Hermeneutics and an understanding of children's electronic musical compositions

A yearlong project into the electronic compositions and compositional approaches of children led the author to investigate theoretical frameworks to support an analysis process that accommodated the capacity to re-live and reinterpret data through the same technologies that were used to create it. An exploration of the hermeneutical approach to text as presented by Ricoeur provided the opportunity for the author to apply such approaches to the re-experiencing of the data in a way made unique by the use of ICTs. This article presents data from that project and describes how and why the methodologies (and the technology) enabled the researcher to develop new ideas about the ways in which children think musically.