I started piano later than my peers. Can I still make it as a professional?

[svetlio320]

Hello everyone!
I'm a 15 year old student from Bulgaria and have been playing piano since 5th grade (4 years now) but at the time was very nonchalant. I would stop playing in the summer, I'd go days without playing and overall did very little work. My teacher was not very good and taught me bad habits (like my fingers being very straight while playing). She also never gave me any technical studies like etudes, inversions or even scales for that matter and taught me little to nothing about music theory. Also I played on a very bad piano at home.
Recently, though, I switched teachers and now am being taught by an ex music high school teacher for 40 years who has a lot of experience and is helping me catch up. She says I learn and proggress very quickly and we're already about to complete Nocturne Op55 no1 by Chopin and start Consolation no6. by Liszt. We're also catching up on Etudes and scales.


So my question is: Whether, in spite of all the negative conditions which I had growing up surrounding music,I could potentially go into 10th grade music high school and start pursuing a career off of playing the piano? All opinions are welcome. Thank you very much

[ranjit]

I would say you can absolutely make a career playing the piano if you work hard, and are talented at it. I am learning pretty quickly and I'm in my 20s -- I sometimes regret not starting earlier because these things take time. That career may not be as a touring concert pianist (that is something no one can guarantee for anyone), but you can certainly have a career performing in popular styles. Figure out the skills you need to develop, and keep at it if you want to go down that route. At your age, one tends to worry a lot about competition from peers. It's best to forget about that, and if you put in the hours, you will probably get good pretty fast.

Also, remember that it's folly to compare yourself constantly with the best people in the world in a particular field. Otherwise every chess player would worry about how to get near-photographic memory like Magnus Carlsen. Your brain will adapt to new things more than you would expect if you keep working hard and trying to excel.

[dw4rn]

The answer is yes, but we don't know anything about the specifics of your talent or what hurdles you might face in the future. My advice would be to work as though it is possible, and take as much advantage as you can of your teacher's experience, to see if it can get you into music high school as a first step. If it doesn't, don't despair - there are other ways, and musical careers come in many different shapes. 

[lelle]

When looking at getting to a professional level and making a career out of piano, I would first of all carefully consider the following:

1) Do you love doing the work needed to get to a professional level for the amount of time that is needed?

If the answer is yes, it does not really matter if you'll make it as a career or not, because you'll be doing something that you love regardless. If the answer is no, why do you want to make a career out of playing the piano?

[j_tour]

When looking at getting to a professional level and making a career out of piano, I would first of all carefully consider the following:

1) Do you love doing the work needed to get to a professional level for the amount of time that is needed?

I think the OP's question has been answered pretty fully, so allow me to indulge in a bit of fantasy.

I think it's probably false that anyone "gets to" a "professional level" and then is allowed to play.

It seems rather to me that the very rare star soloists are backed up by a mechanism that is fairly well tuned.  Starting with "their" manager, and continuing down the line to PR people and record label A&R people, down to Instgram influencers and whatever else.  Nothing wrong with that:  just the way it is.

I've known a lot of piano men and women, who are without doubt professionals, but to a man and woman, they've been supported by institutions, chiefly universities.  That's just in "classical" legit music, as performers only.  They can concertize on their own time, and when the university requires, but their work is typically not a tenure track in performance, unless one is a scholar as well as a mere performer, with research, publications, and contributions to professional colloquia to back it up.  Yes, there are obviously exceptions, but it's not a rosy picture for academics in the US for the past thirty years or so, and likely more.

As well as composers, but the doctoral compositions I've heard, and I say also with love, by friends of mine as well, well...nobody's going to be performing what I've heard, as grandiose and swell the pieces may have sounded, so no Kronos Quartet covering blah-blah in 11/16 time from string quartet for office chair, marimba, candied necklaces, and prepared piano, or whatever.

Another way to think of it is:  who are the "independent" wealthy people in music?  A pop songwriter, or a producer who is able to get mechanical rights. 

Although hard-core studio musicians existed then and exist today, in all realms of music, AIUI, it's mostly for wages, with some minimums negotiable by one's reputation.  Hired gun.

I don't really know what it means to be a "professional":  there are some board certifications, and a few memberships, but all I understand is that from the moment you get paid to play, then you're a pro.  Maybe not a very good one, but there are professional dentists or plumbers or lawyers who aren't that great either.

More or less, can you compute your taxes correctly, or hire someone to do so, and can you show up and play? And possibly keep your employees (aka "bandmates") in line?  If so, that's a professional.  Show up, have the right gear in working order, don't bother the guests, and play the fricking music.  Pay out after loading up afterwards, and that's it. 

Not a very difficult hurdle. 

Who are these "professional pianists"?  They're probably playing Pachelbel's "canon," or some Tin-Pan Alley standard or whatever, or at some hootnenany in a holler for spare change.

Careful what you wish for.  For me, I like it, but it's a "gig economy," so whatever pays plays plays, pays.  That's better. 

Let's be real:  if you look at the lives of composers and pianists, it's always been like that  It's a constant struggle.  Even for very famous pianists and composers. 

In addition to building your private library of scores and analyses, I'd get a good set of maps and become very good at driving a cab.

Do you want to spend a hundred hours each week hustling every single job you can, and keeping in close contact with people you might personally despise, for what amounts to table scraps, every week, every day, for the rest of your life until you die?

If so, then good luck.

[lostinidlewonder]

So my question is: Whether, in spite of all the negative conditions which I had growing up surrounding music,I could potentially go into 10th grade music high school and start pursuing a career off of playing the piano? All opinions are welcome. Thank you very much

What do you envision "playing the piano" for a career includes? It is actually quite challenging to live off the money you make from playing the piano (and you need to have money behind you to set up concerts) so to be realistic I would tell you to avoid it. If you want to go into education then there is a large industry for that. To simply dive into completely relying on the income you make from performance is quite stupid (unless you have someone funding you) so you need to have interest in teaching the piano or some other musical niche where you can get consistent income.

[lelle]

On a more positive note, I had a great time studying the piano, though I'm looking at finding a career in a different field now. Many musicians I know are great people. But my advice would be to make sure to investigate thoroughly that you really enjoy the different things a career in music entails before making a commitment to it.

[anacrusis]

I know people who started in their teens and who now how professional careers performing and teaching. So it's possible with a good teacher and the right kind of work and some talent. But I agree with the answers already given, to carefully think about what it is you are actually wishing for.

[klavieronin]

My advice would be to not think about it too much yet. Try to develop your musical skills as much as possible. Aim to be a good musician first, then when it comes time to think about careers you can decide what you want to do with it.

[airbonethree]

wise music professor told a group of us when we were seniors in high school this about becoming a music performance major

"when you get to college, your first year you should be first chair. Your second year you should be the best musician in the school. Your third year, they should be comparing you to the best musicians who ever went to that school. bitlife pc jiofi.local.html Your forth year you are a professional getting into graduate school. You have to be that good. Because when you graduate, everyone trying to get the job that you want WILL meet those requirements." 

[ranjit]

wise music professor told a group of us when we were seniors in high school this about becoming a music performance major

Did he also tell you to insert random spammy links in his quote?