At any musical performance whether in concert hall or opera house there will generally be a substantial minority of people who like me have little technical or academic understanding of music Some of them will be aware of possibly even embarrassed by how much they dont know Most will be awestruck by the skill of the performers A dazzling coloratura or an impeccable string section are easy to admire Even a moderately good musician is showing us the results of years of punishingly hard work Being in the audience for topclass music is not unlike watching an athletics match  we know athletes are doing something broadly similar to what we do when running for a bus but we also recognise by how much it excess our best efforts