If we can't read music are we musicians??

[henwrench]

Not to change the subject, but this reminds me of a similar debate I had about whether people who use programs to make music, without ever actually using an instrument, are musicians.

        Worms. Opened. Can. Uh-Oh.....

                                                            henwrench

[Speed Demon]

Sai, now you've done it! You've released the Demon of Confusion upon an unsuspecting world.

Looks like I picked a lousy day to quit drinking antifreeze and snorting Draino.

[AndyR]

Not to change the subject, but this reminds me of a similar debate I had about whether people who use programs to make music, without ever actually using an instrument, are musicians.

        Worms. Opened. Can. Uh-Oh.....

                                                            henwrench

I just had a thought - I wanna hear someone making music with a can of worms... I reckon we must have a few people creative enough or, er, crazy enough to give it a go...

But they'll have to write the parts out and post them with the track before we'll acknowledge them as true musicians, obviously...

[Tony W]

Not to change the subject, but this reminds me of a similar debate I had about whether people who use programs to make music, without ever actually using an instrument, are musicians.

        Worms. Opened. Can. Uh-Oh.....

                                                            henwrench

can of worms, exactly. This will be a lot less of a one sided debate.

I'm completely on the fence, because I'm a backer whore. I'd love to make the music that my soul is yearning for, but I'm not there yet. While I'm building my skill set, I feel marginally justified in taking advantage of a few applications which make life easier, but I have absolutely no intention of building a reliance on them.

When I am using a software application to make music, I feel like I'm using cheat codes on a video game.

[little_chick]

Idk, I think it definitely takes some musical creativity to put together DJ mixes, even if they aren't the ones actually playing the music.  I don't think just anyone could take a bunch of samples and make them into a flowing musical piece.  Just like not anyone could pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and make music out of the notes they can play.

[Saijinn Maas]

Idk, I think it definitely takes some musical creativity to put together DJ mixes, even if they aren't the ones actually playing the music.  I don't think just anyone could take a bunch of samples and make them into a flowing musical piece.  Just like not anyone could pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and make music out of the notes they can play.

Would that put them more in the realm of "composer" rather than musician?

Some of these people are really good at what they do. Being able to put music together using samples and such. I don't have vested interest in this one or the other. I just thought it was a more interesting debate as the reading music one seems pretty one-sided.

[Oldrottenhead]

i think that anything you can get a noise, sound or whatever is fair game, whether that be a musical instrument, a found object or software program, they all need a human interface. even putting samples together i would say falls into that category.

i saw quite an interesting program on bbc4 about krautrock. and they band faust where filmed "playing" a cement mixer.

now where can i get a can of worms, damn soil still frozen solid. when are we getting that global warming we where promised .

[Speed Demon]

You only have to ask yourself, "Does the end justify the means?"
If your answer is yes, then use every musical idea/device/weapon at your disposal.

As far as I know there is no limit to the universe we live in, so why limit your creativity?
To me that's like buying a racehorse then training it to limp.

[Gu Djin]

I like the term "creative artists and musicians".  Doesn't really matter what you use as long as you make it into something new.

Now a can of worms are not really fair when fishing for trout I heard, it has to be attracted by something artificial, from fur feather and tinsel.

I was looking forward to slipping into the garden to pluck an orange in the same way we did in Cyprus...Ahh "Squid and Chips" and an ouzo ......

[Tony W]

Ironic that worms has come to be the subject matter. Saturday my girlfriend found the bait cooler at the local gas station. She brought home a dozen worms to feed to her chickens.

She said "these worms are huge" when she opened the container in the house. Immediately my evil side kicked in, and I told her that she was going to choke the chickens if she tried to feed them full sized worms. I explained that she needed to cut them up into bite sized chunks.

I don't know why, but she believed me. She went through 4 kitchen knives trying to find the right one to chop up worms with. Unfortunately it was my turn to do the dishes.

/rant

Resume music....