ABSTRACT
Ecological studies of music, which bridge theory, musicology, music psychology, and cultural anthropology, have emerged and become quietly influential in the past thirty years. To conceptualize the musical world ecologically is to prioritize the experience and identity of the individual. It is to conceive of music not as a fixed object to be appreciated but a fluid essence with which to interact. The aesthetic environment affords opportunities for sensation, experience, learning, emotional gratification, and relaxation. All musical experiences involve a degree of perceptual learning, which occurs regardless of genre or style. Performers, presenters, and educators who focus on introducing listeners to new music face the special task of establishing environments specifically designed foster perceptual learning. The affordances and endowments of the musical environment hold vast potentials for what any listener might experience. Musical affordances, on a basic level, relate to elements like rhythm, pitch, harmony, timbre, and amplitude.
