Musical People and Musicians

musician / noun

Oxford Dictionary: a person who plays a musical instrument, especially as a profession, or is musically talented.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: a composer, conductor, or performer of music; especially.

If you play an instrument or sing at all you might be a musician.

If you bust out a slide whistle at a birthday party, sing in the shower, strum a guitar, or tap out a plinky melody on a piano, then there’s a chance someone might call you a musician.

Yet most of us — even those who have been playing instruments for 30, 40 and 50+ years — would hesitate to describe ourselves as musicians.

More often we reserve that label for people like:

Esperanza Spalding, Nina Simone and Yo Yo Ma
Duke Ellington, Björk and Glenn Gould
Clara Rockmore, John Coltrane and Carol Kaye
Joe Satriani, St. Vincent and Jake Shimabukuro
Prince, Lorde and Dinah Washington
Mitsuko Uchida, Wynton Marsalis and Igor Stravinsky
Alicia Keys, Jack White and Kanye
Killer Mike, Barbara Streisand and Charlie Parker
McCartney and Lennon
Jagger and Richards
Bach, Beethoven, Mozart

And on and on and on. This list of musical legends could have a million names. Probably more. These are people who have extraordinary musical skills and imagination. Their music is profound. Inspiring. Enduring.

My name is probably not going to be on that list. Or yours. And that’s OK. (There’s always a chance, though.)

And yet we play on. We write songs. Music is woven into our identities. It’s our creative outlet. Music is our medium. Our fingers get sore. Our voices get hoarse. Our ears ring. We summon the courage to take the stage. Our blood is infused with sound and rhythm.

We’re musical people. There are many millions of us. Probably billions.

musical / adjective

Oxford Dictionary: Relating to music; Set to or accompanied by music; Fond of or skilled in music; Having a pleasant sound; melodious or tuneful.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary: a :of or relating to music; b :having the pleasing harmonious qualities of music :melodious; 2 :having an interest in or talent for music; 3 :set to or accompanied by music; 4 :of or relating to musicians or music lovers.

We live in a time in which people seem to gravitate to over-simplified, binary terms to describe other people.

Them and Us. Left and Right. Dems and GOP. City and Country. Gender. Race. Social and economic status.

The labels “musician” and “musical people” are perhaps helpful in that they describe context for where we are in the giant spectrum of music-making — a vibrant tapestry of sounds, melodies and rhythms people like us have have been weaving together for thousands of years.

We’re all feeding our unique threads into the loom.

Special thanks to our friend and uke-player Archie Miller for the inspiration.