Why arent drummers considered musicians?

[animvl]

Presumably the reason for this statement is your average drummer (rather than classical percussionist) only contributes to music in one of the three main aspects of music (Rhythm, Melody and Harmony). But a good drummer is as much a musician as a good bassist in my opinion.

 

[Buxtehude]

You are making the assertion that music must have melody to "be music", and that an instrument must have the ability to sound different pitches to be considered "musical".

Those are incorrect assertions.

Damn straight.

 

[Dazey]

You are making the assertion that music must have melody to "be music", and that an instrument must have the ability to sound different pitches to be considered "musical".

Those are incorrect assertions.

but all the toms and the kick drum do have different pitches

 

[skidrawk]

My drummer has a music degree.

 

[SirMjac28]

wow back in the day nobody wanted to be the bass player the guitar and drums are always the loudest and get the most attention at least in rock bands IMHO

 

[klejst]

only the ignorant and foolish would say that :scowl:

+1 to this, as most of these types of people would also be the ones to say the same about the bass player.

 

[carlthegroover]

If I understand correctly, kind of the Big Three of music are: RHYTHM, Melody and Harmony, no? Plus other considerations like dynamics, tone, and technicalities of instruments and amplification. And there is the business of music too, but that's a whole different matter.

So, if RHYTHM is one of the three main components of music, doesn't that alone qualify percussionists (including those that do not deal with notes per se) as musicians?

If not musicians, what in the world are they called?

 

[gnjpowell]

Because the definition of "music" requires 3 components:
Melody
Harmony
Rhythm
?
Personally I think it's just a slam against drummers...

 

[carlthegroover]

So music must have a melody to be considered music?

Yeah, he should try to convince those of us who know a little bit of/ speculate about the origins of music. Didn't MUSIC itself actually start with drums/ percussion? What's probably the oldest instrument ever invented? Probably some ancient/ crude percussion instrument. Why? Because maybe some caveman started banging on a hollow tree trunk, and "eureka", he found the banging pleasurable enough to keep on doing it. And then the caveman showed this discovery to fellow tribesmen. And thus the first musical band emerged.

Sounds about right to me (maybe a stretch, but sounds reasonable). It could have also be the wind instruments (someone hearing a sea shell's sounds in blowing winds, or something like that), but it sounds less probable and more serendipity.

 

[skidrawk]

Yeah, he should try to convince those of us who know a little bit of/ speculate about the origins of music. Didn't MUSIC itself actually start with drums/ percussion? What's probably the oldest instrument ever invented? Probably some ancient/ crude percussion instrument. Why? Because maybe some caveman started banging on a hollow tree trunk, and "eureka", he found the banging pleasurable enough to keep on doing it. And then the caveman showed this discovery to fellow tribesmen. And thus the first musical band emerged.

Sounds about right to me (maybe a stretch, but sounds reasonable). It could have also be the wind instruments (someone hearing a sea shell's sounds in blowing winds, or something like that), but it sounds less probable and more serendipity.

that's exactly how it happened.
Caveman - Invention of Music - YouTube