pianist vs. piano player

[ANNE V. GILBERT]

Kathleen:

> Well that would blow (no pun intended) my high school band/ dreaming of
the
> symphony theory that "Flutists just play, Flautists get paid."

"Flautist"????  Even on my local classical music station, most of the
announcers don't get *that* fancy!
Anne G
>
>
> At 05:32 PM 2/7/02 +0000, you wrote:
> >In all those Westerns where the piano in a saloon gets
> >shot up, it's always a piano player, even though it's
> >nearly always solo.  Wasn't Sam in Casablanca also a
> >piano player, not a pianist?  Or doesn't that function
> >get mentioned in the film?  But I think venue is a
> >factor.  In a bar or a night club it's more likely to be
> >a piano player.
> >
> >Herb Stahlke
> > > On 2/7/02 12:03, "Michal Lisecki" <magura at GIGA.PL> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Dear all,
> > > > perhaps the resources I've looked up were too poor or is it just
that
> > as a
> > > > non-native I am just not able to judge it by myself but what (if
any) the
> > > > difference is between the two notions from the subject: "pianist"
and
> > > > "piano player".
> > > > To the best of my knowledge, or perhaps rather to my "senses", I
> > guess that
> > > > "pianist" refers mostly to the field of classical/chamber music or
to
> > those
> > > > artists who either play the piano solo or whose performance is
central to
> > > > the rest of the group/band (in jazz?). Whereas "piano player" would
then
> > > > perform as only one of the many members of a group/band.
> > >
> > > I'd kind of agree with this and suggest it's like "fiddler" vs.
> > "violinist."