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What's not music, but feels like music to you?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2021

Vijay Iyer Open the ORCID record for Vijay Iyer [Opens in a new window]
Vijay Iyer*
Affiliation:
Department of Music & Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA02138, USA. vijayiyer@fas.harvard.edu; www.vijay-iyer.com
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Abstract

The category “music” as used in this area of science is inconsistent and unstable, and its logical relationship to the word “musicality” – used by scientists to denote the human capacity for music – is circular. Therefore, rather than pursue the question, “Why did music(ality) evolve?” let us ask more inclusively, “What experiences in humankind's deep past might have felt like music?”

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 44 , 2021 , e79
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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