Musician or Not?
I seem to have struck a bit of a nerve with my recent First Take column, in which I postulated that people who make music primarily by putting together loops rather than playing traditional instruments should still be considered “musicians.” The responses I’ve gotten so far have been spilt between the positive and the negative. I will say, that the people who have emailed me to disagree have been quite passionate in their feelings about it.
For instance, a reader named Richard said:
“Ordering, and re-arranging of digital synthesis does not a musician make! While I, like your musical associate mentioned in your First Take article, respect the abilities of said persons, this, “Borrowed or Licensed programming” is insufficient Data to constitute comparison to lets say”’ Beethoven, I know the Magazine is Electronic Musician, but Mike, please!!!”
On the other side of the argument, Alan had this to say:
“Just wanted to write you and say thanks for your piece on whether or not mixers/producers can be considered musicians. I have to agree with you. In my opinion a believe that the tools used in creating music doesn’t determine whether or not you can be considered a musician.”
More support for my position came in from Tim:
“I am a high school music teacher of a course titled Digital Music Composition. We use GarageBand, M-Audio USB keyboards, a Korg M50, and four Kaossilators. While most people can come up with creative ways of using the technology devices, one will always have to have some knowledge of music theory–how the elements of music go together (melody, harmony, and rhythm.) Just come to day two of my course where, after I’ve taught the features of GarageBand, I simply tell the kids, ‘Take five minutes to develop a one-minute song.’ The loops are splashed all over the screen in a cacophony of fits, starts, and musicl zigs and zags. Inspiration is one thing, know-how is another and more important thing. So while GarageBand, Kaossilators, and Apple Apps for iPhone/Touch bring powerul expression tools to the masses, one still needs to know how to put the ideas together in a musically cohesive manner. That’s why we will always need music teachers: to take that inspiration, hone it, sculpt it, enable it, and let it go.”
And then, there was Drew…
“In my opinion, this kind of editorial is first and foremost cynical and disingenuous and second, divisive and wrong-headed. Mike unwittingly (I’m guessing) is driving a wedge even further between musicians and “sound knob twisters” by equating the two and suggesting that what untrained dilettantes do is music.”
If you want to read their complete responses, go to the article link. Keep those emails coming. You can respond there or here on the blog, if you’d like.
October 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
Maybe its because I am a little older, but music and musicians are on this continuous evolving experience. What would have just been considered noise is now this incredible musical experience. If someone says you are just making noise, keep doing it, sooner or later it will be music.
Oh yeah, there are always going to be critics.
December 5th, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Sorry, you can call someone who uses loops & other media an “artist”, or even a “musical artist”, but he’s still using “music” that is produced by someone else, so he is not a “musician”.
If someone builds their own music-generating machine, then that person is “making music”, thus a “musician”, but if I put together very cool, emotive collages of photos, it hardly makes me a “photographer”!
I’d be an artist, one who uses photographs to create visual art, I didn’t take any of the photos, so I’m not a photographer, and those who uses loops, or remix the tracks others created, are “artists who use music”, not musicians who MAKE music…..
Musicians are those involved in the creation music, not just moving it around. In the field of music, that is called an “arranger”, & while an arranger usually is a musician, he doesn’t need to be.
Also, simply knowing (academically or intuitively) music theory, harmony, etc., does not earn one the “musician” label. I’m sure you would never got on a plane, piloted by someone who fully understands the physics of flight, maybe has a Phd. in aeronautics, but has never flown a plane before! I don’t think you’d call him a pilot, nor would you a fantastic flight controller, able to juggle hundreds of planes into a coherent flow of landings & take-offs….
I think this entire concept, and the lauding of DJs & Mixers, has played a major role in the dearth of great young bands on the scene today. I see people not think twice at shelling out 10,20, 30 bucks or more, just to watch a DJ, and personally, I think that’s nuts, and horrifying, frankly. I’ve seen clubs where more people are content to hang in the section where’s there’s karaoke or TV screens, while in the next room a happening band is playing, FOR FREE!
Leave a Comment
Advertisement
About
The Bus, EM's editorial blog, features posts from all the EM editors on topics related to gear, recording techniques and much more. It's also home to posts from a selected group of guest bloggers.Categories
Calendar
Archives
Your Account
Subscribe