lives of pianists

[thehkchik]

i've been wondering, do serious pianists actually have a life other than piano?

i'm a piano major and if that is my focus, i want to excel in it.. not just be a mediocre. i'm also a really social person and i love to hangout everyday. but i dont know if piano + socializing really go together. my piano professors stay almost the whole day on campus, mon-friday. in my freshman year of college this past year, i've practiced an average 5 hours a day, plus studying and classes... which left little time for friends and family. and i dont want my future to be like that... i really do enjoy and love piano, but i dont want to give up my social life.

 

so does being a serious pianist mean you gotta give up vacations, weekends, BBQ's, etc to practice? or is that just a typical stereotype?

[zheer]

    Sacriffice , am sure a lot  pro pianists have had to sacriffice many things in their lives. Women in particular tend not to have children and focus on their career and the piano instead.
     I guess the piano is'nt a 9 - 5 thing unless your are a secondary school teacher or a uni teacher.  Therefore it will all depend on what career path you choose and what personality you have.

[antonino]

I don't think you have to make a choice... more I'd say time manage.

I'm going to be getting back into studying the piano myself.  I used to play up until about 10 years ago when I started competition ballroom dancing. 

With dancing I used to get up early for practice sessions before work and also about 3-4 hours in the evenings and on Saturdays putting together about 25 hrs a week of practice.  I still had time to do more and also go and see my friends on Friday and Saturday nights.

I mean it all depends how much of a social life you want.  To me I don't really see the need to catch up with friends and socialize except on weekends and at the end of the day what will you be happier knowing:

That you had a great social life, or you became a great pianist?

I say become a great pianist if that's what you want but know that you can still have a good social life too if you time manage.  You'll find you just might have more time than you think.  Also remember that there's the beginning of the day you can use too.

That's my plan anyway

[m1469]

Whatever the endeavor, to truly live one's potential, all activities which do not propel one toward this goal must be shed.  This is strictly an individual, and on-going, process.  When an individual is truly living their potential, 'titles' have secondary significance.

m1469

[lilypiano]

I think it could be very difficult to say which activities in your life are not helping you achieve your goals.  Fostering other interests and a social life could bring inspiration to a seemingly unrelated endeavor.  If you have one driving passion and want to focus on that, you should, but I think you could still have time for other things.  Don't spread yourself thin, but allow yourself to live and explore the world the way you want to. 

[persona]

I think you should find out more. In my experience, all professionals, no matter what their field, dedicate hours and hours of thier lives in order to have a chance in the competitive world we live in. If you have the opportunity to spend all those hours doing something you actually enjoy, then don't miss it, because very few people have it. But you need to be very honest with yourself in order to know if that's really what you want to do. I'm just an amateur, and I really enjoy playing the piano, but I wouldn't know how tedious it could get to study it professionally. Only you can know that.

[nightingale11]

You will be able to hang out with your friends if you got good methods...and you can find them here

https://members.aol.com/chang8828/contents.htm

[counterpoint]

What I'm really curious about this mysterious Chuan Chang, who's claiming, that with his special method people could learn 1000 times faster as normal!?!

Does anyone know, if there are any recordings of him, playing the piano himself? He must be a pianist with overwhelming technique - or is the whole method complete nonsense?

[nanabush]

If you take music in university, where do you guys practice?  Are there always practice rooms open?  [im talking about typically, some unis are different]. 

[jlh]

1-

If you take music in university, where do you guys practice?  Are there always practice rooms open?  [im talking about typically, some unis are different]. 

Typically? 

I have experience at 2 universities now, so I can tell you about them. 

At my first uni, all the piano majors are assigned a practice room (locked) which you share with 1-2 other pianists, so you work out your schedule with them.  There are also 5 rooms with new steinways, and pianists sign up for like 11 hrs per week on them.

At the other one, there are several practice rooms with fairly new steinways, and they're all locked (only piano majors get a key).  Because the ratio of students/rooms is high, the students all sign up for practice time.  There are many other practice rooms, but the piano is not always that great.  Since I'm a TA, I have a seperate office with a 14 yr old M&H, plus I have a key for the other practice rooms (I have a key, but since I'm a TA with my own piano, I can't sign up for practice time.  If I want to practice in those rooms, I have to wait until one is not being used).

[instromp]

What I'm really curious about this mysterious Chuan Chang, who's claiming, that with his special method people could learn 1000 times faster as normal!?!

Does anyone know, if there are any recordings of him, playing the piano himself? He must be a pianist with overwhelming technique - or is the whole method complete nonsense?

I thik ive heard of him. but never had any concrete proof about that learning 1000 times faster,which i think is a bunch of crap .But what do i know, he could be right .
,

[jlh]

I thik ive heard of him. but never had any concrete proof about that learning 1000 times faster,which i think is a bunch of crap .But what do i know, he could be right .
,

That's the thing, it's not provable... 1000 x faster than what? That's like that one site someone posted awhile back that said you can play better than 99% of all pianists in ONE NIGHT (practicing no more than 15 mins) by ordering his secret method (which he came up with by himself and in the absence of any formal training).

[sportsmonster]

Hey evryone! Buy magic pills, and lose 50 pounds in 10 days!!! absolutely amazing, i almost disappeared. (duh)

[jas]

i've been wondering, do serious pianists actually have a life other than piano?

i'm a piano major and if that is my focus, i want to excel in it.. not just be a mediocre. i'm also a really social person and i love to hangout everyday. but i dont know if piano + socializing really go together. my piano professors stay almost the whole day on campus, mon-friday. in my freshman year of college this past year, i've practiced an average 5 hours a day, plus studying and classes... which left little time for friends and family. and i dont want my future to be like that... i really do enjoy and love piano, but i dont want to give up my social life.

 

so does being a serious pianist mean you gotta give up vacations, weekends, BBQ's, etc to practice? or is that just a typical stereotype?

You don't have to do anything. If you want to stay in and practice rather than going out then fair enough, but don't force yourself to do it just because you think that's what a great pianist would do. Everyone's different. Some pianists are hermits, others are the life and soul. Some scientists, plumbers, footballers, anything you could care to think of, are hermits, others can be found dancing on tables most nights a week. There isn't a set lifestyle for a pianist or for anyone. Just do what works for you.

Jas