Why do we bother?

[shortyshort]

I was just wondering why most of us are actually playing the piano. We all obviously love the music, but what pushes you further?

a) To be a concert pianist?
b) To become a piano teacher?
c) Self gratification?
d) To impress others?
e) Nothing else to do?
f) Because you've been told to?
g) Any other reason? (state)

Personally I think I do it for my own self worth, knowing that I can play that. For mental stimulation. And, because I can't stop. I find it difficult to be near a piano without it calling me over, "please shorty, come here and press my buttons, you know you want to"

Cheers,

Shorty

[maestoso]

to be able to write my own works with as much power and beauty as the greats. to be able to play whatever someone says i will never be able to play. for the love of the instrument, the mental challenge, the way it takes you on a journey in your mind. the hapiness it brings.

[b.piano]

I was just wondering why most of us are actually playing the piano. We all obviously love the music, but what pushes you further?

a) To be a concert pianist?
b) To become a piano teacher?
c) Self gratification?
d) To impress others?
e) Nothing else to do?
f) Because you've been told to?
g) Any other reason? (state)

Personally I think I do it for my own self worth, knowing that I can play that. For mental stimulation. And, because I can't stop. I find it difficult to be near a piano without it calling me over, "please shorty, come here and press my buttons, you know you want to"

Cheers,

Shorty

well.. I feel the same you feel.. if I see a piano!! any piano.. I feel like I just want to touch its little bretty buttons & feel the music!! I can't help it.. I love it more then anything else in life!!!

playing piano makes me feel better about my self!! to be honest: a , b , c ,d & g are good reasons.. & all of them pushes me furtuer!!

   

[pianowoman]

Art this point in my life (50's) I'm in too deep to get out of it  I've put in too much of my life to stop now!

and - Self gratification - piano music is heaven!

[steve jones]

Several reasons...

I began playing because I wanted expand my knowledge of classical music. Just so happened that I got hooked!

Now I play because I love the music and I  find myself driven to get better.

I also play because Id like to teach and perhaps make a few quid out of it.

SJ

[leucippus]

I became interested in the piano and violin simultaneously.  I'm not musically inclined at all really.  I was actually looking at learning to play these instruments partly for the challenge, and partly for a change of pace (I have always been heavily into physics and math) so I thought that something in the arts would be interesting.  I actually took up watercolor painting at the same time.

I think part of my reason was also due to the fact that I am retired and lost my mother whom I cared for basically 24/7.  So now I have time on my hands to 'kill'

However, since I've begun learning these instrument I have also become interested in the need for teachers who can actually help adult students learn better.  Most teachers use pedagogical methods that are designed for children (that includes college-age students and beyond in formal educational systems).  So I see a real need for teachers who can genuinely deal with older more mature students.  So now, not only am I learning to play myself, but I am also paying attention to what works best for me and how I might be able to help other mature students to better learn should I happen to become fairly proficient myself.

So my reasons evolve and change over time.   However, my reason has never been to become a performer in any way.  If I ever play for other people it will simply be because I've gotten to a point where I feel I have something to share.  It is not my 'goal' or purpose to become a performer.  But I must confess that it would be great to reach a level of playing where I felt that people would enjoy listening to me play.  That would certainly be icing on the cake.  But it's definitely not my 'goal' or my reason for learning to play.  I actually enjoy practicing.  So even if I never get to the point where I can play well, I will have still enjoyed the experiences of practicing and learning about music.

So why do I bother?  I just enjoy the challenge and gratification of learning new things I guess.

[ilikepie]

buttons? O__o

[pianistimo]

yes.  haven't you heard of the button piano?   

i like to play because i've always had illusions of grandeur.  from the time i was around 8 i thought it would be nice to be on stage.  whenever i am on stage - i relish the experience.  i can't really tell you why.  some quirk.  perhaps i like to be heard.  anyways...i have had a few good performing experiences in which the audiences enjoyed the music and that sort of 'encourages' my behavior.  with pianists who love to play - you basically have to out and out say - 'ok - get off the stage now.  away from the piano.'  especially if you get a chance to play a steinway which is really in tune (or any other fine piano). 

also, i love to practice.  i never think of it as work.  it's a sort of relaxation to my mind now.  even when i am practicing something intently.  it's meditative.  and, i have good memories associated with music through my life.  it's held me over in dark times - and good times - and it's almost like my psychiatrist because it mirrors my exact feelings at any one particular time.  also, it is a way to gauge where you have been and where you are going when everything else in your life seems non-constant at times.  you can always go to the piano to find a bit of constancy.  i mean, even a piece you learned three years ago or twenty years ago - can be refreshed in the memory - so you feel like all the work wasn't in vain.

[shortyshort]

yes.  haven't you heard of the button piano? 

Sorry about using the word "buttons", I thought it would make the phrase a little more interesting.

Shorty

[cmg]

I began studying when I was five.  The piano was a gift from my family and lessons were meant to be physical rehabilitation for a hand injury.  ( I fell carrying a glass bowl when I was four and sliced up the tendons in my right hand rather badly.)  Well, I've never stopped playing or studying.  I'm not a professonal, but I have a college degree in performance, gotten wheen I was in my late 20s.  (I was a journalist and wanted to specialize in music criticism.)  But the more I practiced and performed, the humbler I became and I developed enormous respect for any musician who could play in front of an audience of any size.  So, criticism was out. 

But I still have that education and that degree.  And the piano is the most important thing in my life to this day.  When I finish a difficult day of work, I have practicing to lose myself in.  No troubles, no worries, no fears during those hours.  You know, it's a magical time communing with Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Ravel, etc.  I cease to exist.  It's then just the music and its challenges.  A lot like being a mountaineer.  The challenge is all-abosrbing and all that exists is the moment and the beauty embodied by the music.

Thanks for letting me say this!  I think only you folks can truly understand what this means.

[netzow]

I want to be a Performace major, so that is the biggest thing that keeps me going right now. Besides that I do want to do some teaching, I do it because I find it gratifying, part of the reason it is gratifying is because it impresses others. I also do it because I would like to become really good at something. The other reason is that I would like to be able to do something that some people never thought I would be able to do.

[rc]

I'm not sure exactly what I will wind up doing...  My basic drive is to share the music.  I love the experience of great music, I already get a lot of pleasure out of it, so what's left is to try and share it.  Even when I was first dreaming of playing piano, I think there was some embryonic desire to share it.

So I figure for now I will be a student, and develop my playing to the highest quality, reaching for an ideal of perfection, while also cultivating my own love of music to appreciate different things.  The ideal of perfection is to best serve the music, the better I can play the more the listener will be able to enjoy the music.

In another area, I'd like to teach.  But I'm thinking that's something to postpone, until I can have some decent performance experience, which would give me more to offer as a teacher.  I see that a lot of teachers get so busy with students that practicing for themselves becomes difficult, let alone performing.

I'd also like to be able to pay my bills and put food on the table...  and that's where my ideas become stuck .

[jolly01]

g) To learn and expand my mind.  The piano is such a rewarding and expressive way to do that.  The original motivation was back when I was young, in church the organist at the end of church would play the forth prelude from Bach's 8 Little Preludes and I just loved it.  (That piece doesn't sound as good on a piano, but was still one of the first things I learned, even before I knew what keys were what).

Brian

[alwaystheangel]

I'm in too deep, and can't get out.  I've been playing for longer than I can remember, so It's just kind of there. and when I'm away from a piano, even for a week I get depressed.

I wish I could play more often. Sigh.

[musik_man]

c) although I won't turn down d) if it comes up.  Having started in High School and being totally self-taught, I never had any chance of becoming a concert pianist, nor would I want to be one if I could.  I like music too much to turn it into a job.

[rc]

Why wouldn't you want to get paid doing what you like?

[loops]

When I finish a difficult day of work, I have practicing to lose myself in.  No troubles, no worries, no fears during those hours.  You know, it's a magical time communing with Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Ravel, etc.  I cease to exist.  It's then just the music and its challenges.  A lot like being a mountaineer.  The challenge is all-abosrbing and all that exists is the moment and the beauty embodied by the music.

Thanks for letting me say this!  I think only you folks can truly understand what this means.

This is me too. I took up playing a few years ago, a mid-life thing to balance a too-absorbing career.
Realised I was musically illiterate and desperately needed to do something that used a totally different
part of my brain to what I was using all day. I agree totally that I get to commune with Bach and Beethoven, it's great to be in almost intimate contact with free genius like that. When I play it's like I'm putting something beautiful into the air that then wafts out to..who knows? Sounds silly put like that but anyway. I think I lack the temperament to be a professional performer but I play every evening something for the husband.

My teacher helps me put alot of personality into my playing (as opposed to rushed and flat), explains the melodic lines and the constructions. It's totally wonderful to actually begin to *hear* music. I didn't have that when I was learning on my own.

[musik_man]

Why wouldn't you want to get paid doing what you like?

I think playing music for a living could hurt my love of music.  Having to practice and play when I don't want to.  Having to learn repertoire that the audience likes instead of what I like.

[preludium]

I think playing music for a living could hurt my love of music.  Having to practice and play when I don't want to.  Having to learn repertoire that the audience likes instead of what I like.

It's the same thing with me. I played publically during my studies at university to reduce the constant underpressure in my purse, and I found it's no fun but very hard work. And considering the time you need for preparation it's probably the lousiest paid job you can get. Then you get lots of uneducated praise, even if you made a bad performance, which is quite offensive. I mean you could easily loose your appreciation for the audience and that would be horrible if you have to generate an income that way.

I prefer playing for myself now. It's a source of real bliss to be able to get lost in making music. Right now I want to learn as much as possible and compose after my retirement, which still is some time ahead at the age of 36. Every now and then I try to write something of my own, but it always ends up in the garbage bin after a few months, after having listened to some Brahms Intermezzo or the like (can't play that myself on the piano yet, but the time will come) and realizing how trivial and superficial my own stuff is.

[rc]

I can see how being the concert pianist going through the motions, playing pieces you don't care for could dull the passion.

But there are other possibilities to turn music into a job.  Teaching is an obvious one, there are people who have to organize the concerts, promote them, maintain the facilites...  Preludium brought up composing, and there are opprotunities for that (turn on the TV or go to a movie, somebody got paid to write that music).  Maybe somebody who enjoys electronics could put together a studio and offer recording services.

It makes sense to me that we should try and make our work and our passion the same thing.  You do a better job if you like and believe in what you're doing, if you can take pride in it. I'm comfortable with the idea that classical piano may remain a hobby for me, but I don't think that writes off a career in music.

Then you get lots of uneducated praise, even if you made a bad performance, which is quite offensive.

Uneducated praise doesn't bother me, if they enjoyed a performance even though it's not up to my own standards (never is, heh) then I think that's great.

The one thing that does bother me is insincere praise, just a meaningless social grace.  When you completely bomb, what comes out isn't even music, and someone says "well that's nice" - a lie.