A millionaire or a musician.

[zheer]

  Well to be more exact, would you rather live life poor but as a musician, or a life of a millionaire but as a non musician.

[ihatepop]

Define 'poor'.

You are surely not poor in both cases. Even though you are not rich, you are definately rich in musical knowledge.

I can't choose.

ihatepop

[lau]

so if your a millinionaire you can't play piano at all, cuz i would glady be a millionaire and play piano as a hobby. But if you couldn't do that i would choose the poor musician, but how poor are we talking?

[gonzalo]

I'd like to be a musician married to a millionaire

[zheer]

Define 'poor'.

You are surely not poor in both cases. Even though you are not rich, you are definately rich in musical knowledge.

I can't choose.

ihatepop

  Hahaha, well you know thats the thing, most musicians including myself are not rich, but feel rich some-times.

   

[leucippus]

I'll definitely take the cash.  I only play piano for theapy for my mental illness anyway. 

[invictious]

A millionaire, then learn music.

Or a musician and marry a millionairess

[avetma]

One standing-ovation after recital at Carnegie worths much more than million dollars.

[thalbergmad]

Being a millionaire is nothing special, as it is just not a massive amount of money any more.

I would rather be a better pianist.

Thal

[pianistimo]

yes.  money can't buy happiness.  of course, whose happy when the cats are screaming to be fed.  i still remember the stress of the first and last litter of my cat.  she had four cute little kittens (2 white, one orange, and one black).  they were so cute!  but, all i could think was 'how are we going to afford this much cat food?'  so i gave them all away.  now - i wish i had kept the little black one.  it looked just like it's mom.  never let monetary troubles keep you from what you think is the best.

just - try to be level headed.  i mean, noone is going to get piano lessons without a little extra money.

[pianowolfi]

Haha that joke comes to mind: a beautiful woman walks down the street. Suddenly she hears a thin voice screaming: 'Take me up, take me up!' As she looks down she sees a frog jumping around. She takes him, and the frog says to her: 'If you kiss me I'll turn into a brilliant musician'. With a snappish smile she puts the frog in her handbag. 'Hey wait!' the frog protests, ' First you need to kiss me!' The women answers: 'Well you know, I can make more money with you if you stay a speaking frog!'

[zheer]

  Thats too funy.

[rc]

From either pole I'd likely try and balance it out: if I were a poor musician I'd find way to make more money with music, if I were a millionaire I'd find ways to cut back my work to learn more music.

From any point, I'd find my way to the same destination; some sort of comfortable musician.

Whatever the outcome, I also find it important to have people in your life.  What is the point of wealth (musical or monetary) if you're to keep it all locked away to yourself?

[leahcim]

Define 'poor'.

It's similar to that moment of clarity yet total despair and seering pain you feel in your gonads moments after answering the question "Would you rather be kicked in the nuts or have a million pounds? with 'Define nuts? '

[thalbergmad]

"Would you rather be kicked in the nuts or have a million pounds? with 'Define nuts? '

Depends by who really.

Some people pay to have that done.

Thal

[tompilk]

id rather be a good but poor pianist than a millionaire, but i'd not like to be a rubbish musician rather than a millionaire...
Tom

[zheer]

id rather be a good but poor pianist than a millionaire, but i'd not like to be a rubbish musician rather than a millionaire...
Tom

  LOL i see what you mean.

[princessdecadence]

I'd like to be a musician married to a millionaire

Yup yup!

[ako]

Maybe at least for $20M I'll give up being a musician and find another passion...basically anyone who owns a home in San Francisco Bay area is a millionaire already so a millionaire does not do you any good.  I don't want to be poor...it's tough worrying about your house payments, your insurance or if you'll ever get sick and have no money to pay for the hospital bills...not to even mention the smaller points in life such as deciding what groceries to buy to maximize your dollar or avoiding going out with friends because you don't have enough discretionary money to spend...which is kinda what I'm doing right now. Love being a musician though...but you don't have to be a good musician to enjoy the joys of music.

[pianistimo]

even millionaires worry about how much they pay for things, i hear.  i used to think clipping coupons was for crazy people with a lot of time on their hands.  now, i am into coupon clipping.  you can save a lot that way!  and, saving in as many areas as possible.  who cares if you can't 'go out' with your friends.  one of my friends down the block solves that problem and invites them all over asking them to each bring a dish or a drink.  also, she was dressed to the nine's yesterday - and someone asked where she found her knee high boots.  she declined to answer the first time - but the second said 'at the second hand store.'  it was then that i realized that the most unsuspecting people have a lot of good ways to save money.  ps the boots were brand new - so someone must have bought them and not worn them due to size.

[ako]

I guess I've stopped inviting friends over to my house for the pot luck thing also...maybe I worry too much about money in general even though I am a "millionaire"... I definitely have some issues...

[zheer]

I guess I've stopped inviting friends over to my house for the pot luck thing also...maybe I worry too much about money in general even though I am a "millionaire"... I definitely have some issues...

  If you have a million in the bank in the USA, it wont make a millionair in the UK.

  Have you been to Turky, it's really funy, the Taxi will charge you near a million leera for his service. Everyone is a millionaire in Turky.

[pianistimo]

i'd pay that for the carpet ride only.  to the site of noah's ark.

[thalbergmad]

i'd pay that for the carpet ride only.  to the site of noah's ark.

Last time i heard, that site is now restricted and is off limits.

Thali

[ahinton]

Someone I know once said that Mr William Gates is one of this world's poorer people and far less of a financial success than he is usually portrayed to be; his reason for so saying was that he believed that Mr Gates would be at least 100 times richer than he is now if no one ion the world had ever made illicit copies of Microsoft software.

Well, I'm not about to check my heart to see if it is bleeding for Mr Gates, but the person who made this comment almost certainly has a point, as far as it may go. "Financial wealth", as he put it, "means - and has always meant and will always mean - different things to different people, in strict accordance with their expectations or aspirations at any given moment in their lives; for me, a man or woman is not financially "wealthy" unless they are capable of seeing what is going on in America, disapproving of it and then dealing with that disapproval by buying America and changing those things in it that merited the disapproval".

I guess that this would mark out most composers as suffering from excessive poverty indeed. No change there, then...

Best,

Alistair

[pianolist]

I don't understand what makes people want to become millionaires. But I do think that one of the most fulfilling things in life is never quite achieving your ultimate goal. The glow after a concert doesn't last very long - it's the striving for improvement that keeps us going!