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[Colombia20102018]

Hello Everybody. I am able to play a few tunes with my melodeon. Not perfectly but decently. Many times talking to people about music I want to say that I play a musical instrument but I am hesitant to do so because I am only a beginner even though I can play some stuff. My question to you is to see if there is a guideline of when one can call himself a musician or an instrument player. Is there something like if one can play one, two, or let's say ten songs fairly well can say that plays a musical instrument or on the contrary to say that you play an instrument entails far more knowledge, quality and quantity (number of songs and or time spent playing)? Thanks for all the feedback.

[Mike Carney]

If you can play a few tunes, in my book you are a musician.  You might not be professional but you're still a musician. Not sure why you need to know, but I usually just say I am learning to play the melodeon....that has been my stock line for the last four years and hopefully for a good few more years!
Mike

[george garside]

I tend  think  in terms of  ''musicians''   as being those who  are    middling to good at  the techniques required     to  play a particular instrument well, including  the skills needed to  generate rhythm, harmony,dynamics and phrasing etc    wherever needed to enhance a tune.

I don't see  the term  as  having a direct relationship  to  being able to play any particular number of  tunes or to length of time ''playing''

Mastery or at least good progress towards it can be made  playing a relatively small number  tunes  whilst conversely  some people  purport to being able to ''play'' many tunes but have   not got near to mastering the instrument.

As to time scale  for learning I see it as a lifelong process and not something that can be measured by how many years or how many  tunes can be knocked out.  I started  when I was about 15 and fifty years and many tunes on I am still   happy to be learning!

george

[Ollie]

I think it's actually quite an important distinction to make, and the fact that you're asking yourself this question is a really positive thing, so well done! Self awareness of the difference will certainly make you a better player. To me, a musician displays elements of musicality and flair in their playing, things like dynamics, phrasing, articulation. The musician is also reasonable proficient on their instrument(s). Take my relationship with the piano; I can play it, I know where all the notes are, but I would never venture to suggest that I am a pianist, as I'm nowhere near proficient enough, and I don't have the technique to play it in an especially musical way. It's good to be aware of the distinction, as it gives you something to aim for, and helps you be critical of your playing.

[Stiamh]

My policy is to let others decide whether they want to call me a musician or not. I would just say that I play (insert style of music) music on (insert instrument(s)).

I'm always impressed when people say, yeah, I play a bit, and then they turn out to be fantastic exponents of whatever bit they mentioned.

[MatlockBather]

Regardless of what you call yourself, remember that being able to play even only 1 tune on a melodeon makes you more awesome than 99.997563% of the people on Earth.

Fact. 

[Chris Ryall]

As alluded to in several answers, there are several levels in this. One can debate the detail, but for arguments sake lets say there is "moving the notes" (Ollie's piano example), knowing that the expression is not what you really want, and then doing something about that.

I'd tend to agree that level one is making sound, but it's not really playing. As for self-analysis, listening doesn't get you there in itself, but of course a nascent musician will work this cycle many, many times on his way to something beautiful.

Somewhere on that journey ... musicianship happens. The line is in itself a matter of opinion. Many might call the teenage rocker, banging 3 chords on guitar an "instrument player". Others who admire the John Williams, or Jimmy Hendricks of this world .. might defer? But in the end, it's about music, not instruments.   

[Cardiff Pauly]

Simple, when you can play a Dino Baffetti (Castelfirdado) Organetto in C, you are truly a musician! Strangely, and purely by co-incidence, I have one available on "Buy And Sell", how weird is that?
What?....? 🐑🐑🐑🐑

[Nick Collis Bird]

 

[Anahata]

My favourite definition of a musician is having what one friend of mine calls "big ears".

You can learn to play tunes on an instrument by mechanical rote, but what makes you a musician is the way you fit your playing to whatever's going on round you, whether it's dance, accompanying a song or joining in with other musicians or just creating a mood.
Otherwise you might as well be a barrel organ or clockwork musical box.

All of which doesn't exactly answer the original question, but that's about the eternal human urge to categorize everything when the real world doesn't fit into neat little boxes.

5 tunes = beginner, 20 tunes = player, 100 tunes = musician... heaven help us if we have to live by such definitions.

Regardless of what you call yourself, remember that being able to play even only 1 tune on a melodeon makes you more awesome than 99.997563% of the people on Earth.

That's a nice thought, even if it only makes you 0.01% more awesome than the others 

[Theo]

My question to you is to see if there is a guideline of when one can call himself a musician

I think it's actually quite an important distinction to make, and the fact that you're asking yourself this question is a really positive thing, so well done! Self awareness of the difference will certainly make you a better player.  ....

When you feel you are a musician you are one.

[John MacKenzie (Cugiok)]

Can't remember who it was, that was doing an interview on Radio 4 a few weeks back, but when the interviewer asked him his view on something "as a musician" he said. "Oh no, I'm not a musician, I'm a singer, all the others in the group are musicians, except me, and the drummer"
That sort of fits in with my views on the matter.


John 

[Helena Handcart]

Can't remember who it was, that was doing an interview on Radio 4 a few weeks back, but when the interviewer asked him his view on something "as a musician" he said. "Oh no, I'm not a musician, I'm a singer, all the others in the group are musicians, except me, and the drummer"
That sort of fits in with my views on the matter.


John 

I like this. Much.

While I am (kind of)  happy with the designation 'morris musician' I would not consider myself a musician in more general terms.  In fact just the other week when referred to as such my response was 'oh I'm not a musician, I play melodeon'. Cue gales of laughter from the two PA players present... 

[Bob Ellis]

I would never define myself as a musician. It raises people's expectations of you and then you have to try to live up to them! 

If anyone asks, I just say that I play the melodeon a bit.

[Mike Carney]

Can't remember who it was, that was doing an interview on Radio 4 a few weeks back, but when the interviewer asked him his view on something "as a musician" he said. "Oh no, I'm not a musician, I'm a singer, all the others in the group are musicians, except me, and the drummer"
That sort of fits in with my views on the matter.


John 

I like this. Much.

While I am (kind of)  happy with the designation 'morris musician' I would not consider myself a musician in more general terms.  In fact just the other week when referred to as such my response was 'oh I'm not a musician, I play melodeon'. Cue gales of laughter from the two PA players present... 

I'm with you on this but when you think about how hard it is to master the melodeon we should take the credit where it is due...I have always felt it is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach in circles while/whilst (pp) doing the same to someone else. We have four things to do at the same time - push or pull, bass note, melody note and air! 
M

[Anahata]

If anyone asks, I just say that I play the melodeon a bit.[/color]

That's me and bagpipes!

[arty]

I would never define myself as a musician. It raises people's expectations of you and then you have to try to live up to them! 

If anyone asks, I just say that I play the melodeon a bit.

I think Bob has got it absolutely right.
The day you picked up the melodeon and started to pick out a tune, you were an instrument player. Some would say, if you were a musician, you wouldn't be playing a melodeon!
Anyway, I for one, wouldn't want the responsibility of 'being a musician'. Just enjoy yourself and have fun - don't stick a label on yourself.

[arty]

I'm with you on this but when you think about how hard it is to master the melodeon we should take the credit where it is due...I have always felt it is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach in circles while/whilst (pp) doing the same to someone else. We have four things to do at the same time - push or pull, bass note, melody note and air! 
M
[/quote]

And....pull funny faces at the same time! 

[Anahata]

when you think about how hard it is to master the melodeon

Not buying that.
Every instrument is hard for different reasons.
There are some instruments where you can spend the first 20 minutes or longer failing to even GET A NOTE out of it, for example. (Bulgarian kaval, or even ordinary flute for some people)

[robotmay]

I have still never managed to get a note out of a modern flute