The purpose of this article is to analyse three examples of musical folkbildning in Sweden. The first case is from the establishment of the state funded Framnäs Folk High Music School in the middle of the last century. The second case, Hagström’s music education, is from the same time but describes a music school run by a private company. The third case study concerns a contemporary expression of folkbildning, namely hip-hop. The theoretical framework that inspired this article stems from Pierre Bourdieu and his education sociology. The double feature of folkbildning appears in terms of: elitist and democratic tendencies, high and low taste agendas, control and freedom.