Becoming a professional pianist

>>16669860
Do you have any musical experience or knowledge at all?

I'm definitely in the camp that thinks it would be possible, but don't expect to become a concert pianist or anything.

Start by signing yourself up for some lessons to find out whether you're ready to commit to actually learning and playing the piano. It would probably take at least 9 years of regular, efficient practice to become really good at it, so don't quit your day job.

Not impossible, but the odds are extremely slim. Even people who are incredibly skilled at piano aren't making a killing off of it. After three years of serious practice you could easily charge parents $30/hr to teach their kids. So I guess it just depends on how good you want to become.

Get a decent cam and mic and film your learning process and random songs youcanplay after a while and upload them to youtube. Put a little bit of your personality into it (for example a short intro saying hello and what you're playing instead of just a video of you playing).

Imo that is the easiest (still not easy) and most realistic way to have somewhat of a career with this at your age.

The thing is that Youtube can open some doors for you so you can achieve more with it.

>>16669884
>>16669895
>>16669922

duly noted. Thanks.

>>16669860
could consider street musician along with other jobs

The piano isn't my instrument, but I think when it comes to making money out of your dream, learning to understand music, or perhaps if you have the phenomenon 'perfect pitch', then you could really go for it. If you have the willingness and determination your showing then I'd say you could, but in terms of money, busking or perhaps finding a group of friends who can play, or contracting to play. Honestly, it's hard to say, people learn differently, what one person my learn in a month may take another a year. Good luck anon!

I hate to have to be the crushing, brutal voice of reality here but let's think about this a little.

OP is 31, if he were just now aspiring to be a rock/pop musician he'd basically be doomed to failure, not only because it generally takes a decade of experience to really shine with music, leaving him in his 40s, but because a big factor in the skill of musicians is actually the early imprinting of musical experiences and training.

Have you ever seen an adult trying to learn to ride a bike because they never did as a child? How foolish do they look with training wheels afraid of falling because they never learned the simple art of balancing while riding a bicycle?

OP is basically going to be playing piano with training wheels... for a long time. He could learn enough to bang out some tunes but to "make a career out of it" is very far-fetched thinking.

What movie did OP just see that suddenly made him dream of this, anyway? Piano is old technology now in 2016, unless you're a master of Bach and Beethoven et al, does anyone really care anymore? And unless you're a young, handsome Chris Martin who can croon a few tunes to people, you will never get far career wise.

Music business is a realm of deception, high hopes and broken dreams, wasted years and lost money. There are so many people aiming at the same goal yet only a handful will make it. OP at 31 - in his 40s when he gets beyond beginner level - basically has no chance.

Now, if you play other instruments already and are some kind of virtuoso with an innate musical talent, you might pick up piano quickly and excel at it. However, the same age related problems persist.

OP, I have two friends who have been playing their instruments since their early teen years. In the beginning, they found successful musicians to model themselves on, usually guys who looked similar, etc. They built up a dream of their future success, fame, fortune. They got their band together, practiced thousands of hours, cont

>>16669860
Lurk much, troll?

>>16670806
>>16670806
... recorded albums, started websites. They even have some fans. But you know where they are now? Age 27-28, one married with a kid, the other living with his parents existing on foodstamps because his rockstar ego is way too big to get a normal job. All their dreams got them nowhere, they spent a decade thinking they were heading for the big time and nothing happened. Nowadays they are going through a rough period of realizing it's not gonna happen, they can never be those successful early 20s musicians they dreamed of a decade ago, at most they will be 30s-40s bar band guys making no money and getting more and more depressed.

Again, music business is deceptive and mercilessly crushes your dreams. From your OP post, I got no sense of realistic thinking, you did not mention any past music history or skill, you just seem to have got some high flying idea of yourself as this glorious pianist who woos the ladies and whatnot.

Let me ask you OP, how were your years from 27 to present day? What did you do career wise and what do you do now? What got the idea of learning piano in your head? Do you feel like you're in the wrong career, wrong life path, and music should have been it?

Well, I will only say "maybe it is" IF (a big if) you've already been doing music since childhood. If not, the chances of you being anything but mind numbingly average are very low, and just ask yourself, would you want to invest in an average pianist, or hear one play, when various masters of their craft exist? Would you prefer to see a bar band or Foo Fighters?

>>16670806
Don't listen to this guy. It's never too late to do anything if you want it bad enough.
I once got into a cab with this russian dude who told me about one of his lady friends who escaped the USSR.
Back in Russia, the woman was a school teacher and it wasn't until she was roughly 50 years old did she escape to america. She couldn't continue teaching because she didn't speak english well enough and she was already getting on in years and didn't want to start that whole process over. On a whim she decided to pursue fine art. 20 years later, bitch is like 70 but draws like Michaegelo and is in all sorts of galleries and shit.
It's only too late when you're dead.

>>16670806
There's always cruise ships, restaurants, hotels and you know, serious music.

Choosing any of this does lead to frugal living, but hell, the difficulty of that is overrated.

>>16669860
Anything is possible if you truly set your mind to it and you don't undersetimate your own abilities. If you treat learning the piano like a 9 to 5 job, I think it would be realistic to say you could get to the point where you could make money off of it in a fairly short period of time. You might not ever be a concert pianist for an orchestra, but you could play the piano at a fancy restaurant or an airport.

>>16669860
Not very good. First of all, you don't play music to make money, that is the first problem. There's a reason why people say starving musicians. You do music because you love it, because you can't imagine yourself doing anything else, and are willing to sacrifice for it. What made you want to learn piano, or is making you want to learn piano? If you are truly truly set on this then I can offer you some advice:

First of all you need to actually learn how to play the piano. As in, music lessons. You need to understand how music functions. This means that you will never listen to music the way you are used to ever again. Are you willing to make that sacrifice? The advantage you have as a 31 year old learning, is you have money to invest into your career, which as a musician, means investing in yourself. The huge disadvantage being, you are crunched for time. If you want to be a concert pianist, or do competitions, you're void from reality. Kids have been brought up by their parents and chose for them before birth that is what they will do. They have thousands upon thousands of hours of experience. The truth is, musicians are made in the PRACTICE ROOM, no matter what anyone or anything tells you. If you don't spend time in the woodshed, you won't matter at all. The world is full of shitty musicians, those are the ones that don't practice. Are you wiling to spend 8-14 hours a day in a practice room for years and years? If you aren't then someone else is.

Second, the music world is extremely small. Networking is huge. People who go to college don't really go there to learn how to play their instrument for the first time, they go there to network. Network with their professors, other musicians, their private instructors. Again, you can tell who the musicians are and the ones that are going to succeed. Those are the ones that are in the practice room. As a musician you must network. As a musician you must pay your dues. cont

>>16669999
Those
Fucking
Numbers

>>16671176
Which means you will play shitty gigs for laughable pay, not even enough to cover the gas it took to get you there. You got to be active in the music scene, and making a first impression absolutely matters. Experienced musicians can tell right off the bat, if you are good, or if you are shit. So in addition to actually knowing how to play the piano technically, you also have to know music, how it functions, and have listened to thousands and thousands of records. Again, a large amount of what it takes is spending time in the practice room, spending time networking, spending time listening.

Third, please do not quit your dayjob. Many musicians have delusions about what they do. Meaning they feel they are entitled to be compensated for their "art" The reality of music business and industry is a whole other can of worms. Please whatever you do not quit your dayjob.

Last but not least, you have be be musically flexible. That means knowing classical, jazz, salsa, pop, ect.. There is money to be made, especially when you work with "aspiring singers", but each genre has it's own little circle, and the way to get into the circle, is to know how to play the music, and to have LISTENED to the music. A lot of shitty musicians don't actually listen to music, they passively listen to it, but don't actually listen to it. Again, that is all about time. If you truly want to do this, I believe you can. I'm just skeptical that you will have the time to invest into your career, which at this stage would be actually learning how to play the piano. I would start by getting music lessons from actual professional pianists, not shitters from a music store.

TLDR: Understand that investing time into music is the most expensive part. Practice, get a private teacher, learn music theory, learn eartraining, network, listen to music, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, don't ever stop practicing, practice practice practice

>>16669860
Also there is no such thing as talent for music. Anyone can do it, you just have to do the time and practice. I would get of the mentality of talent right away.

op just make electronic music and see if you like it, you could prob make a hit or two

>>16671222
Bull fucking shit. This is what talentless hacks tell themselves, that they could be just as good as the best if they just practice. No, that is most certainly not the case. Some people have excellent musical talents, some don't have it at all.

>>16670806
It is doable IF you have no wife/kids/live alone and you don't have corporate job give or take it will take you about 5-10 yeas of consistent learning and EVERYDAY practice, you need to live, breath, eat and think music forsake social interactions, friendships etc there is just you and your art that's it

Good luck

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It may be possible. It wont be easy, and it certainly won't come to you soon, but crazier things have happened. People will tell you to cut everything and everyone else out of your life, but i disagree with that.

http://www.dailydreama.com/2012/12/02/world-class-pianist-albert-frantz-started-at-the-age-of-17/
http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/its-never-too-late-on-becoming-a-writer-at-50

And some advice from /mu/
> 88 keys weighted; get something cheap but you need weighted keys
>learn your scales, all 12, all 7 modes. pentatonics, blues, whole tone, all the fucking scales. literally all of them, understand chord scale theory. you get your chops from playing classical.
>Welcome to the grind

>>16671222
Patently false. Mozart didn't become Mozart because he put in a couple hours of middleaged practice every day after coming home from his deskjob.

>>16672377
Some people are naturally talented at something =/= everyone who is talented at something was naturally good at it.

>>16672380
I totally agree, that is a completely different statement than the previous one.

>>16669860
Ten thousand hours need to be invested in any motor skill for attaining mastery. That is quite some time investment you are making. Also you need aptience and strict discipline. Most people will get bored after a couple of years. It is doable but you are making big sacrifices. And dont expect results in a few years.

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>>16669860
post a pic of ur hands op

>>16672385
Moving goalposts. At first he said something blatantly stupid, now he's backpedaling.

Havent read the thread, but its impossible
How would you compete against people that started at 5 y.o. and practiced 8 hours per day.

Its impossible, better luck being an engineer to be frank.