Musical Enculturation
Abstract
This chapter analyzes the processes through which musical perception gradually becomes attuned to a specific cultural environment. It discusses perceptual narrowing, the role of experience in acquiring scales, rhythms, and intonational patterns, and the place of non-Western musical systems within a broader reflection on music education. The chapter shows that enculturation is not simply a matter of restriction but also a condition for orientation, recognition, and participation in a community's musical life. On that basis, it raises a pedagogical question of lasting importance: how can education initiate the child into its own culture while also widening its musical horizons? Cultural situatedness thus emerges not as an obstacle but as a key to more responsible and more open music education.