the same way that we do not know of any human society that lacks music,
we do not know of a single society that does not express itself through
dance.In Africa,nonmeasured music—music one cannot dance to—is
not usually considered music at all,but is classified as a lamentation
(“tears”) or a type of signaling device.This formalization of time is sup-
ported by the idea of periodicity:a great majority of musics,from those
of archaic cultures to those of Western societies,take advantage of invari-
ant periodicities.The time within them is “closed.”Very often these
musics appeal to the principle of symmetry.This is the case for even the
most archaic ones that depend on alternation between a soloist and a
chorus or between two choruses based on symmetric distribution of the
musical material.This symmetry and these parallelisms seem to bear
witness to a search for balance.Might they be universals?
Next,for the construction of melodies,each society selects from the
sound continuum a set of contrastive pitches.These pitches form a
system,a musical scale.Such a scale,itself an abstract model but also
the basis for the elaboration of all melodies,is the analog for what
in a language would be its phonological system.It serves as a matrix
for the organization of pitches,and by doing so determines a set of
constant relationships among these pitches.Is the pentatonic scale,
based on the cycle of fifths and found throughout the world, a
universal? Do musical scales,as cognitive models,have a biological
foundation?
As soon as a musical event requires two or more individuals,even a
simple chant executed in unison,it demands a mode of coordination.A
fortiori,in multipart music an orderedand simultaneous interaction exists
between the participants,with a distribution of roles.
Humans have the capacity to classify their songs with respect to func-
tion or context into categories or repertoires.This gives symbolic
meaning to any acoustic production and furthermore to any coherent
ensemble of these productions.
Such are traits of human music.What distinguishes human music
from what is supposed to be the music of the animals is that,
first and foremost,there is necessarily an association between at least
two of the criteria.Can one observe such an association in the animal
world? Certain animals possess vocal repertoires considered as distinct
entities.Can one say that these vocalizations are founded on structural
musical principles:scale,melody,metric organization,meter,rhythm,
etc.?
In conclusion,it seems to me that if a biomusicology is possible,it must
be able to integrate,in one way or another,certain of the criteria enu-
merated above,by combining them by at least two.28 Simha AromMUS2 9/14/99 11:57 AM Page 28