MisterGobbles said:
I'll say what I was told by a music teacher of mine: sheet music isn't actually "music", because music is what you hear with your ear; it's sound organized through time. Kinda like the blueprints for a house aren't actually a house, but are useful in creating it. Of course, when you play the notes written on the sheet, it becomes music, so it's just as valid as anything else, it just requires a bit more work on your part.
Yeah, I can see how that's true in a physical sense. Like a tree falling in the woods actually doesn't make a sound unless there's an eardrum nearby to catch the vibrations, which otherwise are just wasted. But consider that we can imitate the sensation of hearing things, to an extent, within our minds. When you read words you can imagine hearing them as you read, so if you can read music, you could imagine hearing it as well.
Now I'm thinking of that scene in
Amadeus where Mozart is sick in bed, dictating
Requiem to Salieri, who's just writing it all down furiously while the music swells (in the score, unplayed to the characters), then they cum all over the place. Or Mozart dies. I forget which. [small]Spoilers?[/small]