Öppenhet och medvetenhet : en fenomenologisk studie av musikdidaktisk interaktion

My interest in the problem I have chosen has grown from my practise as a music teacher in Swedish compulsory schools. My ontological and epistemological standpoints belong to a life-world-phenomenological way of thinking. By this I mean that the world is around us and in us, we are in the world, but experience it in different ways from our earlier experiences. An assumption in the study is that method and theory can hardly be separated from each other. When it comes to my view on teaching and learning, I have a holistic perspective. I don’t think you can separate content and methods. I think that the development of an individuals’ music experience and music knowledge needs to be in focus. With that foundation of understanding as a startingpoint, I believe that learning is constituted by our experiences in the world. I will also stress that learning does not arise nor is it formed in a vacuum, it is instead found in a complex context. The aim of the study is to describe, analyse and try to understand music teaching and learning interaction between teachers and pupils at music lessons in years 4-6 of compulsory school. There is a focus on the teacher’s words, actions and reflections. In what ways do teachers interact with pupils in musical learning processes? What aspects of the teaching and learning interaction are important when the aim is to offer the pupils, musical experience? How do the teachers reflect upon the interaction? According to a phenomenological way of looking at the world, the mean is to find a method that makes it possible to understand individuals and social groups from the lived relations they have to their environments, the world they live and participate in. The purpose is not solely to enlighten the things that already exist, but to see new connections between what is already existing. I followed three teachers for one semester, observed them and let them reflect via e-mail on the notes I wrote them every week. The generated written material was analysed by a method inspired by phenomenology. The results are presented in two parts. The first part is based on the observations. It is presented as themes and aspects that through the analysis seemed to be important and represent different sides of the phenomenon. The themes focus the following; How the teachers related to the incorporated musical knowledge of the pupils, in which way the teachers were open to the initiatives of the pupils, how musical experience was made possible, how the acts of the pupils were handled and finally which symbols were used in the interaction. The second part is based on the teachers’ reflections and is presented in two themes; Conditions that influence the quality of the interaction, and balance. Each theme is commented, related to practise and earlier research, and put into a broader context. In the last chapter some pervading characteristics such as inter-subjective creation of meaning, and distribution of responsibility are discussed.Godkänd; 2004; 20061026 (haneit