Professionalism

[mycrabface]

How does a pianist(a good one) become a famous performing pianist?

[Bob]

You work up to it.  Baby steps. 

Go to a music school.  Have a teacher.  Get opportunities to perform.  Win competitions. 

Gradually work up to higher and higher level performances.


"Famous" though.  Marketing is part of that.  At some point you get an agent and have a press kit and all that.  I believe the concertizing pianists go on a concert circuit, travelling a lot.  Practice half a year, perform half a year.  Something like that.

There are also smaller performances available, like travelling around performing at colleges and universities.  Sometimes the big artists get into town for "their" performance, but then they go out to smaller venues and do "smaller" "practice" performances, masterclasses, and lessons on the side.  Those practice performances are practice for the real one that is coming up in their future.

Probably being phenomenal at whatever music school you go to.  Best of the best.  No doubt.  Being "better" than the school you're attending -- by that I mean going out to compete in international competitions instead of messing with school things so much.

Basically have the skills.  And then you need to connect with the right people.  It doesn't matter how much talent you have and how awesome you are if you can't get into the marketing system and get out there for people to purchase.


And having artistry.  Technique is a given.  Making a connection with the audience, charisma, -- so they go out and buy CDs and tickets.

[jlh]

Awesome post, Bob!

[mycrabface]

Get opportunities to perform. 

"Famous" though.  Marketing is part of that.  At some point you get an agent and have a press kit and all that.  I believe the concertizing pianists go on a concert circuit, travelling a lot.  Practice half a year, perform half a year.  Something like that.

There are also smaller performances available, like travelling around performing at colleges and universities.  Sometimes the big artists get into town for "their" performance, but then they go out to smaller venues and do "smaller" "practice" performances, masterclasses, and lessons on the side.  Those practice performances are practice for the real one that is coming up in their future.

Probably being phenomenal at whatever music school you go to.  Best of the best.  No doubt.  Being "better" than the school you're attending -- by that I mean going out to compete in international competitions instead of messing with school things so much.

Basically have the skills.  And then you need to connect with the right people.  It doesn't matter how much talent you have and how awesome you are if you can't get into the marketing system and get out there for people to purchase.


And having artistry.  Technique is a given.  Making a connection with the audience, charisma, -- so they go out and buy CDs and tickets.

Get opp to perform - HOW!!???
travel around the world to perfrom - HOW!!??? Who'd want to hear you play? Who'd even know you exist?

[amelialw]

you have to win a few competitions 1st so that people will know about you, be it the audience or other professional musicians. Another thing you can do is that sometimes places/venues need pianists to perform, so you could do that. For me, people already know about my teacher so I'm fortunate that she's paving the way for me.

[counterpoint]

How does a pianist(a good one) become a famous performing pianist?

I really don't know. There are so many extreme good pianists, that are not famous, which makes me think, that it's a pure random thing who get's famous and who doesn't.


About the thread title "Professionalism":

This word gives me an uncomfortable feeling. It's like "some do it, because they love it and others do it because it's their job". When the perfectionism (the other "bad" word) gets too dominant, the music itself often is the victim.

[Bob]

It depends on your level, but you can pretty much always perform somewhere if you want to. 

There are more ideas on the site.   Churches, retirement homes... They won't say no.

Grab someone and have them listen to you.  I did that a few times -- Just stop someone and ask if they will listen to you play a piece.  Have performance parties with your friends. 

"Make" the opportunities happen I guess.  After some people know you're musical, they will ask you to play for things.  Weddings, receptions, etc.  Weddings are going to cut it for a concert career though.  You need to win competitions.

And then "make" people know of you.  Advertise.  Promote yourself.  If you give a recital, give a press release to the newspapers -- They might print a paragraph blurb about your recital.  It's even easier now with internet -- You can email a press release in.  Take a picture of the performance and send that in afterward.  Write the story for them.  Copy the format and style of other recital articles.  Make it easy for them.  If it's a more prestigous newspaper, ask a reviewer to come out -- Have them make an official comment and then you've got that forever, for an article... for your press kit, "So-and-so from X-newspaper said mycrabface plays piano like a pianist!" 

Pair up with somebody.  Play duets.  Get someone whose slightly above you for being known.  I see a few pop stars doing that now too.  You can "borrow" part of someone else's audience.

Colleges, churches... You can do recitals there.  Then promote it yourself through the newspaper.


Start small.  Start somewhere.  You'd have to wow your teacher and wow everyone with some local competitions.  Then move up.  Bigger schools, better teacher, bigger competitions.  Win an international competition that includes a CD and orchestra performance and an agent.  If you're that good, a wedding performance means practically squat though. 

Your teacher can help find competitions.  If not, ask at college and universities and groups like MTNA, Music Teachers National Association. 

[quasimodo]

you have to win a few competitions 1st so that people will know about you, be it the audience or other professional musicians.

Not totally exact... Helene Grimaud who is arguably one of the most famous young pianist out there never won any competition, I'm not even sure she ever took part in competitions.

[timothy42b]

I think you are focused too much on concert pianists, those who play concertos with symphony orchestras.

That's a tiny fraction of the group of performing professional pianists, who play in other venues. 

Only a miracle lets you break into the concert pianist clique, but skill and a good attitude would give you a good chance to earn a living on keyboards. 

[danny elfboy]

The whole concept of "famous" is a bit ambiguous.
For example I have a friend who is a theater actor.
He perform nationally and has never been interviewed or has never appeared in television. Among the teather goers he is very famous, in fact I consider him famous but he is not world popular. Likewise I know students who became professional classical pianists after graduation and they concile their need for art with an honest earning that allow them to survive on their art alone. It's not just very unlikely but "impossible" that any of you here know them. And yet they have their quarter of fans, of appreciators and positive reviewers.

Hilary Stagg is famous, but to a certain kind of audience, and yet is not popular among whatever individual.

Who is popular in the pianist world? Hard to say. There are the "popular" ones like LangLang and a lot of famous but less known. Looking at this it seems that "worldwide" popularity is more due to some kind of extra-artistic phenomena. This is also true for Beethoven versus Scarlatti or Brahms versus Sibelius in the "popular" culture.

The whole notion of how certain things become "pop" culture and others don't is rather ambigous. The bulk of the professional pianists in the society is not popular but yet famous within certain specific culture at large (like classic music lovers) or within subculture within the specific culture (a part of the classic music lovers)

If we focus on the popular culture it seems that only 1 once a blue moon becomes famous but we need to wide the perspective of what is considered famous.

I believe that to become famous is a matter of skill, risk, boldness and charisma.
But to become "popular" in the whole world culture, I don't really know what you need or how it happens.

[Bob]

A jacket with tons of sparkles, lots of thick rings, and a wide constant smile full of bleached capped teeth.  Smiling toward the audience and bouncing your hands up high off the keyboard while playing.  That will help you get famous.  (Bob knows)

[mycrabface]

Kay another question! would you accept a music scholarship?

[Bob]

Those come with strings attached.  I've seen some students on scholarship who were worked pretty hard.  Always performing.  Always accompanying.  But on a free ride too, so I didn't pity them too much.  I got the impression those people were hired in either to promote the school or fill the accompanist gap.  Makes me wonder... How much could someone make if they didn't have a scholarship but did a lot of accompanying on their own?  How close could they come to covering college costs?

I would still choose a school based on the teacher and program and not just on finances.

[mycrabface]

I would still choose a school based on the teacher and program and not just on finances.

But you have to consider the fact that some kids under music scholarships - or any other scholarships don't have the finantial stability you and I have. Its not like they have a choice. I mean, beggars can't be choosers, right? And besides, they are chosen for the scholarship, so they must already show great potential.

-To be continued-

[Bob]

You can always get a loan.  Someone will give you one.