Analysing children musical improvisation by means the paradigms of reflexive interaction and intertextuality.

Recent studies on teaching improvisation have evidenced like such practice, still rarely tackled in western formal music education, enhances self-motivation, collaborative playing and musical skills in children (Sawyer 1997, McPherson 2005, Gellerich 2002, Custodero 2007). In this poster the concept of "reflexive interaction" (e.g. interaction based on the mirroring effect) (cfr. Bruner 1983, Trevarthen 2000, Stern 2004, Imberty 2005, Pachet 2006) and the theory of "intertextuality" (e.g. quotation, collage, sampling) (cfr. Bakthin 1930, Barthes 1957, Kristeva 1969; “intermusicality” Manson 2006) are used as novel theoretical and methodological tools in order to analyse the co-constructive processes of children musical improvisation. A study lead on the interaction between children and a particular interactive reflexive musical system, called the Continuator, allows to analyse some reflexive and intertextual processes of collaborative playing in 3 to 8 year old children (Addessi & Pachet 2005, 2006). The system is able to imitate the style of the child playing the keyboard as a sound mirror, and to produce continuously quotations of the musical sentences played by the child and the system over the interaction. The aim is to analyse children musical improvisation when they are playing with other subject(s) (human or machine), from a point of view of the co-constructive process (e.g. Young 2004, Burnard 2002). The aim is to verify the efficacy of both reflexive interaction and intertextuality on the child’s music improvisation development. The data analysed so far show some interesting processes of co-construction of the musical sentences realized by the children and the machine. These data suggest that : the reflexive interaction is an efficient strategy to develop music co-constructive process in children. the use of “borrowed” musical fragments, quotations, and collage, enhances musical creativity and co-constructive process also in young children, as predicted by the theory of intertextuality in the field of letterature. The Interactive reflexive musical systems, as the Continuator, are a useful tools to enhancing musical improvisation processes in young children. the Interactive reflexive musical systems, as the Continuator, are a useful tools to studying musical improvisation processes in young children.