the elephant wrote:CATransplant wrote:Moreover, those who play in [non-paying groups] are playing because they love to play, love the music they're playing, and for only those reasons.
So many hobbyist players very strongly imply that
their love for the music is somehow "more pure" because it lacks the "filthy lucre" aspect.
FALLACY!
Since I'm catching you in a calm mood, I'll weigh in, heh, heh.
I would never have made it as a professional musician. I simply don't love it enough to play all those damn scales every day. I wouldn't have put in the time necessary to develop fundamental skills.
Frankly, I don't (and didn't) put that kind of passion into engineering.
The reason is: I didn't have to. The engineering stuff just came to me. I didn't have to beat my head against the wall over it, and the time I spent digging into aspects of it
didn't seem like work. It was something I could commit to without needing passion--it was built in.
Those who think playing scales and sitting in front of Arban's for hours every day are like beating their heads against the wall, and those for whom many aspects of music
seems like work, are the ones who really need to ponder their future. Those who can practice hours every day and maintain a commitment to it year after year are the only ones who have a hope--just a hope--of being successful at it.
That's what I would tell young'uns who are pondering their futures as musicians--or engineers. They guys who went into engineering just for the money, even if they are competent, are conspicuous among real engineers.
Bloke comes across as almost mercenary, but do not be fooled. He spent hours
every day, even before he was a tuba player, practicing every style of guitar playing, including classical. He didn't do that just for lucre, filthy or otherwise. He did it because it didn't seem like work.
BUT (and you knew there would be a BUT), there is something to be said in favor of amateurs, and there are enough truly jaded professionals to verify its existence. Amateurs answer only to themselves, with no hope of financial reward. For them, the challenge is to suck as little as possible given that this week there is NO opportunity to practice. Why do it? The reason is that we amateurs are compelled by music at some level that is good for us. We may even be passionate about it. But we are not compelled by it enough to truly commit to it.
And we all know jaded professionals for whom that passion or compulsion has bled away leaving only habit or perhaps the need for a paycheck. Believe me, that happens to engineers, too. There are musicians who retire from a good military career, for example, who never pick up their instrument again afterwards.
When I was in college, I photographed weddings and did other photographic gigs for spare money. I was good at it, and doing it drove me. It was not far from my first college major (architecture) and I saw it all as related. But I quickly became jaded, and it wasn't until some years later that I could start making photographs again just for the joy of it. In that case, I needed to be an amateur, though I had already proven myself competent as a professional. It was the daily assignments from others I couldn't sustain, and I ran out of things to say trying to follow my assignments from myself. There was (and still is) passion, but commitment eluded me.
No matter what you do, youthful passion and compulsion has to give away to adult commitment, and being committed also means deciding to be happy about it. Few adults never have to face that challenge.
Rick "thinking love is more about commitment than passion" Denney
