I'm not sure what the etiquette is round here but since it was in response to a post by me can I say thanks to Michael Gill for giving a useful answer (in his post about singing whilst riding his bike) to the question in the Original Post. I don't agree about the 'trial and error' part but we have moved on now.

I am having trouble reconciling the (separate ?) analogies about Frenchmen and about Shakespeare with the idea of "getting the notes" from the sheet music. When an English speaker reads Shakespeare they are not thinking about the letters making up the words and they are thinking more about what is being said and the rhythm of the words than about the individual words.

But if a English speaking Frenchman wants to read Shakespeare out loud (in his French accent) why can't he use the text to help him learn it, maybe in addition to recordings of native English speakers to help him through parts where his French accent spoils the effect. (if it wasn't a Frenchman but someone from the eastern USA they may even end up with something closer to what Shakespeare would have had in mind).

The difference may be that with an instrument we do have to generate the individual notes (the "letters" that make up the words). But when learning a song or a tune on an instrument phrase by phrase are we really taking it in by "getting the notes" or are we hearing words and meanings and needing to know our vocal chords or instrument well enough to reproduce them without thinking about the notes/letters ?