Proceedings, Oxford, UK (2002) - World Federation of Music Therapy

firmly in a way which felt cross. Joshua’s music was beginning to be
expressive, because now he had a more developed sense of self which he
could express through music.
This development is not a purely linear process: it is not simply a
question of a child reaching a developmental milestone and then moving
on to the next one. The child’s emotional state, or state of mind, affects
the level at which they can function. Thus, although Mark developed the
capacity to interact with varied imitations, and Joshua was able interact
with cross-modal interactions or even musical ‘conversations’, neither
child would do this absolutely consistently from week to week, or even
throughout a session. When anxious, tired or uncertain, they would both
revert to earlier ways of interacting, and it was my role to support this,
until such time as they were ready to interact more fully again. This is, of
course, the same in normal development: for example the child who will
revert to wearing nappies or using a dummy when baby brother or sister
is born.
Summary
A child’s way of interacting in music therapy can tell us an enormous
amount about their sense of self as described by Stern. There are ‘musical
indicators’ that mark the development of a more sophisticated sense of
self from an earlier one. When a child needs, or insists on, exact
imitations where you feel as if you cannot use your own mind, we might
wonder whether their sense of self is not yet established enough to be
able to connect with more interactional sophistication, or that they are
actively resisting this experience. Then, when a child begins to allow you
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