Communicating Without Words
Music as a Universal Pre-Verbal Language
Before infants have words, their interactions with caregivers take on a musical quality.
This can be observed in the rhythm of their gestures, the pitch changes in their vocalisations (we hear it in their cooing and babbling), and the melodic phrasing of their expressions which exists in connection to the turn-taking musical dialogue between caregiver and infant. Babies love to hear their caregivers’ voices, whether that be talking, humming, or singing. These voices are recognisable to babies from an early age and are learnt in the womb.
Standley (2010) has developed considerable research in music therapy with premature infants. It is noted that premature infants benefit from auditory stimuli and that at 25-27 gestation weeks they respond to sound by ‘moving or kicking’. Standley highlights that babies are beginning to recognise maternal voice and the nearby environment at 30-35 gestation weeks, and at birth are recognising melodies, sounds, and their native language.
Babies are innately musical beings and engaging them in musical ways can be really beneficial to their development and their experience of learning about the world around them. These intimate ways of communicating with one another strengthens bonds between parent and infant. Stern’s (1998) research on parent-infant bonding and interaction explores the idea of affect attunement. By matching an infant’s affect, a caregiver responds in a way that shows the infant their feelings have been recognised and understood.
The caregiver gives this back in a form that is not a direct mirror, but is matched in a manageable musical cross-modal response for the infant to take in. These back-and-forth exchanges help an infant to start to build a sense of self and learn to connect with others. Music Therapists draw on Stern’s ideas as well as early infant experiences and the parent-infant relationship - for example, when improvising musically in sessions with others to give the client a felt sense of what they have expressed without the use of words.
In neonatal intensive care units, where babies are born prematurely, they are exposed to external stimuli such as loud noises, medical procedures, bright lights and more, which can be overstimulating for their developing hearing and neurodevelopment. The use of music in this environment needs to be carefully considered and Music Therapists are trained to work with caregivers and their baby/babies to offer a supportive environment for these families.
In this setting, Music Therapists would consider how music can be used to regulate a baby’s state, reduce stress levels, promote parent-infant bonding, improve respiratory rates and create conditions similar to that in the womb environment. For example, singing lullabies or songs (‘songs of kin’) that are special to families can offer musical support where words to describe an emotion or experience in that moment are inaccessible.
Babies have a lot to tell us. They are great at showing us when they might be overstimulated through the ways they communicate this. This might be shown through their gestures, cooing, facial expressions, and state. Using our voices through humming gently and singing can help to soothe babies and support their state regulation. Music therapists are trained to follow babies’ cues and communications, and to anticipate what they might need musically through live-music making in that moment.
Trevarthen and Malloch’s term communicative musicality describes the idea that all human interactions are intrinsically musical in nature. It feels meaningful to think about our interactions in this way, by connecting with one another in these musical, dance-like exchanges (timing, gesture, tempo, flow), with or without the use of words. By considering all of the musical forms of expression and communication that are expressed within a relationship, we can try to hear, learn, and understand what is being expressed, where words are not always present.
Hannah Hayes, Music Therapist
References
Music, Graham (2017) Nurturing Natures. Second Edition. Routledge.
Music, Graham (2024) Womb Life: Wonders and Challenges of Pregnancy, the Foetus’ Journey and Birth. Mind-Nurturing Books.
Malloch, S. and Trevarthen, C. (2009) Communicative Musicality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Nugent, Kevin J. (2011) Your Baby is Speaking to You. Harper-Collins.
Stern, Daniel (2010) The Issue of Vitality. Oxford University.
Stern, Daniel (1998) ‘The Sense of the Subjective Self: II. Affect Attunement’, in The Interpersonal World of an Infant: a View from Psychoanalysis and Developmental Psychology. London: Routledge.
Standley, Jayne M. (2010) Music Therapy with Premature Infants: Research and Developmental Interventions. 2nd Edition. The American Music Therapy Association, Inc.