Pre- and postnatal music education forearly mother-child interaction

Successful communication underpins the success of human interaction. Musiceducation and early interaction are well known as separate phenomena. In theresearch reported here, music was considered as communication. The focus of thestudy was aimed at the gap between the connections of music education with inter-action, supporting development through musical nurture. Multiple strategies meth-odology: qualitative and quantitative measures, theoretical, data, investigator andmethodology triangulation were employed in this investigation. Systematic videoanalysis, however, was used as a main method. The philosophical background wasphenomenological, while the empirical study was conducted as an adaptation of anaction study. The musical-emotional communication in the groups of mothers andbabies were compared by separating the participants in three groups:1) for both pre-and postnatal musical sessions (E); 2) only for postnatal musical sessions (C1); and3) for no musical sessions at all (C2). Strong, multiple connections between musicand interaction were found in the early behaviour of the mother and the baby, andin the infant’s development. Based on vocal, visual, bodily and emotional evidence,especially the prenatal musical experiences were found to be significant for themother-infant-bonding. In conclusion, early interaction can be musically supported