These cross-cultural studies represent the first steps towards a global perspective in the neurosci-
ences and music. There is room for expansion of the perspective, as the selection of Non-Western
cultures is delimited to Japan, India, China, Thailand, Turkey, Tunisia, and Morocco.
Universals in music processing?
Studies of major-minor tonal music are predominant in the neurosciences. It remains a topic of dis-
cussion whether this predominance promotes or inhibits the understanding of other types of music.
Relevant questions concern whether it is possible to identify worldwide music universals, and wheth-
er research in major-minor tonal music contributes to the understanding of potential music univer-
sals. Scholars disagree on the question of music universals.
Thompson and Balkwill (2010:759-760), in their review of cross-cultural similarities and differences,
enumerate a number of likely candidates for musical universals, including,
- A processing advantage for music built on a small number of discrete pitch levels that are spaced
unevenly (e.g. the major scale) - Sensitivity to sensory consonance and dissonance
- A processing advantage for music that contains a regular temporal pattern of stress.
Brown and Jordania (2011:6-15) propose a typology of musical universals, and list 70 putative uni-
versals in musics cross-culturally. Among the predominant patterns in all musical systems or styles,
they state,
- The use of discrete pitches
- Scales have seven or fewer pitches per octave
- Predominance of precise (isometric) rhythms in music
With reference to these scholars, it can be suggested that findings of neuroscience concerning pitch,
scales, consonance and dissonance and regular temporal patterns may be valid for a wide range of
musics around the world. Other scholars are less certain concerning this assumption.
Stevens and Byron (2009:15-16) point out that consensus on universals in music processing is
based, in the main, on studies involving culturally narrow samples. They enumerate a number of mu-
sical patterns that await further cross-cultural scrutiny, including,
- The use of discrete pitch levels
- The semitone as the smallest viable interval
- Musical scales with differently sized steps between consecutive tones
- The prevalence of small integer frequency ratios
- A regular beat or periodic pulse.
As candidates for universal qualities in music cognition, Stevens and Byron (2009:20) propose
- Movement perception and its development
- The interplay of tension and relaxation
- Perception-action processes that are the results of tightly coupled sensorimotor systems.
Patel (2008) points out that the Western concept of rhythm, related to periodicity or the alternation