Dear Björn Grinde: I have been given the opportunity to comment on your article “A Biological Perspective on Musical Appreciation.” I respect your approach, but I disagree with some of your assumptions, and wish to contribute to an open-minded discussion of your viewpoints.

Reading your summary (p. 18) arouses immediate reactions for my part. You assume that preoccupation with sounds is mainly related to behaviour associated with our dependence on language. This cannot be true. The ability of listening to sounds and producing sounds precedes the acquirement of language, not vice versa.

Your second assumption that during music appreciation, the brain concentrates on sounds that offer pleasant sensations, is only half of the truth. Musical sounds arouse immediate and strong emotional response, but noisy, startling, disturbing and dissonant sounds are no less important for musical experience than pleasant, relaxing, gentle and consonant sounds.

Your conclusions (p. 25) open more fruitful perspectives. I find three of your five points important for the understanding of music appreciation; sound qualities that stimulate curiosity or feed the imagination, the link between music and the caring for infants, and the relationship between music and sexual behaviour. But, as above, I disagree with two points. I consider it dubious to attach crucial importanceto the language connection and to the relaxing effect of music. I will provide some input for a discussion of these agreements and disagreements.