The lessons from Catalonia and Sweden, based in instrumental or vocal music performance, are analysed taking into account the respective teachers’ goals and practices. The implications of the two different methodologies used, top-down big ensemble and collaborative small groups, and their relationship to constructivist pedagogies are discussed.

This chapter demonstrates how distinct positions in “Didactics” structure lessons in general, even down to structures in interaction. Another focus lies in the role of assessment in a comparison between the Lower-Saxony- and the Scottland-Lesson. It can be shown that the role of assessment that is proposed by the school administration influences classroom action, again down to structures of interaction.

Chapter and Analytical Short Films show the Scottish “aspects of quality” of music education. Four key capacities of comprehensive education: successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens, and effective contributors to society, and three key competences for comprehensive musicianship: listening, performing and composing.

Analysing the conversations at the conference the chapter addresses fundamental issues of cultural comparison in music education. There is a disciplinary bias that can tempt the researcher to overestimate cultural conditions. This could lead to cultural relativism that keeps us from critically addressing normative issues associated with aims and contents of music education.

Die Einleitung beschreibt das Konzept des Symposions und des Buchs zusammen mit Grundlinien der Situation der Musikdidaktik bzw. Musikpädagogik in Deutschland. Ein zweiter Abschnitt gibt Zusammenfassungen der Beiträge und zeigt Querverbindungen, ein dritter Abschnitt skizziert die Themen und Struktur der drei Diskussionsrunden („Fishbowls“) zwischen jeweils 3-4 Autoren des Buchs und der letzte Abschnitt gibt Anregungen für die Arbeit mit dem Material, insbesondere den DVDs (die jede Stunde aus drei Kamerawinkeln zeigen). / The introduction describes the concept of the symposion and the book together with some baselines of the situation of music didactics in germany. A second part gives summaries of the articles and connections between them, a third part is about the three discussions (“fishbowls”) between the authors of the book and the last part offers suggestions how to work with the material, specially the DVDs (which show each lesson with three camera-angles).

Es besteht Einigkeit darüber, dass über „die Wahrheit“ im Allgemeinen und in der Musikpädagogik im Besonderen keine Einigkeit besteht. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt der Text das Verhältnis zwischen einer nationalen Sprache (Deutsch) und Englisch als Lingua Franca in der Wissenschaft allgemein, der Musikwissenschaft und der Musikpädagogik dar. Der Text schließt mit dem Bedarf an Kommunikation und der Skizzierung einiger „Bojen“ zur Verständigung in internationaler Musikpädagogik. / Realizing the common sense of having no common sense about the truth, the article presents the relation between a national language (German) and English as lingua franca in international practices of science in general, musicology and music pedagogy. It concludes with the need of communication and some buoys of understanding in international music education.

Es besteht Einigkeit darüber, dass über „die Wahrheit“ im Allgemeinen und in der Musikpädagogik im Besonderen keine Einigkeit besteht. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt der Text das Verhältnis zwischen einer nationalen Sprache (Deutsch) und Englisch als Lingua Franca in der Wissenschaft allgemein, der Musikwissenschaft und der Musikpädagogik dar. Der Text schließt mit dem Bedarf an Kommunikation und der Skizzierung einiger „Bojen“ zur Verständigung in internationaler Musikpädagogik. / Realizing the common sense of having no common sense about the truth, the article presents the relation between a national language (German) and English as lingua franca in international practices of science in general, musicology and music pedagogy. It concludes with the need of communication and some buoys of understanding in international music education.

In this chapter, enacted possibilities for learning in a Scottish and a Swedish music lesson are analysed and compared with the intended learning outcomes as defined in the Swedish national curriculum. The Scotland-Lesson proves to place more emphasis on music's auditive aspects while the Sweden-Lesson focuses playing as individual manual skills.

This summary connects parts of nearly every chapter of the book with a thick brush regarding normative constellations. Comparing the constellations shows both, how practices within lessons are normatively connected with practices in other social fields, and that there are fractures that show a need for further research. In conclusion I sketch a model for comparative praxial music education.

Video-recorded music lessons (on multi angle DVDs) were used to inspire and improve understanding among experts from different cultures and discourses of music education. To make the process manageable and focused we developed the Analytical Short Film (2-3 minutes) to address particular areas of interest and starting points for debate. We asked selected music teachers from seven nation-states to allow a typical and (in their opinion) good lesson to be recorded. We also asked the students and their parents for permission. At a symposium, national experts and researchers presented views on „their“ lessons through Analytical Short Films. Discussion included implicit and explicit comparisons. The presenters also used a lesson from one of the other countries to stimulate discussion about assumptions in and challenges to their own views. We documented all comparisons made and compared these to derive cross cultural categories (tertia comparationis). These categories should be relevant for understanding what makes a music lesson „good“. The different perspectives and discussions offered by the authors in this book provide rich and diverse material for researchers, teachers and teacher educators.