General Music Chat

Subject speaks with forked tongue.

One fork of the road is my opinion that drummers are indeed musicians. The other fork is that I have a visceral dislike of invoking the damn dictionary in a more convoluted and involved discussion. As I said, it is a monochrome and simplisitic conversation stopper.

No disrespect to Mr. Webster. Hell, I even drank in a nice bar near his former home in Karlovy Vari, Czech Republic. Good beer, by the way.

My drummer likes to drink beer before, during and after rehearsals... if that helps at all with this lively discussion!

Percussionist's ARE musicians, drummers are, well, ah...drummers.

I've never questioned whether drummers are musicians or not, the best musician in our high school band was drummer primarily. Phil Collins plays several instruments, including piano. quite well in fact. Neal Pert writes all the lyrics for Rush. I thought Jethro Tull's drummer was just a drummer, (although still a musician) when I got a "Slipstream" video, live footage from the "A" tour. The drummer played bass when they all switched instruments, which they did all 3 times I saw them as well. One of their drummers was a good mandolin player I think it was...I play drums for that matter, not well, but I play them...among other instruments...

Yes, drummers are of course musicians. I knew a guy a while back who was a better guitar player than I was at the time, it turned out he was even better as a drummer, he liked guitar better though so it was his main instrument. But he was a drummer in school...

I also agree though, a dictionary is a black and white reference in a technicolor world...I use the dictionary a lot, it was my favorite book as a kid, but I take it with a grain of salt, it can't cover every nuance and detail...

Obviously drummers are musicians and we don't need a dictionary for that. Yes the dictionary is an inelegant way to settle an arguement. I thought this was a joke thread?

The whole thing though seems to have stirred up the lack of respect drummers get compared to other instruments. They bang on these things and don't generally need to worry about what notes are being played or scales or chords. Let alone chord inversions, circles of fifths yada yada. They are stereotypically the most unstable in they're personal lives and party harder and get thrown in jail more often Is there a basis in reality to the stereotype? Sure to some degree I suppose. It didn't get to be a stereotype for no reason and you'll find it more in rock/metal/punk genres more than say afro-pop or orchestra music.

Personally the majority of drummers I've played with have had PHD's in percusson and knew more about music theory than me.

Stereotypes of all sorts exsist in our scociety and the fact that most of them have a grain of truth at heart make them very touchy subjects for a lot of people. They narrow the mind, ferment negative feelings and close off possibly rewarding interaction between so many people. I just thought drummers were one of the few groups we could still make fun of dangit!

Peace

Jon, you referred to posted subjects which:
" . . . ferment negative feelings and close off possibly rewarding interaction between so many people . . ."
.
Yeah, I think it was good of you to bring this up (and thus let people aim their gunsights at you for saying it).
This kind of negative atmosphere is unecessary; some things are better left unsaid . . .
Thanks.
Oh, God, now they're going to cut into me, too . . .

oh my god i have created a monster........i understand everyones point of view and i think we could all agree that drummers are musicians and when i started the first "are drummers musicians" blog it was an open topic(yes/no) that if nothing else would get everyone involved..and hell its been like a hot spud ever since...good job everybody..but to close the subject

i have created a monster.....


he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.


it was just a bit of fun everybody

I have never disbelieved the idea of drummers being musicians.
Watching Neil Peart construct a drum solo was proof enough for me.

"Jon, you referred to posted subjects which:
" . . . ferment negative feelings and close off possibly rewarding interaction between so many people . . ."
.
Yeah, I think it was good of you to bring this up (and thus let people aim their gunsights at you for saying it).
This kind of negative atmosphere is unecessary; some things are better left unsaid . . .
Thanks.
Oh, God, now they're going to cut into me, too . . ."

Rythym man I wasn't refering to anyones post here with that comment. just stereotypes in general. Everyone here seems to respect drummers or are joking about it including myself. No harm intented.

HOW DO YOU GET A GUITAR PLAYER OFF YOUR FRONT PORCH? ...........PAY FOR THE PIZZA!!!

^ hahahah, hey wait, that was me.

my opinion is that a mediocre band with a great drummer is a good band, a great band with a mediocre drummer is a lousy band. Drummers are just about the most important people in a band, can't have a good band without one. Later...

As a teenager i was told that anyone with a hole in their arse could play the drums. A few instruments and a lot of years later i proved this theory wrong, when on the rare occasions i get behind a full kit i may as well be paraplegic. Im fine with the sticks, but when my feet try to get involved im f****d. Good drummers are excellent and well worthy to be called musicians, they have my full respect.

What?? Is this for real.....? Who cares.....? TALK MUSIC. Practice is who you are as a musician..

THANX.

I think it all comes down to something a drummer in a band I was in once said:

"Everybody plays drums. A few of them actually know how."

I'd say the ones who actually know how are musicians. So are some of the others, drums just aren't their primary instrument.