"Are you meaning 'the music' as in the sheet music, or the music as in the noise when it hits your ears?"

Both. One needs to listen to what comes out of the guitar or whatever other instrument one is playing as one "plays the dots." Thus also assumes that one is playing the piece for the first time in practice, not in front of an audience.

Study the written music. There are not just the time signature and "the dots," but other indications as well. Usually just above the time signature there will be an indication such as "Allegro" (fast), "Lento" (slow), or any of a whole bunch of indications as to the general pace of a piece. Also, you may see such things as a curved line over a whole string of notes. This indicates that those notes should be play as a "phrase." Other indications include such things as f ("forte"—emphasize this note) or ff ("fortissimo"--really emphasize this note), p ("piano"—softly), etc.. Or a dot over a note with an "eyebrow" over the dot. This is called a "fermata," and it means that you should hold this note for a second before moving on.

There's a helluva lot more information in most written music than just "the dots." One should get a good music dictionary (small, can fit into a shirt pocket, and not all that expensive) to look up these indications.

But there is a measure of freedom for personal interpretation there. For example, how long should you hold a "fermata?" How fast is "Allegro?" How slow is "Lento?" These are things you have to decide. Your own musical sense has to come into play here. Think about it. Play it several different ways. Then decide which one seems the best (and you may revise this later on).

And LISTEN as you experiment.

And--listen to the way other people play the piece. I think you'll find that everybody has his or her own take on it.

There is plenty of latitude right there on the page.

Anyone who thinks that reading "the dots" turns you into a robot just doesn't get it!

Don Firth