Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Pianist Corner This is a question to all people making a living from the piano.

...That's why adults are always asking little kids what they wanna' be when they grow up! -- They're lookin' for ideas!

T2's post is right on. You really have to be a "utility player" to make a living as a player. Those one in a million talents can specialize in a single area. But unless you're one of those rare talents (and you'd already know if you were), you're going to have to be a utility player to make a decent living. After over 15 years, I'm still finding new niches!!!

Classical Player---Your dad is right----"He said that I had to practice the piano 10 hours a day and dedicate my life to the piano if I were to be a successful pianist............"

No getting around it, if you're not willing to do that, than i suggest becoming a lawer or engineer--whatever you want, and just enjoy your piano the rest of the time.

If you are concerned with making a good living, I suggest opthomology---it's easier to become a very successful opthomologist than it is a successful Concert Pianist----by a MILE (or should I say, Kilometer +)

Remember, your father is the only one here who loves you---he gave you the correct answer to your question IMO.

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: Mat D. ]

Hi, CP:

I have a friend who is a professional cellist, but her experience I think can be transferred to piano.

She is a highly qualified musician, with several CDs on labels you would recognize, etc. Yet her job life is always somewhat precarious. There are few "steady" jobs that pay well. While she holds a conservatory position herself, they are very competitive and hard to get, highly political, and often aren't tenure-track in any case. She supplements her income by teaching and performing, and is close enough to NYC to do some recording/session work as well. While it sounds great in some ways, the reality is that finances require her to accept jobs playing music she'd just as soon not perform (boring, or she doesn't like the circumstances of the particular session for whatever reason). Her way of dealing with things is to concentrate on her talented students, continue to play/perform in a quartet where they all get along and can be in control of their repertoire, and do the other work "for money only."

Bottom line: Do you know any professional musicians? It may be worth talking to them about what their experiences have been-- it's not as romantic as it sounds, although it can also have wonderful high moments.

My 2c worth only. Either way music will continue to be a primary focus in your life, right?

Good luck!
Nina

Classical player,

I think that it is very smart of you to ask honest (and even impolite questions) of those who make their living in music. Before committing yourself to the time and energy required to make a career in music, you should have a realistic perspective of what your life would be like should you choose that.

To reiterate what Jodi and Mat D.pointed out, making a living in a creative profession is not the same as enjoying it as a hobby, even a serious hobby. When others are paying you, they will have a say in what you do and what you create. In other words, you are no longer making music as you wish but must do as others wish in order to make a living.

Some people would still find a profession in music to be satisfying, others are so consumed that they would be happy doing nothing else. Unless you are one of them, you would be wise to consider a career that pays well enough to provide a good income so you will have time enough to pursue music for your own pleasure.

When I worked full time as a medical illustrator , we use to say that our job was 85% "bread and butter" work - the boring, uncreative stuff that paid most of the salary - and 15% work that you got really excited about. There is nothing wrong with that, but as Nancy said, you might get just as much joy out of a non-musical job that can pay the bills, and allow you the financial security and time to still play the music you love (and also allow you to afford a grand piano...) Just a thought. Jodi

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: jodi ]

hi, jodi~
as someone who became an illustrator/typographer/designer instead of a painter, and also became a journalist instead of a poet/novelist, i know exactly what you are talking about.

the worst is having clients who you have to cater to, and who won't allow you your own creative vision.

i think there are possibly three different roads one can take, in the situation under discussion:

1. go for being a fine artist, and support yourself some other way until you get your breakthrough. examples: a poet who makes a living painting houses. a musician who works part-time at the library and plays gigs at night.

2. try to make a profession out of your passion, giving it practical application: you like to write, so you become a reporter. you like to paint so you become a graphic designer.

3. forget about pursuing your art, and go for something that makes a good living so you can retire young and pursue your passion without financial worries. i.e. the musician who becomes a doctor.

my life has been about choice number two. in some ways, i think it is the worst way to go. it robs you of your creative energy in the service of something that is rarely wholly satisfying.

if i get a third try at it, i think i'm going to make money as a housepainter or a library assistant while i write my novel.

i personally wouldn't have it in me to postpone gratification long enough to go with choice number three. i think i would be angry and frustrated all of my life.

our young friend here has an important and difficult choice to make. he's the only one who knows what he can and can't live with.

but i hate to see talented and passionate young people turn away from a creative calling because everyone tells them they can't make a living at it. you don't know until you try. nobody knows for you, either.

Interesting post, Pique. I guess I took choice number 3 (your post, above). On that path you don't have the material worries that you would as an artist, but you can't spend the time you want at music.

Sometimes I'm so exhausted when I get home I just look at the piano, walk into the bedroom and collapse. Other times, I force myself to stay awake and work late into the night on music--only to get exhausted and sick after a week of 21 hour days. But most of the time I've learned to be happy with the music that I can fit into my life.

Sure there is frustration built into the game. I've seen true artistic geniuses become bitter because the leading rap artist, who can't even tune a guitar, is a gazillionaire. I've seen studio musicians consumed by their frustration at having to play MUZAK scores 90% of the time. And I've seen talented musicians that walked away from a life as an artist because they didn't have the guts to take the 6 figure pay cut it took to pursue their dreams--only to talk about the musician they might have been.

Regardless of the choise you make in life, don't carry anger around inside of you. Let it go. Or else it will eat you from the inside out. Like a cancer.

And if you wind up in mid-life questioning the decision you made as a teenager about the direction of your life, then go out and change that. It's never to late to pursue your dreams.

[ February 25, 2002: Message edited by: T2 ]

Good thoughts, you guys. You only live life once, so sometimes you just have to go for it. Speaking from someone who went from being an artist to an equine veterinarian to a full time mother and then back to an artist - It's never too late to change your mind! Jodi

Hmmmm........


If I became an architect.....

Do you think I would still have time to teach piano or go on some recitals?

My dad says i can do this and get pocket money, teach some students on the weekend.

But NO, I want to be a proffesional concert pianist.....................

Damn this thing called money and our society which focuses all of there attention to it!



I think that each one of these choices we make will bring us different kinds of hapiness and sadness. Too bad we could not live 3 times to experience everything.

Nina, Nancy, Jodi, Pique, & T2, AWESOME posts! You're all very thoughtful people.

Yes, but if you are successful as an architect the financial incentive for you to teach piano will disappear. You will find that your students can't pay enough to make it worth your time. You can certainly teach, but it will be for the pleasure of teaching more than the money. Alternatively, you may wish to spend your free time playing.

If you aren't successful as an architect, an occupation for which the payoffs are big but sometimes unpredictable, then you can teach piano to pay for your architecture hobby.

I have a friend who is an architect who did the high-stress lifestyle for about 10 years. He saved vociferously, invested wisely, and now at age 38 he works as a full time dad (it's work, believe me) while investing on the side and taking an architecture gig or two if it comes his way. His wife works part time as a nurse, and together they have enough to live a comfortable middle class life. Only they spend almost all of their time doing what THEY want to do, which in their case is raising their kids.

IMHO money is important. But happiness is most important.

cp, i want to tell you my dad's story. my dad went to college during the great depression on a scholarship, and he was such a fine musician that even as a freshman they put him on the music faculty.

during the 40s and 50s, he was first chair at some of the world's finest orchestras. but he still had to supplement his income, and he did so by demonstrating musical instruments in stores, and by selling stereos.

it turned out he was a really great salesman, and in time, he was offered a high-paying executive sales and marketing job that meant he would have to say good-bye to his life as an orchestra musician.

most of my growing up, my dad was in business. but he played his instrument every single night. he taught his friends' children for free on the weekends, in his spare time, just for the joy of sharing music with them. he organized chamber music groups. he taught me how to listen and appreciate music.

today, at the age of 80, he is still working full time in business, and he is also the director of a chamber music society that he founded.

his great regret, as a musician, was that he never became a conductor. he still believes he would have been a great conductor, but he let his fear of not being able to survive take him away from his music.

i think in the end, he is happy with the choices that he made. but i know that growing up i was greatly influenced by his regret. i saw someone who had given up his real passion for fear of not succeeding in what he really dreamed of.

sure, he made his peace with it in the end, and found a way to do both. but i really think he would have been better off finding out if he could have been the great conductor he dreamed of being. i bet he could have.

think about it.

thanks guys for sharing your opinions...

Pique- As you said your father regreted that he was not a conductor.....

If I choose the life of a musican I will most likely regret not getting a higher paying job, and if i were to be an architect or doctor I will regret not being a musican.

SO BOTH WAYS I PARTIALLY LOSE........
But, I guess thats life.

Or..................

I can marry a very rich chick who can support me and my piano career

Classical -- that's the best answer yet! She wouldn't even have to be "very rich," just, um....not a musician or an artist. ;-)

Yep! I think i might just do that....

Definitely. Go for the Rich Chick. Jodi

Regarding the upcoming marriage of CP to the "rich chick", there's a bit of truth to this way of thinking. . .

I've made numerous career decisions (as I'm sure others have as well) based on a desire (and responsibility) to provide for my family. In my early 20's I was working 80 hours a week trying to get established in LA as a composer for film/television. When I got married (to a non-rich chick), I made some changes in my focus. At the time I was doing some ghost writing for a well known composer. The pay was horrible. I could have made more working at a department store. But the potential for getting my own film or television spot was very good. In the end, I chose not to stick it out and wait for my chance. I chose instead to move to Orange County and raise a family focusing on other areas of music instead. Although I've since done quite a bit of composing, it's really been at a 2nd tier level. Sometimes very lucrative, but not as artistic. The point is that we all have to decide what will make us truly happy. In my case the decision to give my energy to my family was an easy one.

yeah. come to think of it, it was MY BIRTH that precipitated my father's move to business full time.

so, i guess, marry a rich chick or don't have children.

although, i know several freelance magazine writers who raised their children and put them through college working as freelancers. very, very tough to do, but they did it. most of them also got divorced somewhere along the way.

cp, if you will be unhappy if you don't have enough money, then probably becoming a concert artist is not the way for you to go.

i wouldn't plan on marrying money unless you would also like our marital advice somewhere down the line as you head for divorce court. one thing i can tell you unequivocably is that marriage is tough enough as it is--marry for love, it is the only thing that works. nothing makes your life a greater heck or heaven than who you choose to marry.