Phenotype

The use of the word phenotype, a term specific to biologists, is not self-evident when applied to music. The etymology (apparent type) allows me to consider that apparent sound forms deserve the designation of universal phenotypes as long as they are indeed types, i.e. examples of a category widely represented beyond its context of origin. Can we push the metaphor to the point of looking for a relationship in music similar to the one that biologists establish between a genotype, in the sense of a programme fixed by the evolution of species, and its phenotypic manifestation? If their existence is proven, are universal phenotypes always a realisation of equally universal laws of reproduction? These are questions that will soon arise, and they are not the easiest to answer.