From their point of view, it is much more complex than any given musical concept because it has to encode such a wide variety of musical concepts. The musician

From their point of view, it is much more complex than any given musical concept because it has to encode such a wide variety of musical concepts. The musician playing it doesn't (intentionally) pay attention to the complexities that Lilypad is talking about. (I've never noticed stem lengths or stem directions when playing, but they're important to keep things legible.) It's comparable to fonts: the study of fonts is pretty intricate, regardless of whether you're writing a grocery list or "One Hundred Years Of Solitude".