Factors and Clusters of Musical Self-Concept Discovered in a Cross-Cultural Sample of Swiss, Chinese, and Taiwanese Students

Cultural and societal settings in which an individual is raised, and the role of music and musical training during an individual’s upbringing, shape the relation to music and the conception of the self with regard to music in the present and in the future. Accordingly, differing cultural and musical biographical backgrounds are reflected in differences of musical self-concepts. The aim was to assess distinct musical self-concept types of Chinese, Taiwanese, and Swiss university music students with an adapted version of the Musical Self-Concept Inquiry (MUSCI), and to analyze these types in terms of the manifestation of different dimensions of the musical self-concept as well as sociodemographic and further personal characteristics. 805 university music students took part in the study. The sample included 293 Swiss, 356 Chinese, and 156 Taiwanese students. An adapted version of the Musical Self-Concept Inquiry was administered, and the data subjected to a principal component and a confirmatory factor analysis to determine the factors of the musical self-concept. A cluster analysis was carried out to identify self-concept clusters. H-, U-, Chi2, and two-sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov Z-tests were carried out to assess cluster differences in the factor manifestations, as well as sociodemographic and further personal aspects. The Musical Self-Concept Inquiry-SwisSino could be confirmed with regard to three factors (ability, mood management, dance), while other factors could not be retained. Three significantly distinct clusters were identified, which differed regarding the factor manifestation and the students’ origin, gender, course of study, main instrument, practice hours, and parental educational background and musical activity. However, due to only a few dimensions of the musical self-concept being verified, the broadness of the concept was restricted. Advances in quantitative comparative music studies will thus require further work on conceptional issues as well as the clarification of cultural notions and adequate translations.