How many ways to say something: smiling, singing and bubbling!

Theoretical Background How many ways are there to say something? Smiling, singing, bubbling. Several studies have just demonstrated that toddlers are active partners in both interactions with adults and interactions with peers. The end of the first year marks the way from pre-intentional to intentional communication (Camaioni). The results of the research show that some musical elements (inside the mother/child interaction) like turn-taking (Stern), narratives, pulse (Trevarthen), repetition/variation mechanism (Imberty), define the concept of “communicative musicality” in young children (Trevarthen, Malloch). Further research underlines the important function of the “communicative musicality” in the regulation of emotive state in parent/child interaction (Young), but there are few studies (Bradley and Selby, Malloch, Addessi) on the observation of toddlers interactions among peers outside home and laboratory settings. Aim The aim of the project is to explore and describe the use and the characteristics of the voice during the interactions among toddlers in a naturalistic setting without adult’s participation. Considering the important role of the non verbal communication in early childhood, the project investigates also the relation among the use of the body, the gesture and the voice. Method The observation was carried out in a nursery school of Bologna (Italy) with 10 toddlers of 8-14 months old. Toddlers were divided in two groups of five elements each. Children were observed during free play in a small room where some toys are prepared (dolls, sound telephones, books). To warrant the well-being of children and to make the setting more naturalistic as possible a reference caregiver was invited to take part at all the sessions. We observed children one time a week for 8/10 weeks. All sessions were video recorded. We collected also a questionnaire about toddler’s family characteristics, for example: presence/absence of brothers and sisters, parents’ habit to sing/or not to their son. A daily dairy was compiled by the observer. Synthesis of the content The video-recorded data have been examined through two observative grids: A) Analyzing each child inside the group we observed firstly non verbal communication (gestures, eyes movement, body) and verbal communication (proto-words, words and systematic vocalisations) and secondly the characteristics of the voice: rhythm, intensity pitch and melodic profile. B) Comparing the two groups we observed: differences in the use of the space, toys, timing of interactions, number of partners, and gender differences. The questionnaires and the observer’s dairy data have been used to define psychological profiles and family background of children involved. Conclusions and implications for music education The results underline toddlers are active partners inside the group of peers. Differently from mother/child interaction, the interaction among peers enhances a real symmetric relation (Fogel) in which the level of language’s acquisition is very similar. The role of the voice becomes early very important, because at this level of language’s acquisition, the changes of voice’s characteristics (intensity, pitch and rhythm) allow toddlers to understand the message of the others, and especially to recognize the emotive state (Young) of the contest. From a pedagogical point of view is very important, for the adult, observing and respecting this “communicative musicality” among very little children.