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A musician usually plays a musical instrument, especially (although not necessarily) as a profession.^[1] Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music. It's also a person who makes music a profession, anyone (professional or not) who's skilled in making music or performing music creatively, or one who composes, conducts, or performs music (especially instrumental music).^[2]

Musicians can be of any music style not limited to classical, orchestral or choral, and musicians can have skills in many different styles outside of their professional experience. Examples of musicians' skills are the orchestration of music, improvisation, conducting, singing, composing, arranging, and/or being an instrumentalist.^[3]

Medieval Musicians (400-1450)[link]

For further information, see Medieval Music

During this time period, instrumental musicians mostly improvised and with soft ensembles with soft (bas) or loud (haut) instruments, categorized by their use (indoor or outdoor). Most musicians during this time period catered to the influences of the Roman Catholic Church, providing arrangements structured around Gregorian chant structure and Masses from church texts.^[4]

	"It Was A Lover And His Lass" Written by Thomas Morley.
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Notable Musicians:[link]

• Phillipe de Vitry
• Guillaume Dufay
• Guillaume de Machaut
• Hildegard of Bingen

Renaissance Musicians (1450-1600)[link]

For further information, see Renaissance Music

Musicians in the Renaissance produced pieces of music that needed to be able to be played during masses for any church and important chapel. Vocal pieces were in Latin, as it was the basis for church texts of the time, and they typically were known as Church-polyphonic or "made up of several simultaneous melodies". By the end of the sixteenth century, however, patronage was split among many areas: the Catholic Church, Protestant churches and courts, wealthy amateurs, and music printing—all were sources of income for composers.^[5]

	"Combattimento" Written by Claudio Monteverdi.
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Notable Musicians:[link]

• Giovanni Gabrieli
• Thomas Tallis
• Claudio Monteverdi

Baroque Musicians (1600-1750)[link]

For further information, see Baroque Music

From about 1600 to 1750, the Baroque period was an era of music encompassed by counterpoint and basso continuo characteristics. Vocal and instrumental “color” became more important compared to the Renaissance style of music, and emphasized much of the volume, texture and pace of each piece.^[6]

	"Hallelujah Chorus" from George Frideric Handel's The Messiah.
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Notable Musicians:[link]

• George Frideric Handel
• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Antonio Vivaldi

Classical Musicians (1750-1820)[link]

For further information, see Classical Music

Classical music was created by musicians that lived during a time of a rising middle class called the bourgeoisie. Many middle class inhabitants of France during this time were living under the absolute power of their absolute monarchy that had been in power for some time. This caused much of the music to be made an performed in more constraint environments compared to the flourishing times of the Renaissance and the Baroque Era's.^[7]

	"Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor" Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
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Notable Musicians:[link]

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Franz Joseph Haydn
• Franz Schubert

Romantic Musicians (1820-1910)[link]

" The early Romantic period thus coincides with what is often called the "age of revolutions"--including, of course, the American (1776) and the French (1789) revolutions--an age of upheavals in political, economic, and social traditions, the age which witnessed the initial transformations of the Industrial Revolution. A revolutionary energy was also at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of poetry (and all art), but the very way we perceive the world. Some of its major precepts have survived into the twentieth century and still affect our contemporary period".^[8]

	"Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major- Andante con moto" Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven.
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Notable Musicians[link]

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
• Frédéric Chopin
• Ludwig van Beethoven

Twentieth-Century (1920-2000)[link]

The world made the transition from 19th-century Romanticism to 20th century Modernism and its inhabitants witnessed a drastic musical change. Twentieth-Century music started from composers and musicians rejecting the emotion-dominated Romantic period and represented the world as "it was actually perceived". Artists wrote to be "objective, while objects existed on their own terms. While past eras concentrated on spirituality, this new period placed emphasis on physicality and things that were concrete."^[9]

	"3 Pieces for Clarinet Alone" Composed by Igor Stravinsky, who also arranged The Rite of Spring
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Notable Musicians[link]

• Igor Stravinsky
• Claude Debussy
• Arnold Schoenberg
• Philip Glass
• John Cage

See also[link]

• Renaissance music
• Baroque music
• Classical music
• Romantic music
• Twentieth-Century music
• Singer
• Composer
• Music Artist (Occupation)
• American Federation of Musicians
• Eastern Fare Music Foundation

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Musician

Look up musician in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Media related to Musicians at Wikimedia Commons

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Nick Mason
Nick Mason in 2004
Background information
Birth name	Nicholas Berkeley Mason
Born	(1944-01-27) 27 January 1944 (age 68) Edgbaston, Birmingham, England
Genres	Progressive rock, psychedelic rock, hard rock, instrumental rock
Occupations	Musician, drummer, record producer, author, composer, auto racer
Instruments	Drums, percussion, keyboards, guitar, vocals
Years active	1964–present
Labels	Capitol, Columbia, Sony, EMI, Harvest
Associated acts	Pink Floyd, Sigma 6, The Screaming Abdabs, The Tea Set, Mason & Fenn, Robert Wyatt, Carla Bley, Michael Mantler

Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason (born 27 January 1944) is an English drummer and songwriter, best known for his work with Pink Floyd. He is the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965. Despite solely writing only a few Pink Floyd songs, Mason has contributed to some of Pink Floyd's most popular compositions such as "Interstellar Overdrive", "A Saucerful Of Secrets" and "Echoes".

He is the only Pink Floyd member to be featured on every one of their albums. It is estimated that as of 2010, the group have sold over 250 million records worldwide,^[1][2] including 74.5 million units sold in the United States.

He also competes in auto racing events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.^[3]

Early life[link]

The son of the documentary film maker Bill Mason, he was born in Birmingham but brought up in Hampstead, London (many online biographies mistakenly cite the street address Downshire Hill – sometimes as "the Downshire Hills" – as a district of Birmingham) and attended Frensham Heights School, near Farnham, Surrey. He later studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster), where he teamed up with Roger Waters, Bob Klose and Richard Wright in 1964 to form Pink Floyd's predecessor, Sigma 6.

Musical career[link]

Mason has been the drummer on every Pink Floyd album^[4] (but not on every song; some session drummers have been used^[4]).

Despite legal conflicts over ownership of the name 'Pink Floyd' which began when Roger Waters left the group in 1986 and lasted roughly 7 years, Waters and Nick Mason are now on good terms.^[4] Mason joined Waters on the last two nights of his 2002 world tour to play drums on the Pink Floyd song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", and he also played drums on some concerts of Waters' European tour in 2006, and during performances in Los Angeles and New York City in the United States. On 12 May 2007, Mason joined Waters again on stage at Earls Court to play The Dark Side of the Moon. Again on 12 May 2011 Mason was featured, along with David Gilmour, on the encore Outside the Wall at Waters´ concert who was performing The Wall in its entirety. Gilmour also performed on Comfortably Numb that night.

In July 2005, Mason, Gilmour, Wright, and Waters played together on stage for the first time in 24 years.^[4] A four song set was played at the Live 8 concert in London.^[4] Mason also joined David Gilmour and Richard Wright for the encore during Gilmour's show at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on 31 May 2006, reuniting the post-Waters Pink Floyd. Mason has also claimed to be the link between Gilmour and Waters, and believes the band will play live again. His answers have ranged from "playing again for a charitable cause" to "a tour" given in various interviews in the last few years. He also stated in 2006 that Pink Floyd have not officially disbanded yet.

The only Pink Floyd songs that are solely credited to Mason are "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party Parts 1-3" (from Ummagumma) and "Speak to Me" (from The Dark Side of the Moon).^[4] The one-off song by the band entitled "Nick's Boogie" was named after him.^[4]

The only times Mason's voice has been included on Pink Floyd's albums are "Corporal Clegg", the single spoken line in "One of These Days" and spoken parts of "Signs of Life" and "Learning to Fly" (the latter taken from actual recording of Mason's first solo flight) from A Momentary Lapse of Reason.^[4] He does, however, sing lead vocals on two unreleased but heavily bootlegged tracks, "Scream Thy Last Scream" (1967) and "The Merry Xmas Song" (1975–76). In live performances of the song "Sheep", he did the spoken section.^[4]

Unlike the other members of Pink Floyd, Mason has rarely played an instrument other than his usual one (drums), although he has contributed sound effects to many Pink Floyd albums. He has only ever played non-percussive instruments on "The Grand Vizier's Garden Party", his personal composition from Ummagumma, where he provided some keyboard, guitar and bass noises, and on live versions of "Outside the Wall", where he played acoustic guitar along with the rest of the band. He has claimed that he took some failed violin and piano lessons as a child. However, on the Profiles album Nick released with Rick Fenn in 1985, he is also credited with keyboards.^[5] He can be seen playing a synthesizer in the promo video for "Lie for a Lie", but it is unknown if he actually played on the recording.

Mason has done some work with other people, notably as a drummer and producer for Steve Hillage, Robert Wyatt (with whom he appeared on Top of the Pops^[4]), The Damned and Gong.^[5] He also drummed for Michael Mantler.^[5]

Nick Mason used Premier drums in the 1960s and occasionally in the 1970s (mainly on recordings up to Wish You Were Here). After that, he used Ludwig drums from 1970 until 1992. He currently uses Drum Workshop (DW) drums, pedals and hardware. His kit is a DW double bass kit with the Dark Side of the Moon logo on the drums. He has also used Paiste cymbals during his entire career with Pink Floyd. He currently uses a mixture of Paiste Traditional, Signature and 2002 cymbals.

Nick Mason's book, Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd, was published in the UK in October 2004.^[4] It is also available, abridged, as a 3CD audio book, read by Mason.^[4] An updated edition was published, in paperback, in 2011.

Notable Pink Floyd songs co-written by Mason[link]

• Pow R. Toc H. (1967) (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
• Interstellar Overdrive (1967) (The Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
• A Saucerful Of Secrets (1968) (A Saucerful of Secrets)
• Careful with that Axe, Eugene (1968) (B-side of their single Point Me at the Sky)
• Atom Heart Mother (1970) (Atom Heart Mother)
• Alan's Psychedelic Breakfast (1970) (Atom Heart Mother)
• One of These Days (1971) (Meddle)
• Echoes (1971) (Meddle)
• Time (1973) (The Dark Side of the Moon)
• Any Colour You Like (1973) (The Dark Side of the Moon)

Drumming style[link]

Influenced by jazz and big band music, Nick was a pioneer who embraced acoustic drums, (both single and double headed) tuned percussion, electronic drums and Roto toms, melding all of these into a melodic whole. His snare drum sound shifted from harsh demarcation of beats 2 and 4 (Careful with that Axe, Eugene) to a fatter and gentler timbre (Echoes) — a change that reflected growing studio chops.^[6] Mason has been seen as playing a big part in creating the atmosphere and mood in Pink Floyd's compositions.

Non-musical ventures[link]

Nick Mason

Nationality	British
24 Hours of Le Mans career
Participating years	1979–80, 1982–84
Teams	Dorset Racing Associates EMKA Productions Dome Racing GTi Engineering
Best finish	18th (1979)
Class wins	0

Mason is married (to his second wife, Nettie) and has four children; two daughters (Holly and Chloe) from his first marriage and two sons (Guy and Cary) from his second. They live in Hampstead, London; however they often stay in the Wiltshire town of Corsham in the former home of Camilla Parker Bowles.

As Floyd's recording and touring schedule grew more sporadic, Mason was left with more time to pursue his favourite hobby: motor racing. He owns (through his company Ten Tenths) and races several classic cars, and has competed successfully at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His collection has been a subject of his 1998 book, Into the Red in which he documents his experience with his cars, along with some histories.^[7] He is also a qualified pilot, and flies an Aerospatiale AS 350 Squirrel helicopter in specially painted colours.^[8]

Mason was invited by Ferrari to purchase one of their 400 Enzos, which he let Jeremy Clarkson borrow for reviewing purposes on the BBC motoring programme Top Gear. Mason agreed, on the sole condition that throughout the review, Clarkson promoted the release of the book Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd. This led to Clarkson using Pink Floyd album titles in his description of the Enzo and The Stig driving round the track with "Another Brick in the Wall" playing (despite the fact that the Enzo does not come equipped with a stereo). Mason says that his favourite car of all time is the Ferrari 250 GTO, and owns one of the 39 built (which is valued at between £16,000,000 and £20,000,000).

His wealth amounts to £55 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List 2006–07.^[9]

Views and advocacy[link]

Mason has played concerts to raise funds for Countryside Alliance.^[10] He is a board member and co-chairman of the Featured Artists' Coalition.^[11][12]

Discography[link]

With Pink Floyd[link]

Pink Floyd portal

With Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports[link]

• Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports – 3 May 1981^[4]

With Rick Fenn[link]

• Profiles – 29 July 1985^[4]
• White of the Eye – 1987 (soundtrack)^[4]
• Tank Malling – 1988 (soundtrack)

With Michael Mantler[link]

• The Hapless Child - 1976^[5]
• Something There – 1982^[5]
• Live – 1987^[5]
• Review - 2000
• Concertos – 2008

As a producer[link]

• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre – The Asmoto Running Band (1971)^[5]
• Principal Edwards Magic Theatre – Round One (1974)^[5]
• Robert Wyatt – Rock Bottom (1974)^[5]
• Gong – Shamal (1976)^[5]
• The Damned – Music for Pleasure (1977)^[5]
• Steve Hillage – Green (1978); Co-produced with Steve Hillage. Mason also plays a drum on "Leylines to Glassdom"^[5]

Books[link]

• Into the Red: 22 Classic Cars That Shaped a Century of Motor Sport (with Mark Hales) – 3 September 1998 (first edition), 9 September 2004 (second edition)
• Inside Out: A Personal History of Pink Floyd – 28 October 2004^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Nick Mason's Drummerworld profile
• Nick Mason interviews
• Ten Tenths official site
• Inside Out book page from Pink Floyd official site
• Pink Floyd Drums: The Division Bell Tour Drums
• Nick Mason's interview for Hit Channel website

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Keaton Simons (born 20 July 1978) is a Los Angeles recording and performing artist. He is signed to CBS Records and his music has been featured on shows such as NCIS: Los Angeles, Crash, American Dad!, Harper's Island, and The Cleaner to name a few. Recent performances have included performing for Desmond Tutu at a United Nations event with members of Toto, Paul Simon, and John Mayer's band.

Keaton's multifaceted talents are not just in music, they have landed him appearances on television and film. He has made guest appearances on shows such as The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Malcolm in the Middle, and American Dreams. Keaton also appeared in the feature film Hollywood Dreams.^[1]

Keaton has shared the stage with many independent singer/songwriters including Tony Lucca, Curtis Peoples, Joe Firstman and Tyrone Wells. In the summer of 2010, Keaton was the opening act on a national tour for REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar. In 2009 and 2010, Keaton performed at Hotel Carolina, an annual two-day singer-songwriter festival held in South Carolina.

The music video of his song "Good Things Get Better" parodies the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, featured on Strictly Global VII.

He is the stepson of Eric Roberts.

References[link]