Re: Is turntabilism music, are dj's musicians?

Date: 13 Jul 2003 17:04:59 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
Size: 2,370 bytes

Rick Greenly <email-address-deleted> wrote:
> It also takes years to learn how to engineer recordings well, but it
> doesn't make the engineer a musician. If you include samplers into
> your definition of musical instruments, then I suppose turntables
> could fit in there as well.
"could" is the operative word here.
Speaking as a musician and dancer, I want to say a few things.
There are many aspects to DJing. One is simply the mechanical.
If I've got a bunch of hot dance CDs in an auto player that
cycles through them, is that machine a musician? No, it isn't.
The mechanicals are not part of the show, although the choice of
music IS part of the show. Good music vs bad music can make or
break a dance.
Given music on mechanicals, there are still more "show" aspects
of the DJ. Compared to real musicians for example, a DJ also needs
to put on a "show". Transitions must be smooth, banter with crowd
must "work" and in general the whole effect as seen by the audience
needs to be impressive. Therefore it is clear that the DJ is
also a showman! Were that not the case then the auto CD player
would be enough.
And lastly let me talk about being a musician. There is a traditional
and tribal connection between musicians and dance. It is a two
way communication between dancers and musicians. It is the reason
that dancers tend to prefer live musicians to recorded music for
dancing. But in modern times, musicians are expensive. DJs are
cheaper (since you often are only paying for one guy). So this
leads to the widespread use of the DJ for dancing.
But the dancers feel that missing "conversation" with the music.
Records can't be "conversed" with! This has led to what I consider
to be a significant advance in recorded music for dancing.
This would be where through samples, scratching or whatever,
the DJ elevates his/her self to direct "conversation" with the
audience (dancers) in a manner directly analogous to the musicians.
While the DJ is not creating ALL the music, there is this part
which is created on the spot and thus can be used as the "language"
to communicate with dancers.
Thus, In my view, the aspects of showman and communicator/creator
do cover aspects of being a musician. Hence, in that sense,
the creative DJ IS a musician and not simply a human CD player.
Benj
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