Music is a language. Although it cannot convey a specific action such as “passing the salt”, it can pull out certain emotions. While there is an argument in that the same music can make different people feel different things, but don’t the word “sick”, “ill”, or “nasty” also mean different things to different people? Language is a way of expressing ones feelings. It doesn’t matter if it is specific or not. Also, one of the reasons the English language is so easy to understand is through emphasis and body language. For example, the words “Yea, I’m mad.” can be read sarcastically, seriously, or whatever way the reader interprets it. Each way has it’s own meaning. Music, similarly depends on the players body language, and tonality for recordings. However, I think it also depends on how you define language. To someone who defines language as something very specific, then music, along with body language would not be a language because body language in itself is ambiguous. For example, tears of happiness or tears of joy? It’s the ambiguity of body language that makes charades so much fun. But, to someone who defines language as anything that can express emotions, then music is indeed a language.
In respect to who is the artist, I believe that both the composer and the musician are artists. Just how a dancer and the choreographer are two different kinds of artists, they are two different kinds. Without one of them, you won’t have a end result. They both bring different skills to the table, and therefore each one presents a different kind of art, however both are still artists. I find this statement difficult to argue against because to me it makes so blatant sense that both writing and performing music defines someone as an artist because there is so much “grey area”. I think that anything that has “grey area” that can be argued, is pretty much art.
“Grey Area”. Language was created in order to shrink the “grey area” in our communication. Music is a human expression, and you can use words to form human expression such as literature and poetry, but of itself it is not an art, and music of itself is not a language. Our Body language is based on our culture and is not a structured language, however sign language used by the deaf, is a language.
Please check the meaning of Language, or look into “linguistic, A Very Short Introduction” by P.H. Matthews, Oxford 2003. A language can posses many synonyms and the intonation can change a word meaning. Still you cannot create a word using music.