David Huron
School of Music
Indiana University, October 26, 2005
Music exhibits a multitude of different kinds of structures. Some of these structures reflect acoustical, biological, cognitive, perceptual, historical, idiomatic, economic, formal, religious, social, cultural, and other factors. This presentation offers a defense of the view that the principal goal of music analysis is to explain music -- in the sense of identifying plausible causes, motivations, or influences. Several illustrative examples are offered.