Do you consider electronic music creators musicians?

mr dave · 02-25-2012, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Janszoon

To take this in a personal direction, I'm sort of curious if you'd consider me a musician or not. I've been making music for about 17 years. I took guitar, piano and sax lessons when I was younger, am able to read music with some effort, and have a little understanding of music theory. I make music via computer, generally by creating loops and utilizing a sequencer to some extent to get what I'm going for. I play keyboard, bass and guitar all at a very basic level that would terrify me to try and pull off on stage, but I'm pretty good at taking these pieces, cutting them up and stitching them together to make a song. I also sing, not amazingly well, but good enough to have done so in a couple of bands and to surprise people on the occasional karaoke night.

I usually say "I make music" rather than saying I'm a musician, not because of the computer element, but because it's my hobby not my vocation. I've known plenty of people who make music full time, who've gone to school for it, etc. and it seems kind of presumptuous to put myself on their level.

Just like RezZ, rnr_loserIX totally nailed a significant part of what I was trying to say in a much more eloquent way.

For this specifically though, I'd still consider you a musician because you do have that background. My beef is when you get someone who just downloaded Fruity Loops, ACiD, and Reason, slapped together a bunch of presets, got their idiot buddies to tell them 'huh huh, that's cool, huh' and then turn around and proclaim themselves as musicians.

I understand, and actually, behave the same way in regards to describing myself to most people. Not because I think it's presumptuous to put myself on that level but because most people I meet seem to have adopted a perspective that only people who are actively seeking commercial success through their music count as musicians. I might not be a professional musician, but I'm still a musician (or at least was

)