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1.3.25Your Musical Preferences: How Much of Music Is Innate, How Much Is Culturally Acquired?
You owe your ability to appreciate and create music to the genes you inherited from your parents and their ancestors, going back many thousands of generations. But the specifics of your musical tastes and musical creativity come primarily from the cultural preferences of your peer group—not from your parents. This applies to your non-musical cultural preferences as well.
Imagine this sequence of events.
- You are born in a small village in South Korea. As a child, you become fluent in the Korean language, absorb the Korean folk music traditions of your parents, and observe their Buddhist religious practices.
- When you are six years old, your family emigrates to America and settles in Dodge City, Kansas. Your parents learn practically no English, retain their strong Buddhist faith, and socialize only with other Koreans in Dodge City’s small Korean neighbourhood. At home, you and your parents converse exclusively in Korean.
Fast forward a few years.
- Now you are 11 years old. You’ve been going to school in Dodge for five years. Your parents can still hardly speak a word of English, still hang around with their Korean friends, and remain firm Buddhists.