I am with you almost all the way through your piece, Philippe. My only doubt is where you say that music "also" has a social dimension.

In my perspective, "social" has been music's only dimension - all the way up to arrival of the headphones - and still.

In fact, there is no Bach Cantata without a choir singing it - and even romantic music, which came later, I'd say post-Mozart, appeared on the market as printed sheets of music with the intention for them to be played at home.

My grandfather, for instance, was a subscriber to monthly sheet music being sent to him, which, by lack of other devices for reproduction, he played out on his piano. Musical memory, then, was largely built up through the experience of playing popular tunes in piano transcriptions.

Even more social are main formats of non-Western music, including Chinese and Indian classical music and American Jazz - which are distinctively collective pieces, with riffs and large parts of the non-score improvised in dialogue with other musicians and with an audience.

Okay - today music appears to be a solo thing - but even from the inside of this solo world, whenever I "play" a piece on Spotify that strikes me as of particular interest, my instinct tells me to copy the link and share it with people I love. By this, I am keeping the social space of music alive even now :)