Young children’s Musical Experiences with a Flow Machine

Background: In the field of the studies on creativity is placed the Theory of Flow introduced by Csikszentmiahlyi (1990) in order to describe the state of Flow, or optimal experience, experimented by the creative persons during their preferred activities. In the field of music education Custodero (2005) elaborated a list of flow indicators to observe the Flow state in the musical experience of children. At the Sony Computer Science Laboratory, an innovative system was elaborated able to produce music in the same style as the person playing the keyboard, the Continuator. The ability of the system to attract and hold the attention of children can be interpreted through the theory of Flow (Pachet 2005). Aims: The DiaMuse project is carrying out dealing with the interaction between young children and the Continuator. The experimental results have shown some micro-processes similar to one observed in child/adult interaction (Stern 1985, Imberty 2005, Addessi & Pachet 2005). During the interaction with the system, the children seem to reach high levels of “well-being” and creativity, very similar to those described by Csikszentmiahlyi. An observation grid was therefore realised in order to analyse in details the emotive tones described in the Theory of Flow. Method: The experimental protocol was realised in a kindergartner with young children aged 3/5 years playing with the Continuator. Three sessions were held once a day for 3 consecutive days. In every session, the children were asked to play on the keyboard in 4 different situations: with the keyboard alone, with the keyboard connected to the Continuator, with another child, and with another child and the Continuator. All sessions was video recorded. Results: The data show the presence of behaviours correlated with all the variables considered in the grid: focused attention, concentration, clear-cut feedback, control of the situation, intrinsic motivation, excitement, change in the perception of time, clear goals, pleasure, involvement, and socialization with partner. In particular we found that the percentage when the Flow state was present is higher when the child play alone with the Continuator. We also noticed the presence of the flow indicators as observed by Custodero (2005) in musical experiences. Conclusion: The Flow experience that the Continuator, or other similar interactive reflective musical system, could generate during the interaction constitutes one of the prerequisite for enhancing musical creativity and personal music improvisation styles. This is an important result since despite its great importance, teaching to improvise is still rarely tackled in western formal music education. We will discuss the results and we will show some video examples.