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When Beethoven writes down a note as a 'stimulus' for the music which will be played when the performer sees that note, the note that he writes down is part of a very defined system of musical notation whereby those dots relate to a specific sound (agreed upon by composer and performer by their learning of that system). Within limits of course.
Drawing a picture, and asking someone to play it as music is totally different. In this case there is no pre-defined language of communication between him who draws the picture, and him who plays it. A yellow square means *nothing* beyond what the performer chooses to make of it. For this reason, the composer is the performer, and the picture is nothing more than a stimulus.
You can argue that it is actually music, but then that's just changing the definitions about. Certainly the picture is not music without someone to improvise upon it. (And yes, I mean improvise, not 'play'.)
I've been told to play from pictures before, so I know how it works. It's *entirely* dependent upon the performer -- the 'composer' of the picture has no more influence than that of a vague shaping/guiding one.
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