Communicative aspects of the dyadic musical interaction between mother and child.

Background. It is well known that music covers an essential role in the dyadic interaction of a child even in his first moments of life. It has been observed, particularly in the relationship between mother and son, that a musical stimulus, especially coming from a voice, is effective either from a communicative-affective (Stern, 2004) or from a communicativeattention point of view (Papousek, Papousek, Boestein, 1985). The characteristics of this interaction, like the presence of the repetition/variation mechanism (Imberty, 2005) and communicative symmetries (Fogel, 1977), are extremely important in order to create self-consciousness inside a child, either in a family or in a school context. The “communicative co-regulation” – Relational Coding System – (Fogel) is an implicit feature of the dyadic relationship, and its decoding process represents an important resource in order to investigate the construction mechanism of self-consciousness in a child throughout the family and scholastic routines (Addessi, 2008). Aims. The aim is to observe and analyze a communicative aspect, with the implication of a musical element, of a dyadic interaction mother and son during the daily routine. Main contribution. During a weekend period a mother with her three-year-old son was filmed in various moments such as routine, playing or relax time. A microanalysis with Relational Coding System was made upon a section (approximately 8 minutes long) in which mother and child were interacting with playing instruments-toys and voice. The categories (RCS) utilized to evaluate the results are: symmetrical communication, when there is a mutual engagement between the partners in participating in a communicative process; unsymmetrical communication, when the contribution in creating new features in communication is unsymmetrical between the two partners; one-sided communication, when one of the two partners regulates his own activity upon the other without any form of shared action; disruption when there is an attempt of mutual innovation that stops the action; not involved communication, when the partners are not co-regulated even with communication possibilities. The results show that there is no evidence of a “not involved” communication, while a substantial “co-regulation”, that is most of the time “unsymmetric”. The evidence of an unsymmetric communication appears closely connected to the introduction of new musical elements by the mother, while a total control of the musical production by the son seems to cause a symmetrical communication. This study employs the observation methodologies derived from the studies in developmental psychology intertwined with the musical dimension of the mother/child interaction in an interdisciplinary way.