We might be told,“well,they are all music.”They all have about them a
certain “musicness”;and perhaps “musicness,”which we cannot define
further except to say that it is distinct from “speechness”and maybe from
other sound phenomena,is a universal.
More concretely,can we say that something is present at some point
in every musical utterance and is recognized as such? For example,does
every bit of music,every piece or song,have a cadential element? Prob-
ably not,but possibly it does in enough cases to be tabled and discussed
further a bit later.Or again,can it be true that every musical utterance
has in it intervals approximating the major second or something of that
general sort? Again,surely not everypiece,but enough to postpone that
discussion.
A related question concerns the nature of the musical utterance.It
seems to me that in all societies of which I have heard,one is always singing
or playing something,a particular song,composition,something that
resulted from an act of creation,by human or supernatural forces,with a
distinct identity.One does not ever just sing or play,as,for example,one
may simply dance,without performing a particular dance composition.Traits Found in Each Music?
Moving to the next circle,we ask whether certain features occur in every
music or in the music of every society.It is easy to come up with concrete
examples,but of course this issue is limited by the academic world’s igno-
rance of many musics,present and,more important,past.As it is impos-
sible to make concrete (in contrast to theoretical) statements,all we can
do is rely on our admittedly fairly generous sampling of cultures that we
know from twentieth-century study and perspective.In other words,we
rely on samplings and so arrive at yet another of our concentric circles,
things found virtually everywhere with the occasional exception,followed
perhaps by what could best be labeled as statistical universals.
We are of course reduced to playing games.Accepting the idea of
statistical universals means abandoning the principle that there is a sig-
nificant difference between universality and popularity.Language is a
true universal;there are no peoples that do not have it.The nature of
languages varies incredibly,but the possession of language characterizes
all human groups.The few humans unable for various reasons to acquire
language are not regarded in their societies as being normal.For another
example,some kind of regulation of sexual activity and relationship of
generations;that is,social structure is something we find in every society.
We have mentioned the existence of something that sounds like music
to us,but what about features of culture that exist only in,say,98% of467 An Ethnomusicologist Contemplates Musical Universals