Blue and pink in extracurricular music education. Some differences associated with gender at the beginning of studies

Several studies have already been carried out to analyse the reasons of why a boy or a girl starts to study music outside school and chooses his or her instrument. These results make it possible to raise some knowledge, one of them about the gender differences that exist in this educational sector which leads to the perpetuation of stereotypes linked to them, thereby limiting the possibilities according to the sex with which they were born. This article presents a research carried out with students in different educational centres in the Region of Murcia and the province of Alicante, with the aim of knowling the influence that gender has on the instruments selected, those of the environment and those that these students prefer. From this perspective, students’ initial motivations towards music and their instrument are also analysed. The results, parallel to other researchs, show important similarities in all of these matters. They also provide data that can be related to the musical environment of this research.