ABSTRACT
When a small infant gurgles with delight when his mother looks into his eyes and smiles, coos and moves towards him, there is an exchange of delight between them. This delight is expressed through their moving bodies and sounds, which carry the dynamic shapes of shared feeling. Malloch and Trevarthen's concept of communicative musicality exists in the dynamic space between musical sounds and persons. It is not completely of musical sounds nor is it completely within the individual person. There is regularity in pulse which builds into a sense of continuity or narrative for the infant which, according to Trevarthen, is the shape of effort, excitement, satisfaction and repose. Trevarthen and Malloch write on this element of quality. They describe it as movements and shared vocal contours, which present the quality of empathic communication.
