The aim of the present article is to present a procedure for investigation of music education practices using a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. The philosophical background and its consequences for the empirical methods are described. The investigation procedure is based on a seven step model developed in a course with music teacher students who were going to investigate and discuss a particular music teaching practice. The model was used in an exercise aiming at 1) establishing a research perspective that builds on an open attitude and without a specific research question as point of departure and 2) analyzing the music teaching practice using relevant psychological, pedagogical and music education theories. The concept of ”astonishment” is suggested as a fruitful point of departure for this kind of investigation. In anthropological research the concept is used about the special surprise or wonder in encountering foreign culture. As ”culture” is about human relations aimed at a common goal, also music education practice can be understood as a culture. The investigation procedure includes video observations in a music education practice. An ”astonishing” phenomenon connected with an educational problem may arise from the observation in the situation or later in the study of the collected material. The observed phenomenon is the point of departure of analysis and interpretation. This process deviates from a traditional way of doing research, where the point of departure is a problem defined by the researcher. As a consequence, theories used in analysis are not defined at the outset, but depend on the characteristic of the observed phenomenon
