Dictionary

routiner en · NOUN

Etymology

From routine + -er.

Meanings

1. (qualifier:jazz) A jazz musician who plays by ear (i.e. not using sheet music, but rather following along with the band and memorizing music when needed).
   • Tom Albert, present during this interview, stated that Vincent was at first a routiner (i.e., playing by rote or ear) [...] 2005, Lawrence Gushee, Pioneers of Jazz: The Story of the Creole Band, Oxford University Press, USA, →ISBN:
   • It seemed to the uptown routiners that aurality had its own set of advantages, and in the absence of strong evidence to the contrary it is hard to argue against them. 2006, Thomas Brothers, Louis Armstrong's New Orleans, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 236:
   • The rougher bands, like Kid Ory's or Frankie Dusen's Eagle Band, thrived; they were the “routiners,” the improvisers who worked from their ear rather than reading music. 2014, Dennis McNally, On Highway 61: Music, Race, and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom, Counterpoint, →ISBN, page 141:
   • Around the turn of the century, however, "routiner" or "head" music and "ear" musicians began to appear at parades. This was music more exclusively rooted in black traditions, played by men who often could not read music but who instead improvised. 1999, Reid MITCHELL, ALL ON A MARDI GRAS DAY, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 153:
2. A device used to automatically activate and cycle the settings of electronic equipment for testing purposes.
   • We usually let the routiner run overnight, when the exchange switches were lightly used, and thus mostly free for testing. 2006, B. Jack Copeland, Colossus: The secrets of Bletchley Park's code-breaking computers, OUP Oxford, →ISBN:
   • In preparing for the test, it is only necessary to connect the routiner to a test distributor by operating a key. 1955, Telephony:
   • Two interface lines are needed for the diagnostic routiner to communicate with the CU. 1972, Computer Design: The Design and Application of Digital Circuits, Equipment & Systems:

Forms