Just to explain my situation. I have a teacher who is a very strict classical teacher who wont teach anything beyond the neo-classical era. She, like I, worships Baroque music. We share a love for Gibbons and Bach. But lessons end in a screaming fit because I tell her about my tight schedule. On every Saturday my screamo death metal band gets together, on every wednesday I play acoustic music with my brother, and on every friday I play oldtime/irish music. She says that unless I devote myself to only pianistic music, I will never become great. What do you think about listening to/playing other types of music?

it depends on what you want to be.

I am certain I wont be a concert pianist, but does this suggest that someone who is in a screamo band or something of that matter could not be

Music is music....
what do you handle best? And what do you LIKE best?

good, very good any one who says otherwise has lost the meaning of music. Just think about it for a second where do you think all the great composers got their music from. Chopin, Bartok, Rachmaninoff, Shubert, Mighty 5, Mozart, Bach Liszt, Grieg etc. You think they didn't listen to to  other music or play other music. You think they didn't go to parties and play endless hours of folk songs and improvise on various themes of the time. They were very exposed to other forms of music and other sounds and they were always fascinated by new, unique, foreign music. It's all music, some may be more sophisticated, more rigorously well crafted, but it all still comes from the same place and it's all still connected. So go on screaming in the screamo band just as long as you scream in tune...cause a lot of bands don't and there is nothing worse then some one screaming out of tune.

dude, man, you know that if you don't dedicate time to practicing piano you won't become a super great classical pianist. If you don't have enough time then it's something you agree to yourself that you're going to live with that fact. Doing other kinds of music won't stop you from being a great pianist. Not practicing will.

I agree, im not really concerned with myself though. I practice. When I have band practice, ill still throw in a good hour or two of piano before and after. I just wanted to know what you all thought about the situation I presented.

I know plenty of very accomplished classical musicians (a couple people in major symphony orchestras and several people on music faculties in universities across the US.)

Pretty much all of them have something besides classical music in their CD collections - everything from Norah Jones to Front 242 to Duke Ellington to John Denver.

They all devoted their studies to classical music, but they listen to all kinds of things.

Having music in our lives is not about 'becoming great' or producing good performances. Its about experiencing music. If you are inclined to experience other styles, then thats what you should be doing. You are short changing yourself otherwise. Cutting off your nose to spite your face, as it were.

Maybe a new teacher ought to be considered...?

Just look at Long Long -

He loves rap music (listens to it all the time) and his favorite rapper is Eminem.

nothin wrong with that and Eminem is talented as h*ll...take this from a guy who wouldn't give Eminem the time of day a year ago.

Cziffra supported himself playing jazz in bars.

Lang Lang listens to rap? o.O

Auntie Lynn put herself through graduate school playing in piano bars...the system was great! I worked at night, went to the library to work on my thesis in the morning and had classes all afternoon. Can't beat it with a stick. The shake-out is, that whilst doing everything in sight, you vastly expand your repertory. Doing all that you do is a good thing. Fact is, you can be as good as you wanna be...

I listen to very diverse musical genres - Baroque, Classical, Romantic (Russian, French, Italian, German...), Impressionist, Modern (Russian, American...).

I listen to orchestral music. I listen to piano music, cello and violin solos, chamber works, and operas.

I listen to / watch performances by a vast number of stylisticly different performers, from Glenn Gould to Georges Cziffra to Rudolf Serkin. I myself am a performer, and I listen to my own performances and my own style, a culmination of styles from the past 600 years.

I appreciate musicals (except the real poppy ones) and enjoy listening to my high school bands playing Sousa and Percy Granger.

What's not "diverse musicality" about that? I don't listen to rap, pop, rock, punk, disco, heavy metal, light rock or computerized music, etc. But that does not mean my musicality is not diverse.

Listen to what you love, and love what you listen to. If your musical tastes are highly diverse, as mine are, that is terrific. If all you listen to is J.S. Bach and Scarlatti, you're missing a lot, but don't let that stop you from listening and performing to your heart's delight.