Bobby McFerrin attempted to demonstrate how certain music elements can be common for numerous people on the level of collective subconscious. The music demonstration of the pentatonic scale immediately proved that all people in the room were perfectly familiar with it and knew the notes at times before McFerrin voiced them. The same phenomenon applies to his blues improvisation. Even though many people might not have listened to this particular song in their entire lives or even not be fans of blues, they found the song terribly familiar. Since blues’ trademark features have exhibited themselves in other genres throughout decades, it is not surprising that the three chord progression and the turnaround at the end before the return to the first chord sound so remarkably familiar.
The question remains whether these two examples would be perfectly applicable for other races and nationalities. After all, blues is mostly typical for the Western tradition of music. It is not known how people from, say, Russia or Brazil would react. What is clear, however, is that neither the age nor the social status would influence the manner of perception. If such elements as this pentatonic scale are so ingrained within the psyche of the society, such boundaries as age, position in the society, and even gender will never be active. These examples of widely spread musical elements show the reason why the keep shaping the music till nowadays. It is easy for public to relate to pentatonic scales and familiar chord progressions. That is why avant-garde has never achieved considerable popularity. That is why micro-tonal music is interesting for people with peculiar taste. Artists willing to reach as many people with their music as possible naturally include elements, which would be recognizable and easy to relate to.