What Is a Musician?

[bsaller]

mu•si•cian \myu-"zi-shen\ noun (14c)
: a composer, conductor, or performer of music; esp : instrumentalist
mu•si•cian•ly \-le\ adjective
mu•si•cian•ship \-'ship\ noun

(C)1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

musician noun
one skilled in music <the one playing the sax is a real musician>
syn musicianer, ||musicker, musico, virtuoso
rel performer, player

(C)1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved.


Enough already ! It's a moot point.

[nighthawk]

when you wake up in the morning and one of the first things you think about is playing music. thin i would call you a musican. if you just play on the slight occation and dont really concern yourself much about playing then i would call you a player.

singers on the other hand i would put into a different catagory all together. i call singers vocal performers or singers. just for the simple fact that there are far fewer people that can sing than there are that can play.

i add artist when that certain someone has the ability to catch your attention. musical artist or vocal artist.

would you rather call steve vai a musician or an artist? technically you could call him both but wouldnt you rather call him an artist. the same goes for the guy that lives down the streat. he can play and but there's not really anything that catches your attention when he plays. would you call him an artist? i wouldnt, i would call him a musician.

for the most part we have come to think of the word artist as someone who has the ability to stand out in a crowd. well at least i have. thus giving me my own outlook on it.

furthermore i dont look at the abilities of someone when thinking of an artist. i think it has more to do with the way that you express what you are doing than how fast or technical you can make it.

[Staceman]

My opinion- you participate in the making of music on a regular basis, you're a musician, plain and simple, no matter what instrument you play, voice included.

I mean, think about it: music... music-ian. How much simpler can it be?

[HurricaneBob]

Hi im Bob, and i'm an alchoholic....errr Musician.

[Punkinhead]

I tend to agree with Bassist on this. A musician someone who can play/sing well. An artist creates art. A great musician and a great artist are two different things but, when a great artist is a great musician (say like Steve Vai maybe) it's something special.

Also, the cats who just hammer out classical music are not artists if that is all that they do but, I doubt that they have nothing written.

[lonewolf]

A musician would be a person who has embraced music, trained with it and proceeds to skillfully produce music of a quality where others listen and think: "there is a musician"

All musical composers are artists, but not all artists are composers. A virtuoso violinist is considered an artist for the style he/she brings to a work. Thats called a performing artist.

Many vocalists are musicians, but you will have a hard time convincing me that an untrained singer who simply mimics other people's lyrics by ear is a musician.

Scratching a turntable is not music, its a sound effect. Latin percussion devices are much more cost effective and one who masters many of these devices is a percussionist musician.

Since there is music involved, rap and more recently hip-hop are considered very rudimentary forms of music...However, I would like to point out that they are closer to the beatnik movement of the 50s and early 60s where poets would do poetry readings to a beat. Some musicians to come out of this movement were Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison.

[bassist_25]

Some musicians to come out of this movement were Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison.

Was Morrison a beatnik, though? When I hear the term beatnik, I usually think of people like Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs, etc.

Undercover Joe and I had a very interesting conversation at Burgi's one time about the Beatnik and Merry Prankster movements.

[lonewolf]

Some musicians to come out of this movement were Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison.

Was Morrison a beatnik, though? When I hear the term beatnik, I usually think of people like Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs, etc.

Undercover Joe and I had a very interesting conversation at Burgi's one time about the Beatnik and Merry Prankster movements.

Morrison wasn't a beatnik in the true sense. It was late in that movement and although he participated in it with his poetry, he was more of the disgruntled artist type.

[Punkinhead]

A musician would be a person who has embraced music, trained with it and proceeds to skillfully produce music of a quality where others listen and think: "there is a musician"

All musical composers are artists, but not all artists are composers. A virtuoso violinist is considered an artist for the style he/she brings to a work. Thats called a performing artist.

hahaha...I'm such a douchebag....Forgot about performing artists completely. Although that still is a complete different ball of wax from a straight artist to me.

[BDR]

Many vocalists are musicians, but you will have a hard time convincing me that an untrained singer who simply mimics other people's lyrics by ear is a musician.

I agree, 100 percent.

r:>)

[lonewolf]

Many vocalists are musicians, but you will have a hard time convincing me that an untrained singer who simply mimics other people's lyrics by ear is a musician.

I agree, 100 percent.

r:>)

See Rob, didn't I tell you we'd agree on this...and it didn't even need to be in-person.

[BDR]

lonewolf, we agree on a lot of things, like beans, for instance ... beans rock ...

r:>)

[RobTheDrummer]

I consider myself a musician. That's all I ever wanna do. That's all I ever think about. Drumming, drums, and more drumming. I practice a lot as well, play cover tunes, original tunes, solo. You name it, I'm a Drummer and a Musician. I can also sit in with pretty much any band at any time and do alright because I play musically.

[DMFJ03]

I consider myself a musician. That is all I ever wanted to do growing up, so that is what I became. I'm a bass player who can't read music. I never had any formal lessons. I taught myself how to play for the most part.

I've played in bars, in churches, in clubs, in halls, outside on flatbeds, on the ground, on the stage, in front of monsterous crowds, when no one showed up, different styles of music, ask questions, experiment with effects, been told I sucked, been patted on the back by people better than I, been to a studio, made a CD, made and sold merch, bled on my instrument, played so hard that I could barely move the next day, loaded and unload vans, sing a bit here and there, consider other musicians as close or closer than my family members, work on intruments, work with instruments, been given the shaft...and have made money doing what I love and have always wanted to do.

If that ain't being a musician, I'll kiss your ass.

[Viva la Pelt]

M take is as a frontman/singer watever i feel that im not a musician but try doin a show without me! u would just have a jam band! Part of the same but different!

[orangekick]

I consider myself a musician. That is all I ever wanted to do growing up, so that is what I became. I'm a bass player who can't read music. I never had any formal lessons. I taught myself how to play for the most part.

I've played in bars, in churches, in clubs, in halls, outside on flatbeds, on the ground, on the stage, in front of monsterous crowds, when no one showed up, different styles of music, ask questions, experiment with effects, been told I sucked, been patted on the back by people better than I, been to a studio, made a CD, made and sold merch, bled on my instrument, played so hard that I could barely move the next day, loaded and unload vans, sing a bit here and there, consider other musicians as close or closer than my family members, work on intruments, work with instruments, been given the shaft...and have made money doing what I love and have always wanted to do.

If that ain't being a musician, I'll kiss your ass.

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[JeffLeeper]

Good topic.
I've been at this for quite a while.
Bassist , guitarist , I guess I get by anywhere I play....but my voice is my main instrument.
I kill myself to try to sound good , but it's worth it if it comes together.