Meaning of Term "Amateur"

[Glyptodont]

It appears we have several categories of people visiting the board.  These include professional musicians, such as performers and music teachers.  Also students of many ages.  And amateurs.  These categories are probably not mutually exclusive.

Amateurs are persons who really do not have a professional involvement in piano.  Many people out there play for enjoyment.  Some amateurs take lessons and some don't. 

If any amateur has good sense, the person wants to play music well, not just hit all the notes.  Sometimes I try to find recordings to see how a professional would play something.  Dynamics are important, pace is important.  One shortcoming with someone like me is that I will probably never totally master a piece.  At least the way a concert pianist might master it.  I do believe, however, that it is possible to play things with sensitivity, and sometimes I play pieces beyond my own expectations. 

I try to play pieces in a caring way and an artistic way.  That's one reason why a music teacher can be valuable to an amateur.  In one's teacher one has an objective listener who can point out blind spots in one's playing. 

Amateurs may find it difficult to locate appreciative listeners.  Sometimes I will play when people are over to the house, but less so as the months go by.  I once had a college student BEG me to play something.  I wasn't two minutes into a piece when I looked around and saw the individual had walked away and was intently watching a television. I stopped immediately.  I also had a woman dinner guest come rushing in and make a big flap that "I simply MUST play something."  I had hardly started when she disappeared.  She had immediately gone elsewhere in the house, and was laughing and talking with other guests. (For some people, ALL music is background music.  There's simply nothing else in their world.)

Currently I have an appreciative audience of two.  There's a cute little stuffed bear named Ursula who sits on my grand piano.  Nearby on a chess table there's a whimsical little sculpture of an alligator.  I find these two an appreciative audience.  Usually no one else is home.  Sometimes I expect the mailman hears me play -- I see him walking by the bay window every morning about the time I'm playing.  One of our two cats appears to be intrigued with Bach.  The other cat seems to have "a tin ear."

I like to think of my grand piano as a "great voice" that was silenced by my laziness for over six years.  Now when I play I am helping the piano "find its voice."  When I play something very well, I feel the piano is doing what it was born to do -- singing, growling, muttering, trilling, rumbling, dreaming.  It just can't do it without my help.

Anyway, these are just some little fancies that I have about pianos and piano playing.

[ted]

The trouble is that the words "amateur" and "professional" are both used in two senses. The strict sense concerns whether or not a given activity is used to generate income. The subjective, descriptive sense concerns whether or not a person or thing is good at the said activity. This latter sense is very widely used in preference to the strict sense. I doubt a "Microsoft Office Amateur", for instance, would be seriously contemplated. The word "professional" is applied to all sorts of things indiscriminately, especially in the world of advertising, to imply that a product is somehow good in a nebulous way. I received a pamphlet in my letterbox this morning stating that a certain firm of land agents were "The Professionals". Aren't all land agents professionals ? Used in this way it would be better replaced by "expert" or some other less ambiguous word. In contrary fashion, we speak of an "amateurish" job to imply that it has been carried out in a sloppy manner.

In the world of music I have found the whole terminology to be so convoluted that I use nothing but the strict senses of the words lest I be interpreted as either arrogant or disparaging.

As to the other matter, it is important to realise that true music lovers are very rare in the general population. You wouldn't think so on this forum, but that is because we wouldn't be here to start with if we were not, at least in some sense, music lovers. After a while you become very selective about who you bother playing for in private.

[whynot]

I completely agree with Ted. 

Also, I sympathize with your experiences of unappreciative audiences.  It's a real ill of our era that, as we learn how to do things in less time, there's little interest in things that take more time.  The background music thing is a big peeve of mine, as well.  It's as if someone decided that our lives only work as movies and thus need a continual soundtrack.  And a pretty bad one, too.

I was very moved by your post, because you perfectly embody the original meaning of the word amateur, which is derived from a word for love.  A person who does what he loves.  Who loves it so much that he's willing to spend his life for it without even being paid.  I don't disagree with modern definitions, which we need, just going back a little in time.  And I'm thrilled by your mission of helping your piano find its voice.  I guess it works both ways.   

[whynot]

P.S.  I'm a professional feeling a little apathetic about playing these days.  But you inspired me-- I'm going to go practice now (and apologize to my piano for neglecting it). 

[dinosaurtales]

Boy ! Glypt! You sure have "struck a note!" - no pun intended - with me!  I have a husband who doesn't want to hear me play ANYTHING.  EVER.  So I practice when he's gone.  I have also had friends (musical ones, too!) insist that I play something, only to become distracted almost immediately and start asking about something else while I am playing.  I actually think it's weird to insist on a performance (apparently attempting to be polite) and then not be polite enough to suffer it through (assuming it's that bad). 

I also have qualms over the term "ameteur".  I see ameteur adult competitions.  Invariably, the winner will have a doctorate in music, is a prominent music teacher, and all sorts of performances with orchestras or other musical resume.  That's not an ameteur in my mind.  If the guy was an engineer, with 3 kids, and has to squeak in practice time between little league games I'd be much more impressed!  That would certainly be more realistic.

[whynot]

It seems like we're all in the same boat (I hear ya, Dinosaur).  Too bad we can't practice for one another and have an appreciative audience that way.

[ted]

It also amazes me the really peculiar notions people have about piano playing. I put on a CD of a contemporary ragtime piece for a visitor, then played the work myself to show her my preferences.
"Oh !" she exclaimed, "Isn't it wonderful how all you pianists can play what you hear just like that." Eh ?!

I once busted myself playing a hard piece well for someone only to hear at the end, "Now what would have really been great is if you had played it in the dark with coloured lights on your fingers."

A couple of years ago I played most of the night at a local function. I played some rags from memory and improvised as I usually do. Weeks later I find that a story has circulated that I'm a bit simple, never had any lessons and because I wasn't using scores I couldn't read music and learned everything by ear and by rote. So now most of the neighbourhood think I'm a simpleton with a stupendous ear who only plays ragtime.

Then there are those people who think you are useless unless you can play one particular obscure thing they heard an even more obscure pianist play umpteen years ago. These ones are quite often too drunk to know what you are playing anyway, but whatever it is it doesn't hold a candle to what Bertie Boozlebum played at the dance in 1950.

[Glyptodont]

To Repliers So Far--

Well, for DinosaurTales I would suggest a stuffed bear and a small sculpture of an alligator as an ideal audience.   I am fortunate that my spouse -- wife in my case -- does seem to like my playing.   When she is having a gab-fest on the phone, she comes into the living room so the other party can hear me playing.  So she is proud of me.  Actually, when I am playing I don't know what is going on at all.  We miss phone calls, because the phone just rings and rings -- but when I am playing I don't hear the phone -- I'm "out of it."

As for the concerns about the term amateur, well I may be naive, but for me a professional is someone who does something for money or as a paying career.  An amateur is someone who does something -- unpaid -- because they like it.  This does not mean an amateur is not good.  A tennis amateur or a golf amateur can be pretty amazing.

As for we senior citizens, well, many of us are retired and have time to practice.

Some traits of amateurs (as I term them, and "this could include you")  --

1.  We may never develop any piece to "recital polish" because before we attain that degree of polish we become deathly tired of the piece.  I get as good as I am going to get on a piece at the point I get deathly tired of it.  Then I move on.  Often on a long piece, there are a few tough sections where I slow down and hesitate because I just haven't the dedication to practice them to death.

2.  How lucky we are to play what we like.  A professional cannot have that luxury.  How often did Horowitz lament that he detested Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1, or Rachmaninoff complain how much he hated the Prelude in C# Minor.  Pros tend to play what their audiences demand, or what they are contracted to play.  One night-club pianist we know used to play "It's a Wonderful World" about six times a night, because people kept asking for it.  He was DEATHLY tired of it, but he had to make a living.  I imagine there were times he wanted to scream.

3.  Playing for people.  We have covered this one, and all of us are tired of the rudeness of people who "insist" we play, then walk away or glue their eyes to a TV, or whatever.  Well, one thing I learned is that really good stuff is not a good choice to play.  I have a little arrangement of "The Way We Were" that shows up in a Level III book.  It is not hard at all.  It only lasts 2 minutes --  people love it.  If you try something challenging and play something that  -- to me -- has a big sound, they soon turn off.   Why throw pearls before swine, when they prefer acorns anyway?  Throw acorns before swine.  

Thanks so much for all these fun and very heartfelt responses.  I was delighted that folks out there have some things in common with me. 

the Glyptodont  (a prehistoric armadillo about the size of a Volkswagen)

[whynot]

Glyptodont:  yes, I agree that amateur is descriptive of playing motivation, not playing level, which can be incredibly high.  I was trying to say that, but maybe it didn't come out right.  You certainly hit the mark about pearls vs. acorns.  Excellent point.  Plus you married well, so I would say you have the important things in life figured out.  Congrats!   

To Ted:  Hiliarious! and sad.  Similar experiences:  I've been told to play with big glitzy rings that sparkle in the light (adding that little extra dazzle to Beethoven).  Another:  I get asked to play at parties, "the song from that movie... you know, goes like this" (sings 4 notes wildly out of tune).  The rebuff for not recognizing said tune, "My great-aunt was a concert pianist.  She could play anything."  One more:  I played at a small event recently, was just leaving and the woman in charge stopped me at the door.  "We're going to have a little sing-along at the end, can you play?"  I asked if she had any music.  No.  Did she have a recording I could listen to quickly?  No.  "But it's really easy, it goes like this:............"  (singing very out of tune and out of time, impossible to glean the actual song).   I told her I couldn't stay.

I'm intrigued by the car-sized armadillo.  I never heard of this before.      

[Niloc]

I would probably fit the title "Amateur".  Piano is something that I have been doing for 8 years.    In those 8 years I progressed about as far as a normal student would have in 2.  Only recently have I discovered how great it.  Since then, I have been playing piano for about a year.  I'm not nearly as good as should be, but I'm improving a lot faster than I was the first 8 years.  I'm getting lessons and just joined a local band to help spark my interest to play more.

In my opinion, an "Amateur" is a person who has an interest in playing, but does not devote enough time or effort to improve him/herself adequately.

[c18cont]

I hold two degrees, (no Masters)...but I taught choral music in school, and piano on the side.

Many people have pointed out to me that their son, or nephew etc was a REAL professional, as he/she played in a band on the beach....

Best,   John Cont

[dinosaurtales]

This topic is totally cracking me up, and it makes me realize I am not alone.  I have seen so many flavors of attitudes about pianists I can't list them all, but they run the gamut from assuming you can just "play the music" - lay the music up there, and you should be able to play it, regardless of what it is. 

I play in a symphonic band that has a lot of music educators and performance majors of varying degrees.  one time I played some dinky little section that was part of one of our pieces, but I took it in cut time (twice the speed).  one of the more illustrious members was astounded that I coiuld do such a thing (it was toally easy -REALLY) and now he's convinced I am the greatest pianist ever.

I remember learning Beethoven's Moonlight sonata inhigh school - yup - the whole tamale.  And I wanted to test it out for my mom.  So I played the darned thing, and when I was done she said "oh that was lovely.  Play the Entertainer. I love that."  I refused.  I was too appalled.

These little vignettes come to light if you are ever asked to play almost any chamber work or song by Schubert.  It'll be guaranteed that the singing or flute or whatever part will be easy compared to the piano part, which will be murderously hard.  You'll hear absolutely nothing aboiut that.  You arek, after all, "just" the accompanist!

There's no escape.

[c18cont]

........."There's NO escape.... ,

No truer line on this subject has been written....!!!

John Cont

[pianowelsh]

I always understood it that essentially there eas no difference between amateur and pro just that a pro made their main income from music where as amateurs make their money elsewhere. I have always had it strongly impressed upon me that there is no difference in quality! I hear what your saying about these so called amateur competitions though to me someone who is a private teacher and has a part-time job in something else is essentially a pro musician but hey it keeps the standard high and rises the level of amateur competitions which has to be good.