| Let's try and identify those perceptions that most of us have which allow us to understand all music including the Classical repertoire. I contend that the same abilities that one uses to process popular music are the same used to listen to all kinds, but there are refinements that come from immersion in the cultural tradition, whatever it is. The basic abilities I recognize are in some sense universal. These involve a basic musical memory including pitch memory and some cognitive abilities that seem hard wired in our brains. These suggest archetypical traits in our species, but the on-going question is about which musical elements are culturally mediated. Clearly some of what we use is cultural artifact, based on something universal, yet not itself universal. The dominant seventh chord while familiar to everyone, including Rockers and Rappers is an historical artifact not regarded as legal harmony until the Sixteenth Century. Now, its nonfunctional use, without the way it resolves usually, is not even noticed, yet this chord and the rest of tonal harmony is firmly based on acoustics of music.
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