Research projects

Jonas Brehm has been a research assistant at the Department of Music Education and Church Music since 2022. His courses are primarily concerned with analysing teaching in schools from different perspectives. There is a particular focus on the interlinking of theory and practice.

In his research, he is primarily concerned with questions of aesthetic philosophy. Anchored in the critical theory of Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, he approaches the question of whether an engagement with art can contribute to a better society.

The thesis is supervised by Prof Dr Kai Martin.

Claudia Höpfl has been a research assistant for music education since October 2023. She is working on her dissertation project on the topic of "Promoting musical reading skills. A DBR study on the development of teaching materials for learners with dyslexia." 

Based on a comprehensive analysis of the initial situation, teaching material is to be developed that is based on the content and basic principles of an existing programme to promote reading and spelling skills and transfers these to the acquisition and consolidation of music reading skills. 

The aim is to answer the question of whether the transfer can have an effect on the process of learning to read music. The effects will be examined in an iterative, multi-methodological process using eye-tracking and qualitative interviews.

The work is supervised by Prof Dr Anne Fritzen.

Since October 2022, Julia Keidl has been an artistic assistant at the Department of Music Education and Church Music for the subject School Practical Piano Playing. Her position creates various qualification opportunities in the artistic and pedagogical areas, which Julia Keidl can achieve by developing independent pedagogical-artistic projects or teaching formats for the subject Schupra, among other things.

The further development of her own artistic and pedagogical repertoire is also a focus of her work at the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar.

Kai Martin has been a professor of music didactics in Weimar since 2012 and is currently also the head of the Bachelor's/Master's programme in education and state examinations. 

His research interests lie in the "Philosophy of Music Education/ Philosophical Aesthetics", music education and historical musicology as interdisciplinary research fields as well as in current social and cultural transformation processes. 

Latest publication: 
Martin, Kai/ Stick, Christian (eds.): Musikpädagogik in Zeiten von Globalisierung und Digitalisierung, Weimar 2021 (https://www.pedocs.de/volltexte/2021/21721 or http://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-217212).

Anna Merz has been a research assistant in the area of music education (artistic-pedagogical training) since May 2022. In addition to her teaching activities, she is working on her doctoral project on the topic "Motivation to make music in the lifespan. Didactic implications of an incentive analysis for instrumental lessons with adults". 

The research focuses on the question of whether and to what extent a teaching methodology adapted to individual incentive preferences influences the development of interest in adult instrumental students. The aim of the project is the conception of a guideline for instrumental and singing lessons, which includes individual incentive preferences of adults.

The methodological approach is hypothesis-driven within the framework of a longitudinal study in which adult instrumental students and their teachers are accompanied in a research-based manner. The work is supervised by Prof Dr Anne Fritzen and Prof Dr Pablo Pirnay-Dummer (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg).

Eva-Marie Schmitt has been working as an artistic assistant in the Master's programme Elementary Music Education/Rhythmics since 2022 as part of a qualification position.

Her courses include teaching practices with different target groups (kindergarten, cooperation with senior citizens or caregivers with their children), subject didactics as well as elementary music education for students of teacher training programmes. 

Her focus is on the development of new teaching formats in a digital context, the acquisition of competences in teaching and accompanying international students, the further development of her own artistic-pedagogical profile and the acquisition of differentiated knowledge in the subject of rhythmics in theory and practice.

Anna Wolf completed her Bachelor's degree in Musicology at the University of Bremen and then went to Goldsmiths, University of London, for her Master's degree in Music, Mind and Brain. From 2011 to 2018 she worked at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (HMTM), where she completed her doctorate in 2015 with the title "Es hört doch jeder nur was er versteht. Construction of a competence-based assessment for ear training".

Since 2016, she also worked as a research assistant for teaching at the University of Hamburg, where she completed the teaching certificate "Good teaching practice" in 2019. In 2021, she returned to HMTM Hannover, this time as a consultant to the President, where she worked on the preparation of the Masterplan 2030 and the University Development Plan, among other things. 

Her research focuses on the assessment of musical skills, especially various listening skills such as analytical listening or sound perception, which are formed before and during studies.

In addition to these very specialised skills, she conducts research on the perception and impact of music in different contexts, including differently crafted interpretations, productions and performance practices. Other co-publications on neuromyths in music education, translations of the GoldMSI test procedure and singing in the music classroom complete her portfolio. 

Current publications at ORCID