[pjdorrell]

You are looking for a "theory of music", as opposed to "music theory", ie an explanatory or scientific theory.

I offer my own efforts in this direction at http://whatismusic.info/.

[ektimo]

Thanks! This sounds like good terminology and your writing attempts to answer the question in ways I haven't seen elsewhere.

Also I think the fact that songs can get stuck in your head suggests some kind of mental reinforcement exercise for patterns over time.