La clasificación de un campo semántico de creación humana: la música

Abstract

The diversity of classifications, concepts, and appraisals that exist concerning Music has encouraged the elaboration of models that allow for the study and understanding of the musical phenomenom practiced by the different cultures. This model aims to explain the criteria exployed in the general conceptualization of music (its systematisation and classification), and to identify the universal ones in this subjcct. Owing to the complexity of the musical phenomena in the world, and to the mental processes that these phenomena involve, it is necessary that such a model establishes with great precisión its bounds and relationships with others, as do linguistic models, form example. One of the basic principals in the development of this model is that Music is a entity that lacks definable universal referent, and that therefore is a cultural product. The article focuses on this concept as it relates to two dimensions: 1) the place in which different cultures conceptually place Music or part of it {instruments, for example), and 2) the divisions different social sectors fo¡m of the field of Music (groups of, as well as parts of songsJ. More than 14 situations and 11 cases from different parts in the world are discussed.