Taste externalization practices among Brazilian metal consumers who learn to play musical instruments

We consider music consumption an integrative practice that promotes taste, in which consumers of a specific musical genre are occasionally interested in learning to play a musical instrument. In this context, the article analyzed the interrelationships between practice and taste externalized among Brazilian consumers of metal music and related subgenres. We conducted interviews to understand how self-taught instruction, formal music education and musical instruments configure the process. Self-taught instruction is based on listening/technical skills enhanced by informal pedagogical resources, in which the performance of metal artists also influences the song reproduction. Formal music education is guided by traditions and methods rather than focusing solely on the learner’s taste; however, it is a path for ‘authorial experiments’ that externalize the preference for metal music. Musical instruments influence this process due to their technical specifications, electronic equipment and aesthetic elements. We concluded that the learning process to play musical instruments constitutes a taste externalization practice and that the way it occurs is associated with metal music consumption in the researched context.