A conductor in an orchestra is not playing the part of musician. A recording engineer or producer is not playing the part of musician. In the same vein I would say that a DJ is not playing the part of musician. They're DJ'ing.
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Is a DJ a musician
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Bryan R. Tyler
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Except that a (good) DJ is making music, so he is a musician. How hard or easy, how quick or slow to learn, all of these bad examples people are trying to come up with have no bearing on the topic. A musician is someone who makes music, no matter on what instrument. A DJ making music is a musician.
If an orchestra was staying in a hotel, there would be no problem saying "the musicians are sharing twin and triple rooms, and the conductor gets the honeymoon suite for himself and his groupies."
However, if that conductor was filling out an insurance application and had to put his profession, the form might not have 'conductor' as an option; I expect he would happily put 'musician' without feeling he was being dishonest, especially as he certainly has a wide enough range of musical skills to qualify him as one (I never played under a conductor who could not at least read and sing!)
When you say 'A conductor in an orchestra is not playing the part of musician', it brings to mind the first, rather than second scenario. So you could agree with that statement, and still feel that a conductor is essentially a musician...
BTW this is a slightly oblique reply about the nature of language... Bryan's reply above is the straightforward one!
I agree with what you are saying here. I just meant that the actual act of conducting is separate from those who are being conducted (i.e. the musicians). And like wise for the recording engineer or producer. Chances are the more experience these people have as musicians, the better they can preform their duties as conductor, engineer, etc. (which one would you rather work with?
) My take on it is that the DJ takes what musicians have made and uses it creatively but is not fulfilling the role of being a musician by DJ'ing.
You mean like how piano players push those long bar shaped buttons to make notes.?
Does that mean that if i show a series of good film for people to enjoy....i am a film maker? Even of i showed lots of great photographs and paintings that does not make me a photographer or an artist.
Musician is a broad term, but a DJ would always be a DJ before he would be called a musician.
A more accurate description of the role would be music presenter. Some non-musicians who take on these roles often glean details from unpublicized facts to irksome trivia that may prove useful to someone else one day. Musicologists study music from a listener's point of view and some may play an instrument but others may not and cover other genres not on the wavelength of the common & garden club DJ.
Bryan R. Tyler
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Does that mean that if i show a series of good film for people to enjoy....i am a film maker? Even of i showed lots of great photographs and paintings that does not make me a photographer or an artist.
Musician is a broad term, but a DJ would always be a DJ before he would be called a musician.
You must be thinking of the "classical" meaning of DJ, as in a guy on the radio or at a party who just plays songs. A DJ in the musician sense takes bit of many different songs and combines them in numerous interesting ways and add all sorts of percussive and melodic elements with scratching, cutting, juggling, etc.
You usually get a lot more musical creativity from a decent DJ than you do a decent bassist in a blues band.
That's more analogous to a radio DJ - not the kind we are talking about (see the OP).
However, you'll be familiar with the use of stock footage in film. "If I were to make a film solely from stock footage, would I be a film maker?" is a closer question. I imagine if done cleverly, that could be really cool.
There are many types of "DJ". Clearly many on this board don;t get that. Some are musicians. Some are iPods.
The answer is "Yes".
The answer is "Yes".
No. But take elements from a few different frozen dinners, create something new out of them, add a bit of sauce...
...then you're a student!
Posting clips of club DJs does nothing to prove that no DJs are musicians. A lot of people here still don't seem to be getting that there are all kinds of DJs. It's also possible that not everyone here agrees on what constitutes a "musician". Continuing to argue about whether a DJ is a musician without first establishing an agreed-upon definition of the term "musician" seems like a waste of time.
That's getting close to plagiarism, taking others ideas any claiming it as part of there own creativity. In the end artist has colours to choose from and a musician has notes to choose from to create something new that they can call their own.
If i opened a restaurant and just served all the food from tins that does not make me a chef...i am not even a cook, it does not even make me creative......take aways my tins and i have nothing to offer, same with the DJ/musician thing, take away their access to others music and they have nothing to offer.
There is no such thing as the 'classical meaning' there is the original meaning and then the one that is hijacked by association, funny enough, by those that want to be associated with the original meaning.
This again blurs the line and again dilutes the meaning and gives gravitous to those that seek to use it.
So you would consider a musician absolutely has to be working in terms of individual notes (or drum hits, etc)?
Bryan R. Tyler
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What notes did you create that others haven't used a million times before you? What colors did you create? Hell, you're not even making chord progressions or color areas that haven't been used many times before you.
Well i used the same notes as we all have, i used the same chords, copyright exists to show who creates what that is the difference, something has already been combined and defined, but others take it an seek to profit from it by claiming artistic integrity from it.
I know it is complicated, and i know it is speculative, but i also no that a DJ is not a musician, they are a DJ, they have a description.
Taking tracks ad making something new could be a producer, not a musician.
Any film maker will tell you that an editor can produce a completely different feel to a film by how it is cut, but they remain called editors, not producers.
That's how i see it, but i am comfortable being a bass player or a musician, but if i booked 6 musicians i would he asked what players i would need, i have yet to see a DJ listed as a musician...well because they are DJs.
No a musician has many sub-categories, i.e., string, brass, percussion, woodwind, vocalist etc. so they are specified as to their instrument skill.
What they create is defined, as is what the do can be defined by them or others.
So if a DJ is a musician then what differentiates them from a DJ who is not a musician, but one who just plays records?
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