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I am intrigued that if we listen to a scale or a piece of music and suddenly a note that doesn't belong to that scale or to that piece of music is played, we wince ! Is this a universal trait or is it part of our social upbringing?
I agree it's probably a mixture. For sure a lot is cultural. Most westeners cannot identify quarter tones for example.
Also the tuning we use (equal temperament) is a compromise designed to make it possible to use keyboards to play music in any key. It is not in line with the pure tunings we would use if we played music in one key only. The difference is subtle but it is noticeable.
I remember seeing a Paul Simon documentary in which he explained how he wanted Ladyship Black Mambazo to sing backings - but they would not sing what he had written (a minor chord) in one place because it did not fit their harmonic universe and in the end he let them sing a major chord there instead.
Something I've not seen covered in posts so far is the extreme emotional effect music can have on people. One explanation for this - my own, no evidence - is that it is some kind of abstraction of the pitch, tone and volume components of speech, which convey most of the emotional content of what we say. So, we are keying into the same emotional centres through music as we are through emotional speech.
I've always had the idea that music and dance developed as part of human mating rituals.