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Young people’s recreational activities are based on, contain or are framed by music, where by choosing music and applying knowledge about styles they construct their identities and lifestyle projects. This study explores the relationship between music activities at school and in leisure time, how young people use and perceive music in these two environments and in what way they interact. Theories and research on late and post modernity, social construction, media, youth culture and music education are utilized in this study. Concepts such as authenticity, individualization, reflexives, aestheticization and makeability are concerns in the processing of the empirical data. The study is based on a survey, observations and interviews where three musical environments in two different upper secondary schools were investigated. 83 third-year pupils completed the survey, out of whom I interviewed 29 pupils.

Music is pictured as an activity and a positioning of the individual in a social context, or as a construction of identity, as I prefer to put it. Emotions are essential in music, and according to the pupils emotions are created by the musician, mediated in music and interpreted by the listener. It is important to be authentic and to have a unique identity, which is possible to achieve in music. In the study pupils equal music to emotions and emotions to the self, which I define as Music = feelings = I. Music symbolizes cultural affiliation, lifestyle choices and ethical standpoints described in stereotypes which young people gather from various attributes and combine personally depending on the time and cause. It seems important to be open-minded and creative, which can be promoted by music activities according to the pupils. Music as a characteriser of identity seems to be at stake both in leisure time and at school. Based on the notion that young people’s behaviours are seismic readings of tendencies in society, this study implies that upper secondary school music activities are cultural investments in identity and in the students’ life projects.