The aim of this study was to gain insight into musical preferences and attitudes of students towards art music and the music education. In the first part of this study the teaching areas of music education are described, and crucial information about musical preferences are brought, while the second part of the paper includes a study which describes the procedures, test methods and results obtained. The study was conducted on a sample of 46 students, and the goal was to explore the views of students of second grades of elementary school towards music in general and the music education. The results showed that there are significant differences in listening to music in the spare time and attitudes towards music culture education with regard to gender. It also showed that there was no significant difference in 2 preference for singing as musical activity with regard to gender. However, when the responses of participants are grouped into two groups, first of which is represented by singing, and the other one by other musical activities, a statistically significant difference is obtained, which shows that female students, in relation to the male students, prefer singing as an activity of music education. The research results show that listening to music is important leisure activity of young people and how the male and female students have a positive attitude towards music culture education. Therefore it can be concluded that students love music and that it plays an important role in their lives.