有關音樂中的時間性，已有不少研究都同意「直進」（linearity）是西方藝術音樂中常見的特質，而「非直進」（non-linearity）或「迴繞」（circularity）為許多非西方音樂的特質。不過亦有學者反對此一區別，認為所有音樂都同時具有直進與迴繞的過程，若以「直進與否」區別西方藝術音樂與其它音樂，等於是將所有音樂都武斷地進行二分法，並且忽略了音樂組織與文化因素間之密切關聯。基於此一理由，這些學者反對再由樂曲中的「直進」、「迴繞」等時間性討論文化異質性。
本研究一方面贊同前述二元劃分的不當性；另一方面則主張對音樂時間的深入探討，不僅有助於理解文化普同性，也能帶來有關文化異質性的理解與洞見。藉着比較分析一首於1930 年前後流行於臺灣的曲調〈雪梅思君〉之不同錄音版本，本文指出其旋律中所帶有的「迴繞」與「直進」的相對程度，如何分別與整體風格的相對傳統及西化程度相關，因而顯示由「文化異質性」角度觀察音樂時間的重要意義。文章最後並藉着闡述此意義與音樂現代性進一步相關的可能性，指出音樂時間與文化異質性間之關係值得持續深入探索。

Recent decades have seen important debates in musical time.Many scholars have argued for linearity as characteristic of Western artmusic (WAM), and non-linearity as characteristic of other musics. Thisposition is recently attacked seriously for making dichotomous divisionamong all cultures of music. Discussion of musical time in terms of culturalheterogeneity is thus discouraged.This study agrees, on the one hand, the problem in making dichotomousdistinction of “linear time associated with WAM” and “non-lineartime associated with non-WAM.” On the other hand, it argues that refinedcomparison in time processes not only brings insights into musicaluniversality but also to heterogeneity. Through analyzing differentrecordings of a tune widely popular in Taiwan during and around the1930s, Xuemei Si Jun (Xuemei Longs for Her Beloved), I demonstrate howvarious degrees of circularity and linearity occur in relation to the relativelytraditional or westernized overall styles respectively. Musical timeis thus significant not only in terms of cultural universality but also heterogeneity.The latter may even bring insights to musical modernity, asthe last section of this essay illustrates.