychology, 2002, 93: 397405.
Address: School of Psychology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester
LE1 7RH, UK. [email: acn5@le.ac.uk]
ANN M. COLLEY is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Leicester. Her
research interests lie in the psychology of gender differences in applied contexts. Her
most recent publication (with Z. Todd) is Gender Differences in the Style and Content
of E-mails to Friends, Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 2002, 21: 38093.
Address: as Adrian C. North. [email: aoc@le.ac.uk]
DAV I D J . H A RG R E AV E S is a Professor of Child Development at the University of Surrey
Roehampton. His research interests lie in the psychology of music and music educa-
tion. His most recent publication (with R.A.R. MacDonald and D.E. Miell) is Musical
Identities (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
Address: Centre for International Research in Music Education, University of Surrey
Roehampton, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5SL, UK
[email: d.j.hargreaves@roehampton.ac.uk]

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