Vital players (pianists, etc?) (3,3)

I believe the answer is:

key men

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'pianists etc?' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'vital players' is the wordplay.
'vital' becomes 'key' (I've seen this before).
'players' becomes 'men' (I've seen this in other clues).
'key'+'men'='KEY MEN'

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