Musicians may perform alone or as part of a group, before live audiences or on radio, or in studios for recording, TV, or movie productions. Instrumental musicians play a musical instrument in an orchestra, band, rock group, or jazz combo. Musicians may play any of a wide variety of string, brass, woodwind, or percussion instruments. For example, they may play the violin, trumpet, trombone, saxophone, clarinet, flute, organ, one of the rhythm instruments the piano, string bass, drums, and guitar or one of the many electronic synthesizers.
Singers interpret music using their knowledge of voice production, melody, and harmony.
They sing character parts or perform in their own individual styles. Singers are often classified according to their voice range soprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, or bass or by the type of music they sing, such as opera, rock, reggae, folk, or country and western. Composers create original music such as symphonies, operas, sonatas, or popular songs or raps. They transcribe ideas into musical notation using harmony, rhythm, melody, and tonal structure. Many songwriters now compose and edit music using computers.