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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
  • Singer
  • Rapper

See also

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