Mother-infant musical interaction and emotional communication : a literature review

Early experiences of emotional communication contribute to mother-infant attachment and impact upon an infant’s neurological, social and emotional development. Understanding emotional communication is paramount to encourage, support and promote healthy mother-infant relationships and infant health. Across various fields of research there is extensive literature on mother-infant interactions, attachment, emotional regulation and infant health with varying degrees of relevancy to music therapy. This paper aims to integrate theories and concepts pertinent to music therapy in order to provide a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for any therapist interested in early mother-infant relationships intervention. Gaps in the literature and potential areas for future research are also discussed.