I really need some help, opinions appreciated!

[mmro]

Here's what happens. I love piano, I love music and that's what I'd like to dedicate my life to. I finished highschool last year and now I'm going to college.

I really didn't know what to do, I felt I wanted to study music but my family told me to study something else, just in case, that piano isn't something wich you can earn enough money to have a family and a comfortable life. They said they're worried about my future and music would always be an 'extra' activity.

So, after speaking with my mom she convinced me to go to an University. Now I feel really sad because it's not something I really want to do, or at least, it's not what I'd like to do the most. Music is my priority, I just don't know if I'll be able to dedicate enough time to both things.

Considering what my parents said, I don't know if I should make a huge effort to deal with both things. I really don't know much about a pianist's life. What I'd like to do is to give concerts. I realize it might sound childish but it's always been my dream... however I don't know if I'm being juvenile by thinking I'll become famous and give lots of concerts... I'm really not interested in teaching, just giving concerts. Also, I get really, really nervous when giving a recital. I've had bad experiences with it, one time I got stuck and couldn't go on with the piece.

So if there's anyone there with experience or good advice, I really appreciate it, I really don't know what to do. 

[faulty_damper]

If you just graduated highschool, and you have this dilemma, then your future is NOT going to be anything related to the piano unless you want to teach it.  If you go to a university/conservatory for music, your future will NOT be in playing the piano, unless you want to teach it.  If you have not participated in at least small piano competitions and easily won them, your future will NOT be in playing the piano, unless you want to teach it.

If you think music is your life, then you have no future in music.  It's pretty bleak but that is reality.  Music is a very narrow field of study, those who only have their hearts and souls firmly planted in it have no hope for growth as it is a highly energy intensive endeavor.  It is also one that is surrounded by many other related aspects that most musicians are not aware of.  This ignorance reeks from many conservatory/university music students and in the short term, a couple of years, you'll realize that you just wasted your time, money, and energy on a hopeless pursuit.

Unless you plan on teaching it, listen to your mother.  If you do plan on teaching it, be the most effective teacher you can be because it is obvious that there is a need for better piano teachers.

[thalberg]

Faulty Damper is correct.  I spent 6 years at an excellent conservatory, and there were many pianists there who had been easily winning competitions since elementary school.  They had the best teachers since age 3, and had parents who forced them to practice 2 hours a day as toddlers and 4 hours a day as middle schoolers and onward.  Out of this group of people, about half a dozen played Carnegie Hall while I knew them.  Yet out of all my acquaintances, no one, not one, has been able to make a living playing concerts.  The only people i know making a living performing are orchestra players, and perhaps Ali Weilerstein, a Cellist I knew who seems to be making it as a soloist these days. 

Overall, I'd say listen to your parents.  Piano really should be an extra activity for you.  You will find something that you like to do and where you can make money. 

Like Faulty Damper said, you might make a great piano teacher someday, but if all you want to do is perform classical music, you will likely not be able to support yourself without teaching.   And a lot of teachers make pretty small salaries.  (Not all of them, just most)

[amelialw]

if you are serious in becoming a pianist, you have to really love the piano with your heart and soul, really want to be the best...these have to be shown in your actions,by being really responsible, be prepared to spend hours on the piano everyday as well.

Even if you just finished highschool last year, you still have a chance but you must remember that there are others who are way younger and play excellently so you might even have to work 2 or 3 times harder to be just as good or better then them.

About that, I myself graduated from high school just a year ago as well, even after moving to canada before I started gr 11, my teacher let me know how much I had to improve before I would even see myself having a career as a concert pianist and piano teacher. Even when I was in Grade 12 with all my provincal exams comming up I would practise for hours everyday... now my teacher said that I have improved so much in the 4 years that she has taught me that it has been a huge sucess due to the fact that she had to correct about 13 yrs of wrong fingerwork, the art of playing the piano. She has also said that in that aspect i'm the most succesful student that she has had.

For myself, my teacher being a singaporean as well, goes back to singapore once every few yrs to perform and take masterclasses and she has highly reccomended that I go back next year as they have an excellent B.A performers degree.

Hope that gave you some encouragement at least...as in a way we are both in the same situation

[lostinidlewonder]

If you want to be a musician expect it difficult to earn money unless you are employed by an educational institution.

A musician really should be looked at as a Business man. You don't study music you study business, and in the end you are simply selling yourself as the prodct and try to give the best service possible. Most musicians teach because it is the easiest way to make money, it  takes a lot of management and organsation to make performances profitable something which is out of the realm of most musicians thought processes.

You can make a lot of money with performances but you must have a business plan. It doesnt matter how well you play the concert hall will be pretty much empty if you do not promote yourself effectively. If you are serious about being a musician you better start thinking seriously how you would sell tickets to a concert, or how you will start to build your student network. That is the business side to music, something which has nothing to do with the 88keys we work so hard on. I'm not world famous, but I've sold more tickets in public concerts ive done than the famous concert pianists did in the same concert hall. That's because I pushed for the tickets to be sold much harder than their managers would have. That is the reality of it all. You push for it to happen, once you get the ball rolling you start selling more tickets by word of mouth etc, but you must keep the ball rolling, which is not as easy as it sounds. It places you under a tonn of pressure, and is a real reason why most musicians are teachers.

[b0mbtrack]

i had a similiar question.  what other jobs are there out there other than teaching and performing at a concert.  And how well off are those other jobs, like if you record in a studio for movies or commercials would you be secure financially? what about other fields in music like producing, you would still get to be doing something with music other than teaching.  what about filmscoring?  i was just wondering this because i love piano, i wouldn't like to teach and i hate my current job but don't know what to do. 

[anna_crusis]

Here's what happens. I love piano, I love music and that's what I'd like to dedicate my life to.  What I'd like to do is to give concerts. I realize it might sound childish but it's always been my dream... however I don't know if I'm being juvenile by thinking I'll become famous and give lots of concerts... I'm really not interested in teaching, just giving concerts.

I think it's completely unrealistic to think that you'll be a concert pianist because as others have said there's people out there who have been groomed for it since they were babies. You'd be competing against those sort of people. Also, your nerves would be a big obstacle.

But hey, that doesn't mean you should just pack in music altogether and become an accountant! If you broaden your horizons a bit and are prepared to go where your fate will take you then it is perfectly possible to earn a modest living as a musician. I've know lots of people who've made a life in music, usually through a combination of different things like teaching, performing, composing, producing etc. There are a LOT of people in the music industry, but if they had all been defeatist to begin with then there wouldn't be any at all.

Perhaps it all comes down to money. That's generally why people go to college - to get well paid jobs. Then there's the other sort of person who has a calling and doesn't care about money so much. Their vocation is their reward. Personally I would go nuts if I was doing something I hated every day, no matter what it paid.

I guess it all comes down to how important music is to you. To some it is just a hobby, to others it is their whole life. Which one are you?

[mmro]

Thanks everyone for opening my eyes. I feel better now.