Hey, Dug. Whatever I said a while ago, I myself may not agree with now!

So many of the ideas expressed here are well-articulated and seem quite valid, even ideas that seem to contradict each other. Nevertheless, we all seem to know what we mean by being a "real" musician, or at least to share most of the same ideas.

When I stated that you're a musician when playing music is the way you spend most of your time, I think I was proposing one arguably correct case. Certainly, anyone spending most of his/her waking hours playing music has to "qualify" ~ but that is not the only criterion for being a musician, and if I implied that it was, I take it back.

I certainly know a few players who never perform in public, only for themselves and those close to them, and who have a deep understanding of the music they play. They're musicians, probably moreso than many self-absorbed performers, even some big-time music-biz celebrities.

Perhaps someone who ever in their past life has devoted serious full-time effort to playing remains a musician forever, even if they become less active later on.

Perhaps you and I both fall into this category. I certainly recognize the state of mind you just described, where one can play without self-consciousness and without worry about technical details, with much greater depth and expressiveness than was possible back when one was just learning.