What differs an amateur from a professional!

[10Fingers]

Hello everyone,

I've played piano for about 8 years and really love it, but nevertheless, I don't want to become a pianist. However, there so many pieces I want to play sometime, but as some of my friends (who study piano) said, you'll never be able to play hard pieces correctly if you're not a pro. I know some very brilliant pianist, but this thread is very discouraging. I don't want to be restricted to only a ferw pieces.

So, can you tell me the differences between professionals and amateur pianists? Is it that big?

regards,
Thi

[pskim]

Professionals get paid for what they do.  Amateurs do it because they like it and do it as a hobby.  But I'm sure that there are amateurs who can perform like pros, except that it is not their profession (do it for a living).  I also do card magic as a hobby and this is a quote I read in one of the magic forums which I think also applies in piano:

Amateurs practice to get it perfect, pros practice so they won't make any mistakes.

Interesting, isn't it?

[la_carrenio2003]

Interesting topic. I think the diletantism is related to the way you play the piece,the quality of the result. An amateur can play everything he wants but no one is expecting from him to achieve , i.e., in an etude, the final tempo, he doesn't need to be perfectly clean or having a technic because he's playing for himself and maybe for his friends or family,not in front of an audience. But you can become a good amateur: even there are competitions for them.  I think that depends on your natural disposition. And of course a pro lives from it,an amateur doesn't. If you work very hard and with a good teacher or you just were born to play the piano -I met such a people- you can achieve a profesional level: the question is that you have to put your goals in music high and dedicate the most time you can. So I think is not a matter of repertoire.

[pedalproblem]

Of course we can find all kinds: amateurs  that play better than bad professionals, but I would answer you like that: professionals differs because they´re musicians. There´s a research going on right now in germany that tries to figure out what´s the difference between the brain of amateurs and professional. They put a lot of people inside a magnetic ressonance machine and played a music the person was used with. At the end, till now they figued out that professionals use less the part of the brain associated with coordenation and more the musical part, and the amateurs just the oposite. For me, or you know music, you feel the correct thing (and you know what´s the correct thing), or you´re not a musician, so I´d call amateur.
See you,
Marco

[m1469]

one of the definitions given for "amateur" in Webster's is as follows:

4.  a person who admires something; devotee; fan;

or as one of my choral directors said of its original meaning "lover of..."

"Professional"... (from Webster)

13. a person who is expert at his or her work

or as my mother-in-law teaches in her "take the starving out of artist" workshops...

a professional is one who finishes the job.

m1469

[Shagdac]

I think generally people tend to think of an Amateur as somewhat less proficient than someone who is classified as a professional. This is not always true. I do however believe that a Professional is someone who has decided to, or is good enough to "make a living" in that particular field. I know some Amateurs that are probably better than some professionals, and the amateurs also make $$$ by either playing part time or teaching, etc. However, a professional usually makes a full time living for their profession. Other than that, there's not much difference, as there is always going to be exceptions to either.

s