Love the music and war post
Nice post, Zenpundit.
One thing that seemed to be missing, however, was the ties between metre and movement. Historically, specific types of music were used to co-ordinate the movements of people en masse, whether this was in a work song (like sea chanties) or on the battlefield (check out the Napoleonic music).
The ties between music and culture are also quite stong, but sometimes hard to find. For example, when we think of "classical" music, I really doubt that many people would think about Bedlam Boys (16th century). Most of the classical music, from the West, that has survived is either opera or ecclesiastical music, not the sort of stuff that would be sung in the bars and taverns :).
Marc