Music is inherent in everyday life of every human being, highlighting the aesthetic and emotional dimensions of social life (DeNora, 2017). Exploring the role of music in people's lives and shaping musical identities is a research interest of contemporary music education (DeNora, 2017; Kastner, 2009). Musical identity is defined as the complete image of an individual in relation to music (Mills, 2008) and is formed based on the individual's interactions with his socio-cultural environment (Kastner, 2009). It includes aspects such as self-concept, which concerns the conscious identification with musical roles (Mills, 2008; Trusty & Oliva, 1994), self-esteem which refers to the self-assessments of the individual in relation to his music skills and is a consequence of the evaluation of "others" (Trusty & Oliva, 1994) and self-efficacy that concerns the emotional perception of the individual for future situations (Kastner, 2009). 

This presentation is part of the research of the Postgraduate dissertation "Exploring the musical identities of three teenagers in Greece" and will present the results of a participant. The research was conducted in Greece (03/02/2021 to 10/05/2021) with the main participants 2 girls, 1 boy, (adolescents) with the aim of improving the music education of adolescents through the understanding of their musical identity. The purpose of the research was to discover how the socio-cultural context and experiences of three adolescents in relation to music unfold, in the construction and shaping of their musical identity, through the aspects of self-perception, self-esteem and self-efficacy. In order to achieve a triangulation of the results, different research tools were activated and in addition, the children's parents and the music teacher of the class were invited to participate in the research. The main tool was the interviews, semi-structured and narrative (12 in total). In addition, the main participants were asked to keep a reflective journal, in which they recorded musical experiences and emotions. The method of thematic analysis was used for data analysis.

The participant in the research process was a secondary school A’ student and her mother is a music teacher. The research shows that she does not actively participate in any extracurricular music activities, as for her, music is not a priority. She believes that she does not have a good voice, she can not become "like her mom" and that learning music is a painful process, in which you sacrifice personal time and other interests. She believes that she does not have a good voice, she can’t become "like her mom" and that learning music is a painful process, in which you sacrifice personal time and other interests.

This presentation will present the data that shape its musical identity, articulating conclusions from the international literature, which can’t be generalized, but can provide additional data and conclusions to the existing ones. Through the findings of the research, it emerges that musical self-consept is associated with the insufficient manifestation of interest in music learning, which results from the lack of a favorable learning environment - formal learning, lack of creativity - (Green, 2002). At the same time, the clear influence of the familiar environment in the formation of low self-esteem is highlighted (Trusty & Oliva, 1994) as well as the lack of reflection and self-evaluation in the formation of low music self-efficacy (Kastner, 2009). The findings confirm that the musical identity of the individual consists of a set of characteristics that are built in the long run and relate to the deep understanding of the self, in relation to the socio-cultural context that governs it (Kastner, 2009 ∙ Mills, 2008).

• Ταυτότητες και ετερότητες στη μουσική και τη μουσική εκπαίδευση

Nakou Maria is a musician, music educator specializing in Greek traditional music. She holds a degree from the Department of Music Studies of the University of Ioannina (formerly TLPM) with a specialization in the traditional canon instrument and is a postgraduate student in Music Pedagogy (MMuEd) at the European University of Cyprus, in the process of preparing her dissertation on "Musical identities". He has completed classical piano studies and holds a degree in advanced theory of European music and Byzantine music. Since 2007 she has been working as a music teacher in conservatories and schools of primary and secondary Greek education. At the same time, she has taken part as a musician and as a ensemble manager in music concerts as well as a speaker in music lectures. He has attended seminars on music pedagogy, school psychology, special education and Greek traditional music. Her research interests focus on issues of didactic approach and sociological investigation of music pedagogy. In 2008, her first research on "Children's musical improvisation and its use in public preschool education" was completed (Nakou, 2008).