[meisenhower]

This kind of "discussion" is going likely polarize its contributors into two distinct groups (with some obvious crossover, hybrids and everything in between), but I'm making a very broad generalization.

1. THOSE WHO PLAY: At its highest level, these are people who have spend years in study, crafting their artform, learning technique, theory, composition and can read, write, perform, and play in virtually any situation presented. This can be somewhat genre specific, but the chops and musical knowledge are there. Think "studio" hired gun in NYC, LA, London, Nashville.

They can also be anyone who took some lessons at some point in their life on their instrument of choice (and became proficient), can read some music (chord charts), maybe play better by ear, played in bands over the years and have some understanding of the creative musical process and how to put together melody, harmony structure, rhythm and texture to create "music."


2. THOSE WHO DO NOT PLAY: These are DJ's, producers and others who "produce" music by creating beats, loops, samples, sequences, patterns. They may or may not; "play" an instrument, may or may not understand music theory, may or may not read music, or have ever performed in an ensemble, and are largely in the electronic music realm.

Both can make musically satisfying sound scapes, make high quality tracks and produce successful commercial product.

However, to call someone a "musician" who doesn't play an instrument or understand musical structure, or "hasn't done the work" is often considered to be a personal affront to those who have.

The tools that have emerged in recent history have allowed virtually anyone to create and perform music and this is a good thing. It is however, akin to the "dumbing down" of the musical process, in that those who create solely by these means are not tapping their full potential, as the more we know, the more we can do.

I think we've seen an overall decline in "musicianship" with the advances in technology and the "playing assist" devices that have become so common in music today.

Why worry about playing a complex passage cleanly, when you can simply play it poorly into a sequencer and "clean it up" afterwards? Why bother to develop technique to play, when the "computer has all the chops you need"?

Why? Because a "musician" is often defined by their command of the instrument. It doesn't matter what your genre is, there are accomplished players and there are "hacks" (except in maybe classical music, as hacks don't usually get too far in the professional ranks).

One doesn't have to be a virtuoso, but should demonstrate some competency on your instrument of choice (and by instrument, I'm not including loop players, sample players, sequencers, beat boxes or drum machines).

If you can play your instrument AND use all the gadgets above, then you have a well rounded "bag of tricks".