Am I going anywhere with my piano career?

[markcohen1]

My name is Mark, I am fourteen years old and have been playing piano since I was four and a half years old. I have been working really hard lately and have won some local competitions (not many people where I live) I study with a former concert pianist and perform in his concert at the local theater, but I have seen people online and at competitions that make me worried that I have no chance at making piano a career. To give you an idea, here is a list of some of the pieces I have memorized:
-Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a theme from Paganini Var. 18
-Chopin Impromptu in A flat
-Chopin Etude Op 25 no 2
- A number of Chopin Waltzes
-Debussy Arabesque 1
-Rachmaninoff prelude in C# minor

Some pieces I am Working on:
-Chopin Ballade in G minor
-Rachmaninoff Prelude in E flat
-Liszt: Benediction de dieu dans la solitude
-Mendelssohn piano trio 1 op 49

Anyway, I appreciate all your help and advice
Thank You, Mark

[dcstudio]

take a breath Mark       it's gonna be ok.

piano as a career is a pretty broad area ...   what exactly do you have in mind?   Where do you see yourself going career-wise and how do you see yourself getting there?

I wouldn't worry about those people you see online...  although it wouldn't hurt to start posting some of your stuff if you haven't already.   The longer you have your youtube account the better.

I started at 4 myself and I am now 51..  I play professionally although I am no concert pianist...  I have oodles of performance experience---and it sounds like you do too.

IMO--that is the single most important part...  If you enjoy performing...I mean really love it... than chances are really pretty good that you will someday find a place to play music.  I am not saying odds are good you will make it as Lang Lang...  I am saying if you want to play the piano bad enough you will make it happen.

as far as what you repertoire is in relation to your age and all that...  I think I will let one of the others weigh in... 

[pianoplunker]

My name is Mark, I am fourteen years old and have been playing piano since I was four and a half years old. I have been working really hard lately and have won some local competitions (not many people where I live) I study with a former concert pianist and perform in his concert at the local theater, but I have seen people online and at competitions that make me worried that I have no chance at making piano a career. To give you an idea, here is a list of some of the pieces I have memorized:
-Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a theme from Paganini Var. 18
-Chopin Impromptu in A flat
-Chopin Etude Op 25 no 2
- A number of Chopin Waltzes
-Debussy Arabesque 1
-Rachmaninoff prelude in C# minor

Some pieces I am Working on:
-Chopin Ballade in G minor
-Rachmaninoff Prelude in E flat
-Liszt: Benediction de dieu dans la solitude
-Mendelssohn piano trio 1 op 49

Anyway, I appreciate all your help and advice
Thank You, Mark

Hey Mark, the first thing you could do is talk to your concert pianist teacher about what is involved and how to maintain a career in piano. The pieces you list are impressive, my advice will be to diversify, diversify, diversify. Not only within classical music, but with other music such as ragtime, blues, rock. Try different things like singing, composing, or improvising or all of the above. 

[louispodesta]

take a breath Mark       it's gonna be ok.

piano as a career is a pretty broad area ...   what exactly do you have in mind?   Where do you see yourself going career-wise and how do you see yourself getting there?

I wouldn't worry about those people you see online...  although it wouldn't hurt to start posting some of your stuff if you haven't already.   The longer you have your youtube account the better.

I started at 4 myself and I am now 51..  I play professionally although I am no concert pianist...  I have oodles of performance experience---and it sounds like you do too.

IMO--that is the single most important part...  If you enjoy performing...I mean really love it... than chances are really pretty good that you will someday find a place to play music.  I am not saying odds are good you will make it as Lang Lang...  I am saying if you want to play the piano bad enough you will make it happen.

as far as what you repertoire is in relation to your age and all that...  I think I will let one of the others weigh in... 

Now, you know why I say what I say about the average piano teacher.

1) My teacher, "a former concert pianist":  what does that mean?  To me it means nothing, in that the OP is asking a world full of strangers for advice on his "career."

2)  If he has been at it for ten years, then he is at the same place most young pianists are at his age.  That means it has finally dawned on them that certain results should have been attained after all this time, and he is right!

3)  Memorized does not mean polished and ready to play.  And then, to go from that repertoire to the G Minor Ballade as well as the Liszt, is a quantum leap.

4)  Your "touchy/feely" business about, that if he really loves music, everything will work out in the end, is typical piano teacher "make the student feel good about themselves" propaganda. This is so they will continue their lessons and not quit.  That is not a personal attack on you, but instead a reality of piano pedagogy today.

5) In regards the OP, he has obviously had no exposure to the Taubman/Golandsky technique or the Alexander technique.  But, he is studying under a former concert pianist!

My recommendation to the OP, and I have done this successfully three times in the last year, is to contact me by PM, and I will give him (for free) some advice on a new and real teacher in his geographical area, which unfortunately he does not have now.

What the OP has now is a great heart, and potentially great talent.  Accordingly, what he needs is to focus (after ten years) on the best way to get results!

[dcstudio]

Now, you know why I say what I say about the average piano teacher.

1) My teacher, "a former concert pianist":  what does that mean?  To me it means nothing, in that the OP is asking a world full of strangers for advice on his "career."

2)  If he has been at it for ten years, then he is at the same place most young pianists are at his age.  That means it has finally dawned on them that certain results should have been attained after all this time, and he is right!

3)  Memorized does not mean polished and ready to play.  And then, to go from that repertoire to the G Minor Ballade as well as the Liszt, is a quantum leap.

4)  Your "touchy/feely" business about, that if he really loves music, everything will work out in the end, is typical piano teacher "make the student feel good about themselves" propaganda. This is so they will continue their lessons and not quit.  That is not a personal attack on you, but instead a reality of piano pedagogy today.

5) In regards the OP, he has obviously had no exposure to the Taubman/Golandsky technique or the Alexander technique.  But, he is studying under a former concert pianist!

My recommendation to the OP, and I have done this successfully three times in the last year, is to contact me by PM, and I will give him (for free) some advice on a new and real teacher in his geographical area, which unfortunately he does not have now.

What the OP has now is a great heart, and potentially great talent.  Accordingly, what he needs is to focus (after ten years) on the best way to get results!

I stand by what I said Louis Podesta...  if you love to play you will find a way. I am living proof of that.  He's not my student...  I understand you wanting him to take lessons from this instructor... that's nice of you.

less touchy feely...


should I tell him it's a dog eat dog world out there... that he's going to have to put in 6-8 + hours a day for years... that he will have many moments when he is absolutely sure he has made the wrong decision in life...?  should I tell him that he will meet angry people who will hate him for no other reason but that he can play better than they can.   Should I tell him that really if he wants to get there he's going to have to figure a TON of stuff out on his own that has absolutely nothing to do with his talent or the piano?   That he will have to promote himself and figure out how to get paid...  decide how he will have medical insurance because there are no benefit packages out there for concert pianists....   That he will have to answer to people that know absolutely zip about music and try to figure out what they want him to play because they are paying him.   That he will feel inadequate a lot of the time before he begins to really get the chops he needs to perform professionally.     That once he begins playing for money he will still feel inadequate for a long time...    If he teaches he will have to deal with parents, recitals, bratty kids... and people who think they know how to do his job...

...and that if he does do it... he will have the most amazing moments imaginable.  That he will know a joy that most people will never know as long as they live.   He will see people light up in amazement and feel his fingers flying on the keys...  and hear beautiful music that he is creating...


lol...there... is that better?

actually Louis is right why on Earth would you want to be a pianist.