Playing, new music technology and the struggle with achieving intersubjectivity

Abstract

Abstract This study is an empirical investigation of what activities evolve when children interact with and around a new music technology (an Interactive Reflexive Musical System (IRMS), a kind of computationally augmented instrument), with and without an adult actively participating. What the nature of the participations’ communication is, what structuring resources they are introduced to and use, and whether or not the participants establish temporarily sufficient intersubjectivity are analysed. The empirical data consist of video observations from an after-school centre of, first, the children themselves interacting with each other and the music technology, and second, with a teacher participating in the activity. The result shows that the activities developed into different types of play-based participations: make-believe and/or musical play. Although the adult provides some structuring resources (counting, using metaphors and gestures) to engage the children in a ‘musical dialogue’ with the system, the participants do not establish temporarily sufficient intersubjectivity for engaging in a joint activity of this kind. The finding that the children (and adult) engage in many different kinds of activities illustrates the creative and open-ended nature of participating in social practices.