Becoming a professional

[faa2010]

It's almost a year since I did (and failed) the admission exam.

I have been polishing my piano and my ears to improve and repeat the exam once again.

However, I am not sure anymore if this is what I really want: to become a professional pianist instead of an amateur.

What I have wanted since the beginning has been to have something to make me improve in my playing (and in all the aspects that are around it: sight reading, ear training, music history, etc) and feel that I haven't gotten stalled, and by becoming a professional, I feel that I can improve.

What do you need to become a professional pianist?, what do you need to think if you want to change from amateur to professional?

[danny_pianist]

Malcolm Gladwell thinks that it takes 10,000 hours of correct practice to be a "professional pianist" 

https://webaom.com/piano_practice

I think that to become a professional pianist, you need a professional teacher

Also making the piano a priority over other things since you want to be a professional, you should have established goals for short and long term, and go for new challenges.

Playing the piano is a beautiful art, but a lot of dedication is needed to be a great artist.

[j_menz]

I have been polishing my piano and my ears

I hope you use different polishes. 

What you need to become professional is to be paid for it.  An amateur does it for love, a professional for money.

[iansinclair]

I hope you use different polishes. 

What you need to become professional is to be paid for it.  An amateur does it for love, a professional for money.

That's it.  That's all there is to it.  If you can persuade, flatter, con, or blackmail someone into paying you to perform, you're a professional.

Now if you mean by "professional" that you are making a living at it... not only do you need to get paid, you need to get paid enough to eat -- and to do that you have to be very good and very reliable.

[j_menz]

to do that you have to be very good and very reliable.

Or, such as in the case of Gould, so astonishingly good that a little unreliability becomes an endearing character trait rather than  career suicide.

[outin]

Or, such as in the case of Gould, so astonishingly good that a little unreliability becomes an endearing character trait rather than  career suicide.

I wonder if those days the serious music business was more tolerant of such eccentricity as his than today...

[awesom_o]

The business was extremely different in those days.

There was more business, and fewer people with music degrees competing for a slice of the pie!

[mjames]

Why are so many people obsessed with this? You don't have to be a professional to be considered a good/genius player, and besides the market's pretty tough when it comes to professionals lol. Idk man, how about you just do it for the love of it? Find a teacher and work for it man, stop worrying about being a professional. If you really want to play in front of people, just find a salon or bar with a piano and play. That's what I do here, I sneak into some 5 star Hotel with a neglected Steinway grand and I just sit and play for few waltzes, arabeques etc...until they kick me out of course lol, those waiters hate me.

This is just my advice tho. It seems to me that there are a lot more people  who are more focused on the glamour of being a professional (after watching all those yuja, and khatia videos lol) than the music itself...

[awesom_o]

It seems to me that there a lot more people  who are more focused on the glamour of being a professional (after watching all those yuja, and khatia videos lol) than the music itself...

Extremely valid point!

[bronnestam]

I think some of you are a bit rude to the OP here. "Why do you want to become a professional" and so on. Actually, your choice of your profession is nobody else's business.

So, what do you need in order to become a professional? Well, a good teacher might be good, like someone here suggested. There are many professional pianists who take students. I'm not talking just about famous concert pianists here, but about studio musicians etcetera, who take students because they need the income. And those people are good to have in your contact network, because they might lead you to jobs and gigs. You have to be prepared to play "anything", so your repertoire must span over many different genres. I also suppose you must be prepared to play for free, or for very small fees in the beginning.

So, can you improvise? Are you good at accompaniment? Do you have a solid repertoire of well-known, contemporary pieces, jazz pieces and so on? Can you join a band who needs someone at the keyboard? Can you play country, rock, gospel ...? What if a music store or a manufacturer wants someone who demonstrate new products? If a senior home, an orphanage or a hospital asks you to play at their annual Christmas Party, and your salary will be a meal coupon at McDonald's, will you do that?
All these things will finally make you a professional, there are many musicians who make a living out of this.  (Actually: most of them, just as most actors make a living from commercials and voicing cartoons.) You should also consider learning piano tuning and teaching, of course!

Except being a good musician I simply think you need to be innovative when it comes to job opportunities, and don't consider yourself "too good" for certain kind of jobs. Well, this does not mean you have to become a total prostitute either, of course. If you don't feel like playing at strip joints or at political meetings you hate, then don't ... Oh yes, we have all seen the cliché movie scenes with a poor struggling actor/singer/musician who is forced to entertain some little ungrateful monsters at children's parties and so on. Well, you will never be a slave - hopefully - so if an offer does not please you, then decline it.

If you don't think my description above sounds fun, if you just want to play in the big concert halls around the world, well ... then go and find yourself an agent! 

[gregh]

Thanks, Bronnestam, that looked like good advice.

There's also those other things that have little to do with musical talent but are important to the working musician. Like don't be an artist on someone else's gig, if you show up on time you're late, bring your own gear so you don't have to borrow someone else's, keep your mouth shut. If you don't like the type of music you're asked to play, show enthusiasm anyway and make the audience think you love it (and understand the style so that you can play it right). Know when to call in a substitute, like if you're sick or just not prepared.

There are musicians who are perfectly skilled at their craft but don't get called back because they insult the wrong person, or they're unpleasant to work with. And there are musicians who get work thrown at them because they did a favor for the nobody who was schlepping gear behind the stage.

There are a lot of working musicians who make a decent living by some combination of playing their own gigs, supporting other's gigs, composing, arranging, teaching, and doing whatever other types of work they can find--not everyone can be a Chick Corea and make a career out of his own performances. There are also a lot of musicians with day jobs who are happy enough that they make enough money performing to cover their own expenses, and their technical skills are just fine.

[pianoplayer51]

I hope you use different polishes.  

What you need to become professional is to be paid for it.  An amateur does it for love, a professional for money.

No, a professional does it for love as well as this clip states.

[coda_colossale]

One is IN MY OPINION, astonishing, and one is so bad (I mean the cadenza, though I don't think the rest of the performance is good either, but there is obviously an artistic thought.) that it's actually funny.

I don't think it's about earning money, neither it is about showing up on stage.

[j_menz]

No, a professional does it for love as well as this clip states.

Whilst that is desirable, and not uncommon, it is not definitionally necessary.

[pianoplayer51]

You do not become a professional musician unless you love what you do otherwise you will get bored very quickly because professional musicians play day after day and nobody could keep that up if they didn't like it.

[j_menz]

professional musicians play day after day and nobody could keep that up if they didn't like it.

Sadly, lots of people spend their lives doing jobs they do not like. It is probably rarer among musician, but by no means unheard of.

[pianoplayer51]

Did you see Lang Lang play at the Grammys?   He was weird.    His playing was not that of the professional classical pianist we usually associate him with.