Extracurricular Music Activities in Elementary Schools of the City of Split

In the 20th century, extracurricular activities in elementary school became a part of structured school work within which educational activity of the school expands, with the goal of an individual student's development. This paper describes various forms of extracurricular music activities of children in elementary schools and their role in the overall development of a child. Empirical research on extracurricular music activities was carried out in elementary schools of the City of Split. Research conducted in the academic year 2013/14 shows that students were offered a total of twelve different extracurricular music activities in all city schools, and that the most frequently chosen ones are choir and folk ensemble. Likewise, we found that 11.8% of all students in elementary schools of Split attend extracurricular music activities, and that the greatest number of students is involved in choir and folk ensemble. We have found that students in the higher grades of elementary school attend extracurricular music activities to a greater extent than students in lower grades. It is necessary to make additional effort and invest additional resources in schools of the City of Split so that all students would have equal access to high-quality extracurricular music activities, and also to make those activities more available in students' free time, with the aim of overall development of children.