Is there a general word for performing music? [duplicate]

Solution 1:

jam (intransitive verb)

Wiktionary.com

6. (music) To play music (especially improvisation as a group, or an informal unrehearsed session)

"I'm going to be jamming tomorrow so don't bother me."

spiel (intransitive verb)

Merriam-Webster

1 : to play music

perform (intransitive verb)

dictionary.com

11. to perform (carry out, execute, render) music.

Solution 2:

In Hamlet, Ophelia declares, "And I, of ladies most deject and wretched, that sucked the honey of his musicked vows" (Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 158-159). If "musicked"--ergo the verb "to music"--was good enough for Shakespeare...

Aside from that, I know of no such word other than those you mentioned. English verbs are more specific. They all refer specifically to how the music is being made.

Solution 3:

If you are wanting to perform/rehearse/play notated music then one musician to another says "Let's play / rehearse / have a rehearsal / have a play tomorrow". I'm a musician. These are the phrases I use, often.

Clearly a non-musician would not automatically understand that music was the activity so 'music' would have to be added in each case.

I use jam to mean the circumstance of playing where each musician combines a willingness to follow an agreed structure - eg the chord changes of a song - with an open-mindedness that allows for individual and group improvisation.

Solution 4:

The intransitive (no object) verb 'melodize' might work for you:

melodize, v.
1. intr. To make or play music....

["melodize, v.". OED Online. June 2016. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/116225?rskey=bqbvyt&result=8&isAdvanced=true (accessed July 19, 2016).]

Caveat: Differing definitions in common dictionaries suggest the sense of "to make or play music" might not be widely understood without a defining context, so there's a danger of misinterpretation.

While Collins English Dictionary (British), for example, defines an intransitive 'melodize' as "to sing or play melodies", which may be close enough to the desired meaning, other dictionaries (for example, Random House and American Heritage) define intransitive use of 'melodize' in terms of composing melodies, without mentioning playing music.

The 'play music' intransitive sense of 'melodize' may be more common in British English than American. Oxford Dictionaries provides a definition that agrees with the OED Online definition shown above and resembles the Collins English Dictionary definition.

melodize verb
1 [no object] Play music

Oxford Dictionaries also provides examples of use:

1. The sound isn't the greatest but still at its best with weird chimes melodisiing every time you enter a town.

2. I'm really bad at it, but if I sing a straightforward tune my girlfriend melodises with it.

3. I spent two days in this small town, making yoga on the lawn and melodising with my clarinet in the mornings until it was time to go to lunch at the steward's house.

Note that all the examples use the British 'melodise' rather than the American 'melodize' spelling.