I would like to point list-members to this week's _The Economist_,
which has an interesting article called "The Biology of Music".

On-line at:

   http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/current/index_st5748.html)

A couple of very brief quotations:

   Music is strange stuff.  It is clearly different from language.
   People can, nevertheless, use it to communicate things--especially
   their emotions.  And when allied with speech in a song, it is one of
   the most powerful means of communication that humans have.

and

   That music does, indeed, elicit emotions--rather than merely expressing
   an emotion that the listener recognises--has been shown more directly
   by Carol Krumhansl, a psychologist at Cornell University.  Dr Krumhansl
   addressed the question by looking at the physiological changes (in
   blood circulation, respiration, skin conductivity and body temperature)
   that occurred in a group of volunteers while they listened to different
   pieces of music.

Terry L Newstrom
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