There are things that distinguish dance from soccer: Everyone appreciates athleticism--no one more than I. So why go to watch people move around unless they are competing with someone or at least trying to score a goal?

Music is rather like that. I consider it a thought form as well as an art form. Once established as a thought form an individual is free to do with it whatever they desire: incorporate it into a visual or literary imagination, perhaps, or sight-read all of everything. If someone wants to work on technique, whether composition or performance it is a private choice until a public commitment is made--i.e., the decision to do it for money or for a job or for some other contractual arrangement.

Until then, why not treat it as a form of thought like any other? Well, maybe not quite like any other!