Music itself is an abstract language indeed, but over time it developed so much that composers were able to express human feelings, emotions, as well as create associations with natural phenomena. One such example is Vivaldi's Four Seasons (though Vivaldi himself was a baroque composer, but this particular piece was probably one of the first notable experiments in this regard).
I don't think anyone would argue that, for example, Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier has any association with anything at all. It's pure math and nothing more, yet we may enjoy it "as is".
Speaking of jazz, perhaps it would be more difficult to prove that jazz to pop is like Bach to Beethoven, for instance, but there is some truth in it. Take Miles' music, or Monk's or many of their followers, their music is much closer to the musical math than to anything else. No wonder the names of their albums and tunes are often rather meaningless (e.g. "This is jazz No.17").
What I'm trying to say is jazz is more abstract than many other genres. Appreciation of jazz, and the same I believe applies to Bach's music as well, aside from Paul's thesis on pretentiousness, which is true :) does require some abstract thinking.
But... let me stop here, because it would be even harder to explain (if possible at all) how this all relates to SecondLife and Flickr.
I'd maverick and say that the Well-Tempered Clavier is full of metaphors. Consonance, dissonance, ascending sequences, descending sequences, 'voices,' and subjects are all human, intuitive associations and descriptions of music. Music has had active metaphors ever since natural language was used to describe it.
But you're right, this is getting really off-topic and comparing Jazz to mainstream Pop is at least O(JP). So I'll just link an Essay that came to mind the first time I read "Taste for Makers." It's similar, but takes an "only the best audience matters" point of view.
I don't think anyone would argue that, for example, Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier has any association with anything at all. It's pure math and nothing more, yet we may enjoy it "as is".
Speaking of jazz, perhaps it would be more difficult to prove that jazz to pop is like Bach to Beethoven, for instance, but there is some truth in it. Take Miles' music, or Monk's or many of their followers, their music is much closer to the musical math than to anything else. No wonder the names of their albums and tunes are often rather meaningless (e.g. "This is jazz No.17").
What I'm trying to say is jazz is more abstract than many other genres. Appreciation of jazz, and the same I believe applies to Bach's music as well, aside from Paul's thesis on pretentiousness, which is true :) does require some abstract thinking.
But... let me stop here, because it would be even harder to explain (if possible at all) how this all relates to SecondLife and Flickr.