Mothers and children: musicality, a "creative potential" by Anne Delavenne
2006 Winner Mothers and children : musicality, a “creative potential”
Born in 1982 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines), Anne Delavenne specialises in cognitive psychology and music psychology. The thesis she started in 2006 looks at a new field of investigation that is musicality.
What is the theory of musicality?
Formalised at the end of the 1990s, this theoretical framework postulates that all human beings have a capacity – musicality – at their disposal and that is the basis of current communication such as artistic expression. Musicality brings together the sounds and gestures at work in interpersonal relations, and is present in mother-child interactions, which, due to the lack of words, are based on shared emotions. Through rhythms and intonations, mothers and their babies can uphold real proto-dialogues… With time, the body – and therefore expression through body movements – plays an increasingly bigger role in their relations.
What does this work reveal about motherhood?
The main thing for mothers is to let the creative potential develop in their relationship with their newborn, using babbling, stroking, prosody, facial expressions… The potential lies in the wealth of musicality. Nevertheless, the results of my work will also be able to help perinatal professionals, such as paediatric nurses, to gain a better understanding of mother-child interactions.
You have played classical guitar since the age of 7. Is this a coincidence?
I grew up with this instrument and need to play it a number of times a week. This practice teaches me to concentrate – and relax at the same time. This artistic expression uses means other that the usual tool of language and develops emotions, which is not so distant from the subject of my thesis…
