Don Knuth noted several times in recent interviews that some of his best students came from music backgrounds, and speculated that it was because they had good experience in reading, writing, understanding, and parsing the abstract visual symbols of which sheet music is comprised. Also, he said that some of the students who had created musical compositions (and not just played an instrument) did very well, and thought that perhaps it was because they understood much of the theory that goes into the creative process, and not just the technique (or syntax).

I think both viewpoints are valid, and there is a time and a place for code virtuosity as well as theory.