There is a point in this. When Charlie Parker first began to play music, not many of his contemporaries understood what he heard. Bach was never the popular composer of his age. It was Tellemann.

What we hear in our heads is not always translatable to our voices and fingers. What we hear is influenced by our conditioning. Our prejudices have as much to do with our judgement about music as our education.

We tend to read all kinds of non-musical things into music. We form images of how people look when we don't see them. Notice that it's easier to accept music that is congruent with the way they look as they play it. Bluegrass music in a tuxedo? Opera in blue jeans?

The statement though assumes that no two people hear music the same way. This depends upon what we're talking about. When an audience hears a performer, they share a commonality that emanates from that performer. That's why we have audiences.

Frank Hamilton