Music as a Personal Universal

I've been giving some thought to just how exactly music affects the listener, so I would like to take this opportunity to put forward a thought: music as a personal universal.

What does this mean? Music is universal in that it can, and often does, produce profound emotional responses from the listener. Certain tones, chords, melodies, harmonies, etc, undeniably affect our emotions in a variety of ways, many of which are predictable within, and perhaps between, cultures. But there is more to music than simply the universal human response. This is the personal.

Music is personal in that it affects each individual in different ways. How exactly music affects a person is deeply intertwined into who they are -- the culture they grew up in, their education, their experiences, their tastes. Many people associate certain songs with certain feelings or times in their lives, perhaps the song to which one danced with a high school sweet heart, a song that played during a particularly traumatic personal experience, or a song that simply jumped out at a person and grabbed them for some reason. There are myriad ways through which a person can connect to a particular piece or style of music, and in this, music can be, and often is, deeply personal.

To end with a question: Given the great variety of instruments and musical genres, what might be the most efficient way to introduce students to music, and at what point should this introduction begin?