In my experience as an educator, I have found that students can relate to sound/music in uniquely different ways. Throughout my lectures on listening, sound making, and broad musicological subjects, I have seen how different minds respond to and assess different musical qualities. This has raised questions about how a narrow music enculturation may impact perception and listening, both key factors in how the brain responds. Research on infant perception suggests that early musical exposure narrows perception toward culture-specific patterns.[1] Yet most research regarding the impact of music on the brain hinges on the constraints of hegemonic definitions and Western music traditions.[2] This bias is acknowledged within the active discussion about the cultural limits of the proposed Predictive Coding of Music model.[3–5] This in turn has led me to reflect on the challenges of effective music interventions when so much research lacks cultural breadth and scope.

Take a listen to the following playlist. Does this fall within your perception of musicality? What impact would occur if more people became familiar with this diversity of sounds present in this playlist? Is it too challenging? If so, why?

Listening Example

References

  1. Hannon, E. E., & Trehub, S. E. (2005). Tuning in to musical rhythms: Infants learn more readily than adults. PNAS, 102(35), 12639–12643. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16105946/
  2. Jacoby, N., Margulis, E. H., Clayton, M., et al. (2020). Cross-cultural work in music cognition: Challenges, insights, and recommendations. Music Perception, 37(3), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2020.37.3.185
  3. Vuust, P., Heggli, O. A., Friston, K. J., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2022). Music in the brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 23, 287–305. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-022-00578-5
  4. Savage, P. E., & Fujii, S. (2022). Towards a cross-cultural framework for predictive coding of music. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 23(10), 641. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-022-00622-4
  5. Vuust, P., Heggli, O. A., Friston, K. J., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2022). Reply to ‘Towards a cross-cultural framework for predictive coding of music.’ Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 23(10), 641–642. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35995945/
  6. Patterns of early-life gut microbial colonization during human immune development: An ecological perspective. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5502328/ (Authors and journal details need to be added from the page.)
  7. Gerry, D., Unrau, A., & Trainor, L. J. (2012). Becoming musically enculturated: Effects of music classes for infants on brain and behavior. Developmental Science. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/224823044_Becoming_musically_enculturated_Effects_of_music_classes_for_infants_on_brain_and_behavior (Volume and pages are from my knowledge, so I left them out; verify.)
  8. Blacking, J. (1973). How Musical Is Man? University of Washington Press. https://www.academia.edu/4321239/How_Musical_is_Man_John_Blacking_
  9. Sena Moore, K., Burbach, K., & Hanson-Abromeit, D. (2025). A theory of intervention model to define the essential characteristics of music to support emotion regulation development in early childhood. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 19, 1568789. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2025.1568789/full
  10. The effects of music intervention on children’s self-regulation: A three-level meta-analysis. Current Psychology (2026). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-026-10038-3 (Authors need to be added from the page.)
  11. Stobbe, E., Sundermann, J., Ascone, L., & Kühn, S. (2022). Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants. Scientific Reports, 12, 16414. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9561536/ (This is the PMC link in your notes.)
  12. Music: Music and religion in Mesoamerica. Encyclopedia of Religion (via Encyclopedia.com). https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/music-music-and-religion-mesoamerica