Big Think How music spreads, explained in 5 minutes | Michael Spitzer
Oct 15, 2025
Discover how humans are born with an innate musical instinct, perceiving rhythm and melody from infancy. Michael Spitzer delves into how cultural practices shape our musical preferences, showing that music evolves as it crosses borders. He discusses the global influence of Western music, the process of musical colonization, and the exciting return of cross-cultural influences. With examples like K-pop's global rise, he emphasizes that despite the internet's role, music will always celebrate diversity and personal expression.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Innate Musical Capacity Gets Cultured
- Humans are born with innate musical capacities like rhythm recognition and melody recall.
- Early cultural exposure then tunes those capacities into specific preferences and scales.
Shape Taste Through Early Exposure
- Expose children intentionally to the rhythms and melodies you want them to prefer.
- Early listening shapes lifelong taste, so choose musical inputs thoughtfully.
Music Travels With Power And Becomes Local
- Western music spreads alongside power, money, technology and religion and becomes naturalised in other cultures.
- Once adopted, borrowed music can gain new local meanings and identities.