Can we understand music's meaning?-part 9

       I Corinthians 14:7 states, "And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe (aulos 836- a flute) or harp (kithara 2788-a hand held lyre), except they give a distinction in the sounds (phthoggos 5353-i.e. melodies, notes or sounds) how shall it be known  what is piped or harped." This verse is another reference to musical understanding. Again ,this verse is in the middle of a discussion of  known or unknown language. However, this verse can not be about glossolalia  since aspsuchos (895) i.e. "things without life" refers to inanimate musical instruments.
       This reference to musical instruments is used by the Corinthian author by similitude (the quality of being similar) .  He refers to the commonly known fact that the act of playing melodies in such a manner that the auditor could perceive their distinction  (diastole 1293-significance) would impart understanding to the listener. 
       This verse is not esoteric Jewish reference to the blowing of the shofar since the words aulos (pipe not horn) and kithara (lyre not horn) were used.  If the writer had wanted to indicate a horn , he would have used the Greek word keras (2768).  So, the musical import of this instrumental music reference is that proper instrumental performance somehow imparts musical understanding to the hearer.
        This verse gives us a Bible principal of musicing; albeit a rather veiled reference to musical understanding since we are not given particulars as to what "distinctive instrumental playing" entails  Nevertheless we are instructed that we can have understanding concerning the message of instrumental performance.  What we do not know for sure is whether this understanding comes from the formal properties of  the music i.e. the phthoggos (melodies, sounds) or from outside knowledge outside of the music which  the listener brings to the musical performance. At this point, I would tend to believe that this understanding comes from the phthoggos.