Are DJ's Musicians?

if djs weren't musicians, there'd be no such thing as a trainwreck...it takes hours upon hours of practice to master turntables and a mixer, although a "traditional musician" would not consider these tools "instruments", some people have limited their views of what "instruments" should be. Someone seemed to be mocking the idea of the voice as an instrument in an earlier post, but do they not realize the voice was the FIRST instrument? I would agree that there are different levels of composition, and djs are below composers/producers in the amount of composition that they contribute to the final piece, but to deny that a dj contributes to the arrangement of a musical set is completely misunderstanding the horizontal experience of music. If you play 10 songs in sequence without overlapping, it's a COMPLETELY different experience than playing the same 10 songs with overlapping transitions (i.e. mixes). These transitional stages are the actual "composition" element that the dj adds, as well as the emotional movement of a mix. A dj mix is tantamount to "movements" in a classical piece, and as such, the arrangement of the "movements" is just as important as the creation of the individual elements (i.e. tracks) because it's an hour long set, not 20 3 minute sets per song. if you have a strict definition of what constitutes music, than it will be hard to call dj's musicians, but if people are willing to accept the unorthodox into the culture, then djs will ultimately get the same recognition as guitarists, only time will tell, and I say we'll know for sure in about 15 years whether djs are a staple of music, or if they fade away like the brass band.

tigi
 
What about when dj's double drop tunes, or triple drop in some cases? This is a dj creating a completely new and often unique sound.
 
theone said:
What about when dj's double drop tunes, or triple drop in some cases? This is a dj creating a completely new and often unique sound.
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I see what you mean, but those who would argue against the case the DJ's are musicians would just say that it's not a completely new and unique sound, it's just 2 pre-existing pieces of music being played at the same time...

Which is right I suppose, not that I agree, but I can understand both sides of the argument...
 
double dropping isnt hard. anyone can do it with a bit of practice.

and tigi, imo what you are saying is definitely not a valid argument. if you say that they contribute to the composition of a musical set then i dont know how they can be called musicians. A dj is given a very limited set of skills with turntables as there is only so much he can do, ie, beatmatching, scratching etc. each set he is utilising these skills and people can be impressed by the speed in which he does this, but at the next gig all he is doing is using these skills with different tunes. A dj is only as good as the music that is being made (by musicians) or has been made. you dont see bands or pianists 'overlapping' their tunes. they sit down with an instrument, and compose something off the top of their heads. imo this infinitely more difficult than mixing two tunes together, however you do it.

and saying that dj's fall under the unorthodox section of musicians is just clutching at straws imo. taking the vaguest of similarities between a classical musician and a dj doesn't connect them in anyway. and why do we want to morph what people describe as a musician. DJ's have been around for years, and its only as more and more people are taking to it that people feel they need to recognised as musicians. fine top dj's are musical. but does it surprise you that they all started as producers?

Dj's are Dj's. musicians are musicians.

kthanxbai x
 
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gcurt1s said:
double dropping isnt hard. anyone can do it with a bit of practice.

and tigi, imo what you are saying is definitely not a valid argument. if you say that they contribute to the composition of a musical set then i dont know how they can be called musicians. A dj is given a very limited set of skills with turntables as there is only so much he can so, ie, beatmatching, scratching etc. each set he is utilising these skills and people can be impressed by the speed in which he does this, but at the next gig all he is doing is using these skills with different tunes. A dj is only as good as the music that is being made (by musicians) or has been made. you dont see bands or pianists 'overlapping' their tunes. they sit down with an instrument, and compose something off the top of their heads. imo this infinitely more difficult than mixing two tunes together, however you do it.

and saying that dj's fall under the unorthodox section of musicians is just clutching at straws imo. taking the vaguest of similarities between a classical musician and a dj doesn't connect them in anyway. and why do we want to morph what people describe as a musician. DJ's have been around for years, and its only as more and more people are taking to it that people feel they need to recognised as musicians. fine top dj's are musical. but does it surprise you that they all started as producers?

Dj's are Dj's. musicians are musicians.

kthanxbai x
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:word:

I think that settles it really!
 
i reckon djs r musicians it takes skill to mix and all djs find their own style and type of tunes to mix

if you watch someone who has never mixed before its impossible for them to hear both beats differently and its hard to get in time

also its about the order of tune and the way you mix so i would say that yea djs r musicians

(also i playish guitar as well so i count myself as a musician anyway)
 
This reminds me of music elitism, where people back in the diz-ays would say that anyone who did'nt have musical training in the formal sense was not a musician. This was before and for a short time after the first instance of recorded sound, when music still "belonged" to the wealthy and the upper classes due to people charging bares for admission to concerts etc. With the introduction of recording all that changed forever obviously.

But that doesnt mean people didnt play music without training hunderds of years ago, peasants still played the fiddle in pub and shit for years with a high level of skill and talent.

The fact of the matter is, you cant say who is a musician and hu isnt. People hu will say that you have to have knowledge and understanding and shit to be one are just saying that cos they wanna keep the label of musician to themselves and people hu they regard worthy. Any one hu actively engages creatively with music is a musician in my eyes, and music shud be given to the masses.

So even if ur tapping ur fingers on ur desk reading this, i guess that makes u one too!

haha safe
 
BTW if you think im wrong because a DJ just plays a record then it all comes down to if ur just a tune selector or if u are an actual turntablist which if ur mixing and scratching etc u r. scrathcing a sample on a deck is exactly the same as playing an instrument. Ur using resources to create a sound in a creative and musical way. But im sure im still gonna get rinsed for wot ive said. meh.
 
gcurt1s said:
double dropping isnt hard. anyone can do it with a bit of practice.

and tigi, imo what you are saying is definitely not a valid argument. if you say that they contribute to the composition of a musical set then i dont know how they can be called musicians. A dj is given a very limited set of skills with turntables as there is only so much he can do, ie, beatmatching, scratching etc. each set he is utilising these skills and people can be impressed by the speed in which he does this, but at the next gig all he is doing is using these skills with different tunes. A dj is only as good as the music that is being made (by musicians) or has been made. you dont see bands or pianists 'overlapping' their tunes. they sit down with an instrument, and compose something off the top of their heads. imo this infinitely more difficult than mixing two tunes together, however you do it.

and saying that dj's fall under the unorthodox section of musicians is just clutching at straws imo. taking the vaguest of similarities between a classical musician and a dj doesn't connect them in anyway. and why do we want to morph what people describe as a musician. DJ's have been around for years, and its only as more and more people are taking to it that people feel they need to recognised as musicians. fine top dj's are musical. but does it surprise you that they all started as producers?

Dj's are Dj's. musicians are musicians.

kthanxbai x
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Wankerrrrrrrrrrrr.

Good point though.
 
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