Universals in the world’s musics
Top Cited Papers
- 15 December 2011
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Psychology of Music
- Vol. 41 (2), 229-248
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735611425896
Abstract
Many decades of skepticism have prevented the field of musicology from embracing the importance of musical universals. When universals have been discussed, it has generally been in the form of meta-critiques about the concept of universals, rather than in positive proposals about actual universals. We present here a typology of four categories of musical universals and a listing of 70 putative universals in musics cross-culturally. These universals span a wide variety of features, including pitch, rhythm, melodic structure, form, vocal style, expressive devices, instruments, performance contexts, contents, and behaviors.Keywords
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- An fMRI investigation of the cultural specificity of music memorySocial Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2009
- Expectancy in Sami Yoiks revisited: The role of data-driven and schema-driven knowledge in the formation of melodic expectationsMusicae Scientiae, 2009
- Contagious heterophony: A new theory about the origins of musicMusicae Scientiae, 2007
- Perceived complexity of western and African folk melodies by western and African listenersPsychology of Music, 2006
- A Cross-Cultural Investigation of the Perception of Emotion in Music: Psychophysical and Cultural CuesMusic Perception, 1999
- Comparative Music Perception and CognitionPublished by Elsevier BV ,1999
- Intervals, Scales, and TuningPublished by Elsevier BV ,1999
- IntonationPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1997
- African Polyphony and PolyrhythmPublished by Cambridge University Press (CUP) ,1991
- The expression of the emotions in man and animals.Published by American Psychological Association (APA) ,1872