@Rok2id - I would like emphasize something Frogman said - "I think that the point is how little most non-musican music lovers/audiophiles understand, how much there is to learn (if wanted), how much learning can improve appreciation, and that there is often a visceral aversion to learning more." First, it is sometimes very difficult for us musicians to speak to non-musicians about music without coming off as condescending, so we truly are always concerned about people thinking we are insulting their intelligence. We have all heard the phrase "music is a universal language," and this is true. However, it is a language that most people think they know much more about than they actually do (which recalls another famous saying, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing"). You talk about the visceral part, and HOME, etc., and we are not saying you are wrong. What we are saying is that this is just the starting point for the musician. The more one understands about music intellectually, the more one appreciates what the musicians are doing (in any genre), and the deeper then becomes one's visceral appreciation as well. We know this to be true, yet this concept is often fiercely resisted by the music lover/audiophile who is non-musical. I would submit to you that if you took some time to take an ear-training course, or a fundamentals of music theory course, or even a music appreciation course at a local university or community college in your area, it would enrich your appreciation of the music you already love, and probably introduce you to whole new musical loves, far beyond what you could possibly imagine now. Folks like you and Orpheus and Charles1dad would be perfect students for such courses. Don't be afraid of it turning music into an academic exercise - in fact, I guarantee, assuming a decent teacher, that the very opposite will happen - your love and appreciation for music will deepen more than you think it possibly could. You would not regret it.
Another directly related personal story - for nine years, I taught French horn lessons very part-time (obviously my symphony job is my full-time job) at a major university. However, I did not teach the horn majors (another one of my colleagues did this) - I taught the non-majors, kids who had a band scholarship that required them to take the lessons, or kids who just wanted to keep playing but weren't necessarily in the music program otherwise. I have also had many adult students in my career, which frankly was not intended by me, but has become something of a specialty - two of my three current private students are adults. I was/am very much of a maverick as a teacher - I did of course help them play the horn much better, but I also insist on my students learning at least the rudiments of music theory, and I help to train their ears better (something my theory major in college taught me to do, by helping with music students who needed the extra help). I am in touch with many of my former students, all of whom thought it was a little strange at the time, but all of whom now greatly appreciate it, even though most of them don't actually play anymore, and almost all of them have continued it on their own. In every single case, it increased their love for music. One of them was actually a guy who also played some guitar, and I helped him learn some of the scales and chords he needed to learn to begin to learn to improvise - which was great fun for me, too, as it had been a long time since I had done any improvisation myself. Though we started it on the horn, he has since transferred it to his guitar playing, and last I heard he was in a jazz combo now in New Orleans, though I don't think it is his main job. Helping this type of student can often be as rewarding as helping the very most talented ones.
