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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, MA 02138, 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?”

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

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