This thesis explores the concept of musical accessibility. The term is viewed from a number of perspectives with the intention of investigating relevant ideas from a range of disciplines. The main methodology consists of the deployment of three case studies as examples to bring issues into focus. These are: the rise of punk rock, Vaughan Williams' tract National Music and street samba in Brazil and Wales. By way of definition, musical accessibility is split into three levels: physical access, (individual) reception, and participation. These are not designed to correspond to the three case studies but are used to investigate them and to apply the term 'accessibility' more precisely. It is discovered that while the levels can be clearly differentiated, they also interact with each other.
The research introduces pertinent psychological theories and sociological perspectives. The aesthetics of modernism and postmodernism are discussed as well as notions of art music and vernacular music. The study of samba allows an
examination of audience participation, performance style and the functioning of adopted music. 'Receptual' accessibility is found to be linked to cultural and social factors, and also diachronically in flux, particularly at times of 'culture shift'.
Nevertheless, there appears to be a field of interpretation opened up by musical structures and practices, which carries a constrained range of possibilities. Furthermore, the review of empirical work reveals human tendencies due to psychological perception processes, and individual variation linked to personality factors.
The exploratory nature of this study means that it would be inappropriate to offer an all encompassing conclusion. Instead an integration of the main issues is attempted. This establishes that musical accessibility has to be viewed as a combination of musical, individual human and social factors in a dynamic process of articulation.