1The Ontogenesis of Musical Behaviour: A Sociological Perspective1

2 Where the term socio-cultural is used in the text, it is to signify culture in relation to its social context. Similarly, socio-musical refers to music in relation to its social context. 3 ’Naive ’ is used here in the sense of being inexperienced with respect to the particular musical genre. Observed musical behaviour is a product of the interface between the individual’s neuropsychobiological potential and their socio-cultural environment. This interface constantly shapes musical development and facilitates both cultural transmission and cultural transformation of dominant musical genres. The paradoxical outcomes are that cultures exhibit both musical change and stasis concomitant with musical behaviours that have both unique and common features at the level of the individual. The article rehearses a multidimensional model of the major developmental influences and draws on recent research data to provide examples of how such influences can be positive or negative. he manifestation of musical behaviour at any given age, including childhood, is located at an interface between three ger2eratiue elemerzts, namely (i) the overall nature and individual developmental history of our human anatomy/physiology, (ii) socio