Comment by initram

Nobody's saying you can't test their ability to program. You can ask questions about programming without having them solve some problem from freshman data structures class. You can ask them how they do their current job, and ask for specifics about code they've written. You can ask them to review pieces of code to see how they would improve or change them. You can ask them for a code sample, and then have them walk you through it to be sure they understand it as well. There are many other less insulting options that still give you the chance to "hear the musician play." As an analogy, you probably wouldn't hire Wynton Marsalis and ask him to play "Happy Birthday" in an interview. You would probably ask for some samples of his music, or links to videos of him playing, etc.