There's a big difference between the statement I was responding to > Before recorded music literally everyone was a musician in one way or another ... and you

There's a big difference between the statement I was responding to > Before recorded music literally everyone was a musician in one way or another ... and your statement > participation in casual musicianship in everyday contexts has declined significantly I agree with the latter, but not the former. I'm not denying the existence of folk traditions, just pointing out that music-as-a-profession is very old - and even within folk traditions (e.g. my own (Irish)) there is, and probably always has been, some proportion of people getting paid