don't get the wrong impression, im just telling my opinion not declaring what a singer should be..

i understand your point but i see it like this, you are not musician until you start creating your own stuff

i don't respect it cause it's the easy way out, when you start creating your own stuff you take a risk.. a risk in voicing your own message rather than playing a popular song you know ppl are gonna like..

sure when you start in music you start by doing covers but at some point you move on from that and start creating your own stuff and that's when your journey as a musician truly begins.

shenanigans at it's finest

I guess I have a different definition of what a musician is.

I don't know about Elton's input into the writing process, but Madonna was contributing significantly lyrically within a few years of achieving commercial success. Musicians should strive for self-improvement. Anyway, as usual, it looks like another thread started by someone who is no longer here.

So... what do you call people who perform as part of an orchestra that play symphonies composed centuries ago?

idk, paid musicians? studio musicians?

all im saying to me a musician is more than just someone who can play an instrument or read music.. maybe i misunderstood the main point in doing music, but isn't it to create you're own compositions?

A musician is someone who plays music. We are all musicians. Some better than others.

But what about instrumental music? Those songs can certainly still have a message.... right?

If you agree with that, then you can agree that the musicians who aren't singing have an input into the group's message as well. Elton John didn't write lyrics, but he wrote damn good songs.

Part of being in a group is to share. A band is a group, not a singer with paid arms standing behind him. They all create the composition. Even if the singer came in with all the parts already recorded and asked the group to play it, each person is going to interpret the music a little differently which gives it their own sound. Ergo, they all end up having their own input onto the final composition.

Also, the main point of "doing music" is to enjoy music, not being original.

I am writer, and if I was to enter singing, I would considered writing my own music a must. I feel it's the only way to call it my own creative outlet.

Maybe that's your point, but it's certainly not mine. I just like playing funky grooves.