The Rhythms of relationships in infancy and early childhood (media release)

The 2009 Music Education Conference (Modulations - Music ‘09) to be held at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, Christchurch, 6-10 July 2009 will welcome home a very special New Zealander whose internationally acclaimed research has impacted our understanding of infants and young children far beyond the interests of music specialists.

Professor Emeritus Colwyn Trevarthen of The University of Edinburgh, has been a pioneer in the study of the musical nature of the relationships infants have with their parents and the ways such relationships support children’s brain development, communication, learning and emotional health. His ideas have been used worldwide to improve the quality of relationships between infants and parents.

Here in New Zealand, Colwyn Trevarthen’s ideas have supported the creation of the Musical Parenting Association, a parent-led approach to discovering, exploring and expanding the power of music to support adults and children coming into ‘synch’ with each other, paying close attention to each other, learning each other and, above all, enjoying each other. A far cry from the fast and furious hype of most music programmes for children, musical parenting is about parenting better through allowing the inherent musicality of human beings to come to the fore and dictate the gentle attunement of parent and child. Started in Christchurch, the Musical Parenting Association now has activities nationwide. For more information go to: http://www.musicalparenting.org.nz/

Using the same approach to parent-infant/child interaction, Professor Trevarthen’s ideas have been integrated into the Champion Centre programme for children with developmental disabilities for the last 15 years.  Children attending the Champion Centre with their parents have music sessions with a focus on the parent-child relationship and its power in supporting development in all children. Parents discover the “competence of infants for sharing impulses of voice and gesture in play with sympathetic partners” (to quote Professor Trevarthen). Different from much standard music therapy, this relationship centred approach provides a way for children with a range of significant disabilities to enter relationships with others through music. For more information on the Champion Centre go to: http://www.championcentre.org.nz/ 

At the Music 09 conference to be held at the Grand Chancellor Hotel in Christchurch from 6^th to 10^th July 2009, Professor Trevarthen will be presenting an address entitled Making moving music: How innate rhythms of life become fabulous art in sound. Find out more at http://www.music09.org.nz/

This is a joint press release of the organisers of the Music ‘09 conference, The Musical Parenting Association and The Champion Centre. For more information, please contact Dr. David Sell (david.sell@canterbury.ac.nz) or Dr. Susan Foster-Cohen (susan@championcentre.org.nz)  

June 16^th 2009.