Steve - Heh! Thank you, sir. T'internet is a bugger sometimes, so pleased you saw the humorous undertone, rather than took umbrage at the read word. So many do... *sigh*

I'll maintain, though, my original point - What is a musician? Without an answer to that, the question in the thread title is meaningless. Skipping a long anything, if you think you're making music, you're a musician, to my mind. Whether you are a good musician or a bad musician is a secondary question & entirely beside the point.

If you're scraping at a fiddle because you've only just begun is beside the point.
If you're writing down the sounds you hear in your head, even though you're incapable of playing a note (if Stephen Hawking had written an opera...) is beside the point.
If you are one those perennial butts of musical jokes - a drummer, a bassist, a viola player - is beside the point.
If you are "only" a singer... it's beside the point.

I argue that if you are trying to create music, you are a musician. With encouragement & help, you can become a 'better' musician, whatever 'better' means. But if you are creating music & there are people who enjoy listening to you... You are a musician. And anyone who wants to tell you different is talking from their base not their apex!