Approaching the temporal schema of “repetition-variation”: From the construction of musical time to the constitution of a rhythmic framework for sympathetic sharing of emotions

Abstract

As studies in developmental and music psychology demonstrate, repetition and variation play a significant role in processes of human interaction since they are involved in rhythmic construction and sharing of musical and proto-musical intersubjective experiences. Mother-infant playful dialogues, as well as therapeutic dialogues and “conversations” between two improvising musicians, are based on common prediction of repetitive music and behavioral patterns on one hand and on negotiation of unexpected events on the other hand. The present work, after exploring the significance of the repetition-variation schema in music perception and creation, investigates its meanings in parent-infant communication and searches for analogies in therapeutic improvisation and collaborative music performance. The comparative review of research studies which investigate aspects of dynamics in interpersonal relationships, leads us finally to argue that the common time of emotional narratives - a fundamental basis of human communicative musicality - is constructed through the rhythmic experience of repetition-variation.