Means to study music (8)
I believe the answer is:
connotes
'means' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'study music' is the wordplay.
'study' becomes 'con' (con can informally mean to study).
'music' becomes 'notes' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'con'+'notes'='CONNOTES'
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for connotes that I've seen is " Implies in addition to the literal meaning".)