I don't think this is the fault of music notation. Prior to widespread availabity of recorded music, playing music from sheet music was a common activity in the

I don't think this is the fault of music notation. Prior to widespread availabity of recorded music, playing music from sheet music was a common activity in the West. If anything, I would say the death of lifelong musical performance is more the result of recording -- "this disc here is the music" rather than "this sheet music is the music" -- the sheet music still needs a performer.