the world’s societies (as far as we can tell)? What usefulness would this
have in establishing universals as guides to learning the origins of music?
Still,if we look at the musical cultures that we know,one thing that is
bound to strike us is the presence of certain traits shared by a large,
maybe overwhelming,proportion.As graduate students of ethnomusi-
cology,we learn early,when faced with generalizations based essentially
on Western music,to shout,“Hold on! there is nothing that is universal,
and nothing that doesn’t occur somewhere.”Our profession began with
a firm belief in the incredible variety of the world’s musics.Universals,
as a serious object of discussion,did not surface until the 1960s.
But we have had to admit that some things that are enormously wide-
spread.It seems convenient though probably old-fashioned to separate
sound from social context,but aside from having something that sounds
to us like music,what are the style characteristics that one finds
everywhere?
All societies have vocal music.Virtually all have instruments of some
sort,although a few tribal societies may not,but even they have some
kind of percussion.Vocal music is carried out by both men and women,
although singing together in octaves is not a cultural universal,perhaps
for social reasons.All societies have at least some music that conforms
to a meter or contains a pulse.The intervallic structure of almost all
musics involves,as the principal interval,something close to the major
second but to be sure,not with precision;I am talking about anything,
say,from a three-quarter tone to five quarters.All societies have some
music that uses only three or four pitches,usually combining major
seconds and minor thirds.
It is important to consider also certain universals that do not involve
musical sound or style.I mentioned the importance of music in ritual,
and,as it were,in addressing the supernatural.This seems to me to be
truly a universal,shared by all known societies,however different the
sound.Another universal is the use of music to provide some kind of
fundamental change in an individual’s consciousness or in the ambiance
of a gathering.Music “transforms experience,”in the words of David
McAllester (1971).Also music is virtually universally used to mark the
importance of an event—birthday party,political rally,appearance of the
king,the coming-together of tribes.And it is virtually universally associ-
ated with dance;not all music is danced,but there is hardly any dance
that is not in some sense accompanied by music.The “World’s Simplest Music” as a Universal
Most societies have in their music,either as the main style but more com-
monly as a special repertory,something I might label (cringing because468 Bruno Nettl