Formulas are OK as far as they go, but in music they often go nowhere. Take, for example, time signatures. These are not formulas, contrary to what you were told when you were ten or eleven. Every time signature needs to be interpreted in conjunction with a tempo marking, prevailing note values, and other small details.

It is amazing how simplistic we learn to be when the opposite is called for in so many cases. As a result the music seems to be leaden, boring.

Just last week I had two examples of time signatures that were entirely the opposite of what I used to think they were. Now that I finally know how to read....

It takes a while.

That is the point.