Conclusion

"The hearing of music is always organized perceptually according to some analytic conception, be it verbalized or not." - Milton Babbitt (1952)

1. There are always conscious or unconscious structures that underlie the perception of music. These structures can be conscious verbalizable concepts, or unconscious schemas, scripts, or even auditory reflexes.
   
   
2. Finding new ways of experiencing music is one of the most important tasks for music theorists (and musicians).
   
   
3. But novel experiences do not arise simply by positing their potential existence. We can escape the bonds of old habits only when we are first aware that the habits exist.
   
   
4. Our creative ability to propose or fashion new musical ears is (at least in part) contingent on an understanding of human dispositions, tendencies, and foibles.
   
   
5. The imaginative enterprise of theory is best pursued in conjunction with a lively music cognition.