Teaching Cultures

Comparing how a music lesson is carried out and planned in single cases from Sweden and Germany

Abstract

Starting point of the study is the assumption about different teaching cultures in Germany and in Sweden. The assumption is illustrated within the thick description of two cases from those countries. Thus, social practices were reconstructed in a recorded music lesson on video, afterwards contextu- alized with the lesson planning and the corresponding curriculum. Finally, both cases were compared. Thus, a videographic and an ethnographic approach are embedded within an international comparative perspective. On the one hand, features of the pedagogical tradition of ‘Bildung’ can be re-constructed within the case from Germany. On the other hand, the case from Sweden shows features of the pedagogical tradition of Curriculum. Furthermore, the study develops hypotheses regarding specific national patterns. On a methodological and methodical level, the study contributes to praxeological classroom research and to the field of comparative music education.