Dictionary Definition
musician
Noun
1 someone who plays a musical instrument (as a
profession) [syn: instrumentalist,
player]
2 artist who composes or conducts music as a
profession
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- mjuˈzɪʃən
- Rhymes with: -ɪʃən
Translations
a person who plays or sings music
- Breton: soner , sonour , muzisian , muziker
- Bulgarian: музикант
- Czech: hudebník
- Dutch: muzikant , muzikante , musicus m|f
- Finnish: muusikko, musikantti, pelimanni
- French: musicien, musicienne
- German: Musikant , Musiker , Musikerin
- Hungarian: zenész, muzsikus
- Irish: ceoltóir
- Italian: musiciano
- Japanese: 音楽家 (おんがくか, ongakuka)
- Lithuanian: muzikantas
- Norwegian: musiker
- Polish: muzyk
- Portuguese: músico
- Russian: музыкант
- Scottish Gaelic: ceòladair , neach-ciùil
- Slovak: hudobník , muzikant
- Slovene: glasbenik , glasbenica
- Spanish: músico
- Swedish: musikant, musiker
Extensive Definition
A musician is a person who plays or writes
music. Musicians can be
classified by their role in creating or performing music:
- An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.
- A singer (or vocalist) uses his/her voice as her instrument.
- Composers, arrangers and songwriters memorize and orally teach, or record their compositions in the form of traditional notation or audio recording.
- A conductor leads a musical ensemble. A conductor can simultaneously act as an instrumentalist in the ensemble.
A musician can be self-taught, or
learned by formal education in a
conservatory or by a private instructor or a guru.
Musicians can be amateur or professional. The meaning
of these terms is, however, somewhat diffuse. Musicians' have
individual levels of activity and ambition in music, which often
makes music both a hobby
and a profession.
Many professional musicians define the core of their musicianship
as a state of "being married" to music, which suggests an active
and progressive relationship even and especially after finishing
formal education.
A professional musician is,
however, usually defined as one who is paid to perform, compose or
act in any other productive manner related to music, and whose main
source of income is this activity. They may work freelance, enter into a
contract with a
studio
or record
label, be employed by a professional ensemble
such as a symphony
orchestra or big band, or by
an institution such as a church or business (such as a jazz club or a
bar).
A musician who earns money by selling sound
recordings is called a recording artist.
In contrary to common belief, professional and
amateur musicians are not opposite definitions, and neither
contains a description of ability, qualification or appeal.
The concept and the status of the musician in
society varies widely,
depending on cultural factors.
- Arranger
- Composer
- Conductor
- Improviser
- Instrumentalist
- Bassist or Double bassist
- Bassoonist
- Bandurist (Bandura player)
- Bouzouki player
- Cellist
- Clarinetist
- Drummer
- Euphoniumist
- Electronic musician
- Flautist
- Guitarist (Electric, Acoustic)
- Harpist
- Hornist (Horn player)
- Keyboardist (Keyboard player)
- Oboist
- Orchestrator
- Organist
- Pianist
- Percussionist
- Recorder player
- Saxophonist
- Sawyer (musical saw player)
- Sitarist
- Poet
- Trombonist
- Trumpeter (also Trumpet player)
- Tubist (Tuba player)
- Turntablist (DJ)
- Uillean piper
- Violinist
- Violist (Viola player)
- Vocalist
See also
musician in Arabic: موسيقى
musician in Asturian: Músicu
musician in Bulgarian: Музикант
musician in Czech: Hudebník
musician in Welsh: Cerddor
musician in Danish: Musiker
musician in German: Musiker
musician in Estonian: Muusik
musician in Spanish: Músico
musician in Esperanto: Muzikisto
musician in French: Musicien
musician in Irish: Ceoltóir
musician in Korean: 음악가
musician in Hindi: संगीतकार
musician in Indonesian: Musikus
musician in Icelandic: Tónlistarmaður
musician in Italian: Musicista
musician in Hebrew: מוזיקאי
musician in Georgian: მუსიკოსი
musician in Latin: Musicus
musician in Latvian: Mūziķis
musician in Lithuanian: Muzikantas
nah:Cuīcatiani
musician in Dutch: Muzikant
musician in Dutch Low Saxon: Mezikaant
musician in Japanese: 音楽家
musician in Norwegian: Musiker
musician in Norwegian Nynorsk: Musikar
musician in Occitan (post 1500): Musician
musician in Uzbek: Musiqachi
musician in Polish: Muzyk
musician in Portuguese: Músico
musician in Russian: Музыкант
musician in Sicilian: Musicisti cèlibbri
musician in Simple English: Musician
musician in Slovak: Hudobník
musician in Slovenian: Glasbenik
musician in Finnish: Muusikko
musician in Swedish: Musiker
musician in Ukrainian: Музикант
musician in Yiddish: מוזיקער
musician in Chinese: 音乐家
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
artist,
artiste, belly dancer,
burlesque queen, chorine, chorus boy, chorus
girl, conjurer,
coryphee, dancer, dancing girl, ecdysiast, entertainer, exotic dancer,
female impersonator, geisha, geisha girl, guisard, guiser, hoofer, impersonator, magician, mountebank, mummer, nautch girl, peeler, performer, player, prestidigitator, public
entertainer, show girl, singer, stripper, stripteaser, stripteuse, vaudevillian, vaudevillist, virtuoso