Professional, amateur, hobbyist

Stub

"The amateur does it for love, the professional does it for a living, the hobbyist does it for fun."

The quote is from an article in the newspaper from a few months back (yes, I'm behind in my reading). The forum is a big tent with room for professionals, amateurs, and hobbyists. The line between each of these is probably blurred, as some people don't strictly make a living at piano, but do derive income. Others would find it hard to separate the love part from the fun part.

I certainly don't play for a living. I don't do it for 'fun' in the usual sense of the word, but I do do it for love, which makes me an amateur. Where do you fall on the spectrum?

JB_PT

Stub I don't do it for 'fun' in the usual sense of the word

I feel the same way. And "hobby" just sounds too casual to describe my obsession with piano, so I'd definitely say I'm in the amateur category.

MRC

Stub "The amateur does it for love, the professional does it for a living, the hobbyist does it for fun."

I am all three. Music is my passion, it has made up 100% of my working life and I have a lot of fun with it.

TC3

I love how fun piano is. So ... amateur hobbyist?! 😃

Sophia

Haha I'd classify as hobbyist, I think.

But in truth, I don't think these classifications are very accurate. In fact I don't know of any professional who doesn't play for pleasure/fun at least part of the time. Nobody I know earns a living with it who doesn't mostly love what they do.

Take my dad for example: he definitely was all three rolled in one. He was passionate about music. He played for love, for a living and for fun. Even after he became too sick to do much else, he still managed to play every day until his very last moments. I guess we could say he needed to play to live, in addition to play for a living. My mom would have been more of an amateur hobbyist, with a touch of professional.

Still, I'd be very interested to see which forum participants are (aspiring) professionals so thanks for starting this topic 🙂

keff

I do it because I have to, so that makes it love. However judging by this evenings efforts I am not even at an amateur level. Learning new pieces seems to get ever more difficult and is hardly fun. However if I can overcome the heartache of learning and achieve something like a performance, now that is fun.

Pallas

Time will tell for me. I'm just at the beginning, not even a year of study. It feels funny to call myself an amateur when I'm still in piano kindergarten.

JB_PT

Pallas Just wait until it feels like you're taking the 5th grade over and over again. 😆 I sure wish progress (on any instrument) could be linear and predictable...

Josephine

I'm not sure, I love music very very much, and I always wanted to play the piano so I'm very glad that I started, but I realized that I love the piano, the instrument, how it's made. I love to see how everything works, take the action apart, restore things. I didn't know this was going to happen. If I have to choose I think I am a hobbyist in playing the piano, and an amateur (beginner/learner) piano technician.

Sophia

Josephine amateur (beginner/learner) piano technician

Wow, that's so cool! Is there a topic somewhere for you to share that story? I'd love to hear more 😊

Josephine

Sophia

I've already started sorting some photos, so I can start a topic about it soon 🙂

Pallas

JB_PT I'll be very busy on Grades 1 - 4 for many years, no doubt! I've heard it gets harder and harder, exponentially. I wish you the best cracking the code to get to your next goal.

Bellyman

Played for nothing / religious reasons for quite a few decades. Only within the past year or so playing for part of my income. It doesn't support me but got big enough that taxes are now a thing, which I suppose is a good thing. Not sure where it's going but figured I'd ride the train for a while and see.

ranjit

I work a side gig while actually studying music. Not sure what that counts as.

Sophia

How does studying music make you feel? Therein probably lies your answer 🙂

ranjit

Sophia How does studying music make you feel? Therein probably lies your answer 🙂

It's meaningful and makes me want to push myself to my limits.

rogerch

Love and fun! I’m an amateur hobbyist!

Sophia

A fascinating reply, ranjit, in more ways than one. I agree that music is very meaningful but I hope you get more enjoyment out of it than just pushing yourself to your limits. But that's a whole other subject and more than likely outside the scope of this fun topic 😊

thepianoplayer416

Passion for music. Sometime ago my sister noticed I enjoy listening to music and susggested that I take music appreciation class at the local conservatory. I ended up learning piano. Getting into piano as an adult is more than a hobby. In the beginning I downloaded pieces I enjoy listening to. The last few years I also arranged some orchestral pieces for solo piano.
Personal identity. In my younger days followed my siblings' footsetps and did many things they did including swimming lessons & violin. A number of people in the family took music lessons but nobody is comfortable playing for anybody except in front of a teacher. Being able to play piano to an intermediate level is something personal. I don't need to be like others in the family.
People in the family used to think in order to be successful learning an instrument you need to start at a young age. Today more adults including retired people are taking up piano.
Brain exercise to slow the onset of dementia. Some in the family eventually developed memory loss. Sad but preventable.
Stress relief. My father suffered from depression due to the lack of accomplishments in life. Everytime I learned a piece to a high level gives a sense of achievement. Takes my mind off daily problems when I'm focused on playing
Balance in life. Coming from a family of business people, everybody is into making money and moving ahead in their careers. Piano playing is an activity that doesn't involve money.

Animisha

I am definitely an amateur. Piano is my passion! I would guess almost none of us here at this forum is a hobbyist.
But maybe I would rather see myself as an aficionado. 😊

Stub

Animisha I would guess almost none of us here at this forum is a hobbyist.

We are probably highly self-selected in the amateur category, otherwise why spend all this time and energy talking to other people about just about anything related to the piano and piano playing?

There are plenty of people out there playing to have some fun. More power to them! I applaud anyone making music with their own two hands.