The materiality of composition processes. Interaction-analytical approaches towards the changeability of things

Various things, such as instruments, everyday items or digital media, are oftentimes at the centre of students’ composition processes and therefore central for the understanding of music education in schools. In the wake of Latour’s progressive actor-network-theory (Latour, 2005), a number of innovative approaches in qualitative classroom research focusing on the role of things have emerged (e.g. Fetzer, 2017; Martens, Asbrand, Spieß, 2015). From a praxeological perspective, recent research suggests that (in-school) use of things follows ritualized rules and that the specific meaning attributed to them is subject to constant re-negotiation (Rabenstein, 2018b). This article tries to summarize classroom research integrating things in order to develop a methodological framework for a subject-specific approach. The proposed changeability of things will be elaborated in a case study of a student group’s composition process (Rabenstein, 2018a). (DIPF/Orig.