N/nature as an impetus for the creation of a sonic experience for babies | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. International Journal of Music in Early Childhood
  4. Volume 18, Issue 1
  5. Article
Volume 18, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 2516-1989
  • E-ISSN: 2516-1997

Abstract

This article explores the creation of a sonic experience for babies driven by conceptual notions of Nature at large, as well as the natural dispositions of babies. Using the researcher’s background as an experimental musician on the , parallels are drawn between contemporary music practices (e.g. John Cage; R. Murray Schafer; Toru Takemitsu) that explore Nature as theme, as well as Chinese perspectives (e.g. , Record of Music; Zhuangzi of Nature). Both speak to the diminution of the dualism of self and other such that one’s experiences could be viewed as interconnected within self and the environment, achieving attunement with Nature to be in a state of spontaneity. Babies seem to exist in such a state of attunement with Nature, where the self is in harmony with the other. Such existence allows one to be in a state of constant receiving and responding to sounds through multiple modalities of the body. According to Colwyn Trevarthen’s theory of innate intersubjectivity, this is fundamental to babies’ intersubjective communication, where babies innately seek attunement. Through the observations of four sonic experience sessions created for babies, the conceptual notions of Nature and its application onto the sessions are presented. These were evident through the artistic choices made in the structure, set and props, music explorations and babies’ engagement. Due to the nature of babies where they exist in spontaneity with the environment, it was noted that despite an experience designed especially for sonic functions, babies’ perceptions were multimodal in nature. The experience of sound was not purely auditory. Babies’ innate need to seek attunement, such as companionship through an imitative other was also significant to the experience. This has implications on the affordances of experiences in infant care environments in childcare settings.

© 2023 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ijmec_00056_1
2023-11-16
2024-05-01
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Abrams, R. M. and Gerhardt, K. J. (2000), ‘The acoustic environment and physiological responses of the fetus’, Journal of Perinatology, 20:S1, pp. S31–36.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Borczon, R. M. (2015), ‘Music therapy for survivors of traumatic events’, in B. L. Wheeler (ed.), Music Therapy Handbook, New York: Guilford Press, pp. 379–89.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Cage, J. (1961), Silence: Lectures and Writings by John Cage, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Chen-Hafteck, L. (1997), ‘Music and language development in early childhood: Integrating past research in the two domains’, Early Child Development and Care, 130:1, pp. 85–97.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Cook, S. (1995), ‘Yue Ji: Record of music: Introduction, translation, notes and commentary’, Asian Music, 26:2, pp. 1–96.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Cooper, R. P. and Aslin, R. N. (1990), ‘Preference for infant-directed speech in the first month after birth’, Child Development, 61:5, pp. 1584–95.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Dissanayake, E. (2000), Art and Intimacy: How the Arts Began, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Dissanayake, E. ([1988] 2002), What Is Art For?, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Dewey, J. (1925), Experience and Nature, London: Open Court Publishing Company.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Ducarme, F. and Couvet, D. (2020), ‘What does “nature” mean?’, Palgrave Communications, 6:1, pp. 1–8.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Education Scotland (2016), ‘Pre-birth to three: Professor Colwyn Trevarthen – Relationships’, YouTube, 13 January, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pW42_wYNGWk. Accessed 23 August 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I. and Shaw, L. L. (2011), Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Erikson, E. H. (1950), Childhood and Society, New York: Norton.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Gottschalk, J. (2016), Experimental Music Since 1970, New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Heidegger, M. (2014), Introduction to Metaphysics, 2nd ed., New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Johansen, M. (2018), Finding Your Way, Los Angeles, CA: Balboa Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Lawergren, B. (2010), ‘Harps on the ancient Silk Road’, in N. Agnuew (ed.), Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Conservation of Grotto Sites, Los Angeles, CA: The Getty Conservation Institute.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Liu, X. (2014), ‘“I Effaced Myself” and “The Disappearance of the Subject”: A comparison between Zhuangzi and Jean Baudrillard’s anti-subjectivism’, Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 9:2, pp. 213–28.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. ‘nature’ (2023), Merriam-Webster Online, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nature. Accessed 23 August 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. ‘nature’, (2023), Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/nature_1?q=nature. Accessed 23 August 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Oliveros, P. (2005), Deep Listening: A Composer’s Sound Practice, Lincoln, NE: IUniverse.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Piaget, J. ([1936] 1952), The Origins of Intelligence in Children, New York: International University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Russolo, L. (1913), ‘The art of noises’, UBUWEB, http://www.ubu.com/papers/russolo.html. Accessed 23 August 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Schafer, R. M. (1977), The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment and the Tuning of the World, Rochester, NY: Destiny Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Schafer, R. M. (1992), ‘Music, non-music and the soundscape’, in J. Paynter, T. Howell, R. Orton and P. Seymour (eds), Companion to Contemporary Musical Thought, London: Routledge, pp. 34–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Singapore Infopedia (2019), ‘Five stones’, https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_194_2005-01-07.html. Accessed 23 August 2023.
  27. Soulé, M. (1985), ‘What is conservation biology?’, BioScience, 35:11, pp. 727–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Stern, D. N. ([1985] 1998), The Interpersonal World of the Infant: A View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology, London: Karnac Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Takemitsu, T. (2001), ‘Nature and music’, in D. Rothenberg and M. Ulvaeus (eds), The Book of Music and Nature: An Anthology of Sounds, Words, Thoughts, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, pp. 183–92.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Toop, D. (2004), Haunted Weather Music, Silence, and Memory, London: Serpent’s Tail.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Trehub, S. E. (2001), ‘Musical predispositions in infancy’, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 930:1, pp. 1–16.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Trevarthen, C. (1998), ‘The concept and foundations of infant intersubjectivity’, in S. Bråten (ed.), Intersubjective Communication and Emotion in Early Ontogeny, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 15–46.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Westerkamp, H. (2001), ‘Speaking from inside the soundscape’, in D. Rothenberg and M. Ulvaeus (eds), The Book of Music and Nature: An Anthology of Sounds, Words, Thoughts, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, pp. 143–52.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Wolfinger, N. H. (2002), ‘On writing fieldnotes: Collection strategies and background expectancies’, Qualitative Research, 2:1, pp. 85–93.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Xiao, T. (1979), Tao Yuan Ming Ji, Beijing: Zhong Hua Shu Jü.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/ijmec_00056_1
Loading
  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): attunement; Chinese philosophy; contemporary; harmony; multi-modality; performance

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error