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Does playing an instrument make you a musician?

Who do you think is right?!

  • Total voters
    72
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Samthebassist

Samthebassist

Jun 21, 2007
615
4
Kansas City
#1
Ok, so yesterday i got soooo PO'ed at my friend Nick, hes a violin player and he just would not shut up during orchestra. thats wut got me in a bad mood

then during lunch, we started to get into this argument about how he thinks that just because you play an instrument, that makes you a musician.

Me- Just because you play an instrument, doesnt mean you're a musician

Nick- Uhh yeah it does

Me- umm..NO IT DOESNT :mad:. you play violin, you're a violinist. You play it everyday in orchestra, and basicly, in your free time. I know you luv it to death, and youre good at it (compared to some of the other members of the orch.)

Nick- I'm also a bassist

Me- No youre not! :spit:

Nick- *shocked look on his face* :eek:Yes i am!

Me- dude, no your not, you almost never play, and one time you got 4th chair, out of 3 people! u never practice. You're not dedicated enough. Just because u pick up an instrument, that doesnt make you a musician :rollno:

Nick- uhh yeah it does

Me- you're an idiot.....

GOSH....so as far as he's concerned, anyone who can play anything on an instrument makes them a (insert insrument here)-ist. He is such an ignoramus. He doesnt know the meaning of musician.

I do not want to seem like the bad guy here people, cause im not. He thinks he so much better then I. He's second to last in orch. people, wut makes him so special??

Now i know you dont have 2 be the best to be a musician, and it may seem like i was saying that u do have to be the best. I dont think that you do, but just the way he acts, theres no way he has the heart and sole to be a bassist.

my definition of musician----
A person with musical talents of any kind that puts their heart, mind soul, and spirit into their instrument(includes voice)and is 100% dedicated to it. :D

nick easily had that for the violin, but for the bass...no.....he didnt....

wut would be your guys' definition of a musician? (im tryin to get the PERFECT definition)

and...wut do you think,.......u think that just because u can play something on some sort of instrument that makes u a (insert instrument here)-ist? or a musician for that matter?

:bassist:
 
#11
Lesfunk said:
It's a joke.
Electric Bass players have been traditionally considered the janitors of the music world by "real" musicians for decades.
Many other instrumentalists do not realize the importance of bass
Click to expand...

o ok!! yeah thats prolly true...i mean that people think that...its not true..in real life...most music genres wouldnt be wut they are today is it wasnt for the bass

:bassist:
 
#14
I think according the definition a musician is basically a profession. You get paid for it, you know? I play bass, but I don't get paid for it, so according to that, I'm a bassist not quite a musician.
 
#16
IIKSMII said:
I think according the definition a musician is basically a profession. You get paid for it, you know? I play bass, but I don't get paid for it, so according to that, I'm a bassist not quite a musician.
Click to expand...

if u dont get paid...that doesnt make u Not a musician. (every1 get that?)

just because u dont get paid......doesnt mean u luv it any less then some1 who does.....money means almost nothing in the music world....

:bassist:
 
#19
A "musician" is a vocation, the work in which a person is regularly employed. It doesn't have to be your primary income source - there are plenty of part-time people in all sorts of job descriptions - but to me, it has to be 1) regular (recurring more or less on a schedule, not just once) and 2) employed (paid) to count.

Knowing how to play an instrument just means that you are trained in that particular instrument. I know how to speak on a stage because I took a drama class in high school; that does not automatically make me a "public speaker." I have a Missouri real estate broker's license; even though that technically, legally makes me a "real estate broker," I would never introduce myself as one unless I was buying a house (in which case I would be legally required to disclose it, under Missouri real estate law).

If you know how to cook, does that make you a cook?

Even beyond that, I think there are two ways to look at this: A musician is an umbrella term for anyone who gets paid regularly for playing any instrument. You can be a bassist, and more broadly, a musician. If you play more than one instrument, which one you want to call yourself (pianist, bassist, etc) is up to you, but you're still a musician - so long as you also get paid regularly for doing it.

For someone who knows how to play an instrument and doesn't get paid, well, the term for that is hobbyist, no different than gardening or fishing or playing pool or anything else that some people make money doing/do for a living and others don't. By the way, that is not an insulting term; it's just a fact. If you do some activity for which professionals doing it would get paid and you're not, or you could also say if you get paid less than it costs you to continue doing it (net loss) beyond a reasonable period of breaking into a new field, you're a hobbyist. There is no shame in that.

Some people use the term "professional musician," which to me means, a musician (someone who gets paid regularly for playing some instrument or instruments) whose PRIMARY source of income is playing/writing/recording music. You can also be a part-time musician, if you get paid regularly for doing it, and you *make* money overall as a result of doing it (like a second-job as a part-time cook, for example). If you break even or lose money regularly, face it, you are a hobbyist, and you are doing it not as a job, but as a hobby, because you enjoy it. That's not a bad thing, but it doesn't make you a musician.

I think a big problem for Westerners, especially Americans, is that they identify too much with what they do in order to make money. Who you are is not what you do, but "musician" is a job title just the same. You can love playing music and not be a musician. There are plenty of professional musicians who hate the music they play, who do it just for money, or get as little enjoyment out of it as they would any other job. You could be a hobbyist who loves music way more than those guys, but that doesn't make you a musician, if it's not at least a part-time job earning you a net increase in your bottom line. There is no shame in that; one thing has nothing to do with the other. It's just a job. It's *great* when a musician loves his job, but if playing/writing/recording music isn't your job (or at least earning you a net profit), and we're talking about definitions, you're a hobbyist, not a musician.

Hope this helps, and this is IMO, blah blah blah
 
#20
Dave Muscato said:
A "musician" is a vocation, the work in which a person is regularly employed. It doesn't have to be your primary income source - there are plenty of part-time people in all sorts of job descriptions - but to me, it has to be 1) regular (recurring more or less on a schedule, not just once) and 2) employed (paid) to count.

Knowing how to play an instrument just means that you are trained in that particular instrument. I know how to speak on a stage because I took a drama class in high school; that does not automatically make me a "public speaker." I have a Missouri real estate broker's license; even though that technically, legally makes me a "real estate broker," I would never introduce myself as one unless I was buying a house (in which case I would be legally required to disclose it, under Missouri real estate law).

If you know how to cook, does that make you a cook?
Click to expand...

lol i stand by my definition....but yeah

if you cook..that that doesnt MAKE you a cook.....

i really luv my definition
:bassist:
 
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