pianist vs. piano player

[Donald M Lance]

on 2/7/02 1:05 PM, ANNE V. GILBERT at avgilbert at PRODIGY.NET wrote:

> Laurence:
>
>>> I'd kind of agree with this and suggest it's like "fiddler" vs.
> "violinist."
>>
>> I'm not sure both of these can be right, since "fiddler" vs.
>> "violinist" (and indeed, "fiddle" vs. "violin") has more to do with
>> the kind of music played (what Michal Lisecki refers to in his first
>> disjunct rather than his second).  So whether the fiddler (for a
>> country or bluegrass group, say) is still a fiddler whether s/he's
>> the lead or central member of the group or just one of many
>> musicians.   Notice it's "jazz violin(ist)" and not "jazz fiddle(r)",
>> as well as classical.  "Pianist" vs. "piano player" may well involve
>> the soloist vs. ensemble player parameter as well as the genre.  On
>> the latter, I was always struck by the fact that the old Truffaut
>> film noir and Charles Aznavour vehicle, Tirez sur le Pianiste, was
>> rendered into English as Shoot the Piano Player, not Shoot the
>> Pianist.  He played a kind of improv jazz piano in a cafe.  It was
>> one of my favorite films when I was of the appropriate age.  I note
>> that google has thousands of hits for "Don't Shoot the Piano Player",
>> which I guess is an old dictum; however, "Don't Shoot the Pianist"
>> also has a large number (although only half as many), so perhaps this
>> doesn't prove anything.
>
> I don't know.  AFAIK, "fiddlers" are violinists(if that's the right word)
> who play just about anything other than classical music.  But OTOH, if
> someone is referred to as a "jazz violinist", this may have something to do
> with jazz being considered a musical art form that is close in some ways to
> classical(it has traditions, composers, a history, etc).  whereas, I don't
> think I've ever heard people who play in bluegrass bands referred to as
> "bluegrass violinists".  But you hear or see things like "S/he plays the
> banjo in the Appalachia Bluegrass Band" or soemthing like that.   And s/he
> will be listed as "banjo:  Anne Gilbert" or "fiddle:  Anne Gilbert on any
> programs.  But again, that's just a kind of overall impression.  Bluegrass
> and Irish music, just to take two musical forms off the top of my head,
> aren't considered quite "art" by many people, but jazz and classical are.
> Anne G
>
There was a gentleman in Springfield MO (Art Galbreath) whose style was
smoother and softer than others'.  He sometimes referred to himself as a
fiddler and often referred to himself as playing the violin.  His
instrument, I think, had the flat bridge.  He liked to play waltzes.  He cut
at least one record.  Another friend of mine from the Ozarks, but not
accomplished enough to dare to cut a record, refers to his instrument as a
violin or as a fiddle and refers to playing the violin.  So the hoity-toidy
distinction probably did not originate within the fiddler population.

DMLance