Do you consider DJs/EDM artists to be musicians (lifted from another thread)

you had me until you said that deadmau5 produces good music.

 

Ha ha in general I agree with you but for some reason I have been coming around. I used to be the biggest deadmou5 hater.

 

Also trying to keep it somewhat relatable for non EDM people by not going for some obscure, underground tech house DJ. A lot of mainstream knows who Deadmou5 is.

 

tbh, beyond the stuff years ago, i have given him zero airtime. i do enjoy reading about his run-ins with other djs and twitter wars.

 

If you make music you're a musician. Yes, it's that simple, that's why we have words, because they mean things.

Honestly sometimes I don't understand this forum.

 

I would define most DJs as composers or artists, but in most cases not musicians. It's the same way I would categorize most producers and sound engineers. In the broader world of electronic music though, there is such a range of possible methods to create music, that it would have to be a case-by-case to make those definitions.

But the fact really being ignored here is this: just because you define someone as a musician, that does not automatically mean they are a good musician who makes quality music.
So you could easily categorize some ham-fisted DJ that you despise as a musician who creates really bad, boring music.

 

They fall somewhere between producer/engineer and composer. I wouldn't technically qualify them as a musician because in my personal opinion that requires being able to play an actual musical instrument.

 

In your opinion maybe but not the dictionary definition of music or conventional wisdom.

The Oxford Universal Dictionary defines music as, "That one of the fine arts which is concerned with the combination of sounds with a view to beauty of form and the expression of thought or feeling" Doesn't say ANYTHING about playing a so called "instrument".

 

What does it define "musician" as?

 

Musician "a person who plays a musical instrument, especially as a profession, or is musically talented"

Dictionaries aside common sense would dictate that anything musical that moves someone is music, I don't understand the ultra conservative mindset on here, I really don't, try open your mind, even a little bit people!.

 

No, they ain't no musicians. They just mess with other people's works.

 

And bad ones at that.

 

And what about the ones that write their own songs?

 

Everything I write is an opinion...that kind of goes without saying.

 

If we're talking people like Kraftwerk or Stockhausen, or, as somebody else mentioned, Steve Reich, definitely yes. But, they are musicians to begin with, unlike your typical DJ whose entire knowledge of harmony, voice leading and arranging can be summarized in five words: play, stop, eject, pitch and bpm.

 

And harmonically for that matter.

 

One of my favorite DJ's.

 

For those lacking that particular ability I can offer a great deal on a huge selection of pre-scratched records and deep-scratch needles - everything you need to become a DJ in no time.

 

I disagree with your guitar vs turntable analogy. It's true that you can't make much meaningful racket using a turntable without records, but you could say the same thing about a guitar without strings, right? You can tap the pickups or whatever to make limited sounds, but you're basically dead in the water.

 

Care to illuminate us on the difference between an "actual musical instrument" and the tools that electronic musicians use?

 

Guitar strings don't come containing songs already recorded by other people.

 

If chick corea cant be a DJ, how can a DJ be a musician?

Is a cat a DJ?

 

Brings to mind something about pearls and swine.

 

A musician can't make really cool sound effects without some sort of electric tool either, but no one complains that someone using a whammy bar can be "done by anybody".

 

You obviously want me to post something solely so you can come back and attack it. I think I'll pass.