[reggieband]

I wonder what it is about music that makes people accept these simplifications. I imagine an alternate universe where an article on the optics of color is posted. Someone mentions that all light are frequencies, the color red is such-and-such frequency, blue is whatever Hz, etc. We observe that a color wheel creates some theory of adjacency, compliments of color etc. And some artists use this in their work to enhance the effect. Would an article like that warrant a comment section filled with a bunch of people acting like that gave them sufficient tools to understand the works of Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Picasso?

Pitch, melody and harmony are integral aspects to music but they are by no means sufficient to provide an understanding of music. Just as a purely mathematical description of the optics of color is not sufficient to understand painting. I would argue that the overwhelming majority of music you have enjoyed in your life was written with literally zero regard to these details. In my own opinion, music programs that raise these mathematical details above all others lead to the dullest and least inspired music.