4:20 You almost also seem to be invoking Schenker's authority by not acknowledging merit to a contradictory position and inviting listeners to think it through for themselves. I must object to the unqualified claim that responses to external stimuli are best understood as programmatic and responses to internal stimuli are best understood as absolute. The emotional response to surprise (for example) depends not essentially upon the identity of that which surprises us, but essentially upon our lack of expectation, and this is true even when the surprise is a concrete event unrelated to human communication including art. The emotional response to internal stimuli, conversely, can be extremely dependent upon narrative identity, if often in a very personal way; the external presence of phobia objects (for example) is not at all necessary in order for persons to experience specialized emotional responses merely through focused ideation. But I think we should already know that Schenker already knew this. Even a person of very moderate mental capacity, by adult age, should probably already know this.

6:10 As usual among other persons, I think you've gone a bit light on Schenker for what he seems to say about medieval instrumental music. But thanks for saying anything at all. We need to start pulling that little thread eventually.

7:02 This pretty well encapsulates what I see as a problem with western musical culture in recent centuries; it's somewhat unnecessary for a keyboardist to even be able to hear whether the instruments have been tuned in order to gain some traction as a recognized composer, based less on listening skills than on mere digital dexterity. That the 8 people who sent angry letters to Ewell were all pianists, I don't see as a coincidence; it's what I would have guessed. Note that Schenker actually seems to encourage the conceptualization of compositional process as an outgrowth of finger training, rather than as an outgrowth of ear training.

9:00 By now it is quite clear that the way I had first understood your point at 4:20 was not entirely correct. Please accept my apology for having thought the worst. I must recognize that my other exposures to Schenker matter, I have allowed to leave me utterly jaded.

11:32 Why could it not be both? Schenkerians, certainly, are not the only people who express satisfaction at believing they recognize hidden properties specifically within the very music they happen to most enjoy.