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Originally Posted by meisenhower
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.
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The online dictionary states that a musician is someone who composes, conducts or performs music.
I don't believe that someone who jangles a tambourine in a band to be more of a musician or musically superior to anyone who composes, sequences and produces full songs.
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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.
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I don't think we have seen a decline. There are people around who can still play instruments , probably the same amount as there always has been. The thing that has changed is the amount of coverage that people can now enjoy.
20 years ago your average guy with a TR606 and TB303 couldn't make music videos and songs and then post for to the whole world to listen to. They remained hidden in bedrooms until they "got lucky"
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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"?
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In the past music was playable live, people emulated their idols by buying similar equipment and copying the chords and leads. Now alot of electronic music with its complexity is beyond the capability of humans to play live. There is no point trying to learn to play a certain style when it isn't going to bring you closer to the goal you desire. Why waste 8 hours a day practicing keyboard skills when it could be used in learning how to produce professional sounding sellable music ?