Last Saturday I played a job where my niece sang with me. She lives in Nashville, where she got a degree in music business management, is an amazing talent and very knowledgeable about the industry.
However, she was totally amazed watching me make music with the arranger. She had no idea anything like that existed. When she works alone she uses pre-recorded tracks (karaoke really) that she has either had custom made or has purchased and edited. She didn't know this option existed. She told me that in Nashville, you saw either 4-6 piece bands, or guys playing guitar and singing alone.
Last night, there was an almost equally-talent young lady, about 25, playing electric piano and singing in the lounge, while I was playing in the dining room.
She took a break and walked in to listen to me. She told me she works in a recording studio during the daytime and has been performing as a "single" for about a year, having grown up singing and playing piano in her church. Anyway, like my niece she was totally amazed at the arranger technology. She wanted to know how the background was generated, how the vocal harmony worked, etc.
She watched me for quite a while and finally said she still didn't understand all of it, but she wanted one.
My point is that I believe very few people, musicians or otherwise, have any idea of what modern arrangers are, or that they even exist. Many who see us playing the keyboard, assume we are playing along with tracks of some sort.
Also many remember the earlier cheesy Casios and Yamahas of 20 years ago, with one-finger chords and 4-note polyphony. Toys really. But they don't equate them with what we have now.
Question is are we a dying breed, or are we cutting edge technologists? Answer may be yes to both.