Musical interaction in online music education

Sammanfattning: The present study seeks to examine musical interaction in online education. Although the study focuses on how teachers have adapted their teaching methods to the new circumstances dictated by the still-ongoing covid-19 pandemic, the ambition has also been to investigate how a beneficial music education online could be conducted in order to promote a global teaching environment with sustainable travelling habits. The research has been driven by a curiosity about how the human mind experiences time and uses tools in order to create meaning and social networks. Thus, the research questions are aimed at investigating the term ‘musical interaction’ and how it has been affected by online education. Since the study focuses on the teachers’ point of view, another important topic is how the teachers have transformed their methods when teaching online. As social connections are of importance for all kinds of interaction, and technology plays a major part in creating the basis for online education, social constructionist theories that combine these areas, such as actor-network theory, mediation and reification, have been chosen as a framework for the analysis of the empirical material. The core of the empirical data consists of six interviews with teachers from different schools that have shifted to online education. The results show that four themes stand out when describing what affects the decisions connected to musical interaction in online education have in this special context. The first theme is the pandemic, which by its unpredictability ruins all forms of continuity. The second is the network, which sets the premises for what is feasible when interacting online. Third is online teaching, which requires extensive planning and calls for a more passive attitude when conducting lessons. The final theme is the view of what musical interaction ought to be compared to what a broader definition is suggesting. The final discussion considers new ways of looking at musical interaction, online education and the networks by which our society is constructed. The study concludes with a brief presentation of new technology that has been spawned by lockdowns and restrictions and points towards a future where greater diversity in teaching methods will prove to be valuable even after the pandemic is over.