This presentation introduces the philosophical problem of musical understanding: what it means to hear something as music, and whether such hearing depends on theoretical knowledge. It highlights that musical properties may be relational, shaped by how listeners attend to sound. Scruton’s view about the topic is explored: musical understanding is a form of intentional comprehension, involving acousmatic listening, metaphorical perception of movement ('nothing really moves and most of the movement occurs when nothing is hear') and expressive projection ('Einfühlung'), through which listeners experience musical gestures as imaginatively their own. Malcom Budd challenge to this perspective is introduced, arguing that musical movement is not spatial but a temporal gestalt, and that metaphorical language reflects linguistic limitations rather than musical ontology. The presentation concludes with a proposal: musical understanding also expresses human incompleteness, echoing Manoel de Barros’ idea that the 'the greatest wealth of man is his incompleteness', allowing music to function as a space of self‑understanding.

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