With direct learning you only integrate the new information with what you do if you're actually doing it. If you read a murder/mystery you wouldn't automatically become a murderer. But if you photoread plenty of books on playing piano and music theory, the more you play you're going to notice you have a new understanding of the relations between different notes and chords.
Having information in your other-than-conscious is one thing, turning them into a working knowledge is another.
