In Praise of Happy Amateurism, 10 Years Later

January 29, 2024 at 05:36 AM · Greetings,

I am as bowled over by your capacity for work as I am by your posts.

Here’s to quite a few more decades,

Cheers,

Buri

January 29, 2024 at 07:12 AM · Thanks Lydia for your inspiring story. I definitely agree that lots of young musicians feel out of options for continuing their music-making after high school without trying to pursue it as a career, but that's simply not true. Your story is very inspiring.

I myself am one of the sort of amateurs you described. I live in the suburbs of one of the largest cities in Canada. Took both piano and violin lessons for years growing up, played lots of viola on the side, played in ensembles but wasn't particularly competitive, though I was good at what I did and was a fairly hard worker. Wanted to pursue music professionally for the longest time and could've gotten into a decent music performance program in Canada, but ultimately made the difficult decision to study something else because my significant lack of interest in teaching meant that a music career wouldn't be very viable for me, so studying music in college wouldn't be a very good use of my time. I am now a college student who started out undeclared, but am now in a business major but still really undecided about my long-term career plans. Sadly, my school has no music life, so I joined one of the local community orchestras and I'm really happy there. I was initially hesitant, because I always had that weird feeling community orchestras are full of old folks (for various social reasons, music is kind of one of the few places where I feel like I can even try to make friends with anyone), but after finding out from one of the board members that there are indeed members around my age, I took the leap, joined, and have not looked back. I took an additional year of music lessons after high school but chose to stop for personal reasons. I've probably lost some of my most advanced/sophisticated technical chops at this point, but I don't really mind and I'm happy with my playing abilities.

Aside from community orchestra, I noodle around on my instruments for fun (although I really should try and motivate myself to play more piano and perhaps spend more time actually trying to practice violin/viola repertoire), have played chamber music a bit in the summer with my orchestra buddies, and I've performed solo/duo in a very small number of community concert thingy bobbers. I really do want to play in a more regular chamber group, but scheduling/logistics/me not being the best networker makes this tricky. Definitely something to work towards. Am thinking of maybe doing more solo things in retirement homes or something, not sure. I'm also open to joining some jazz/pop folks and using my improv skills, though I'm quite particular and don't like a lot of the loud pop/rock/metal stuff. I'd also love to do some work in the collaborative piano/accompaniment space, as I've always had an interest in being a piano accompanist, something I've done since age 9, mostly with my brother and a few friends. I intend to continue playing my instruments and making music as long/as much as I can, but I know as I get older (I'm just barely in my twenties), life/job responsibilities will eventually consume more of my time.

January 29, 2024 at 02:14 PM · wow, six different concert programs per year with your orchestra? quite impressive!

January 29, 2024 at 05:01 PM · Six isn't as much as it seems, since one is a chamber orchestra concert (we tend to do string orchestra works) and one is a youth side-by-side with mostly easy repertoire. I think of this as a good pace for a decent community orchestra.

Back when I lived in the Bay Area, my extremely good community orchestra there did nine concert programs a year. That felt like a lot.

January 29, 2024 at 06:01 PM · My community orchestra does 5 standard concerts per year about 6-8 weeks apart. The other good community orchestra in my region does like 7 concerts a year, though one of them is more like an easy Christmas pops thing that gets slammed together in like two weeks lol. I'm not in that other orchestra due to time/location.

January 29, 2024 at 09:40 PM · Interesting; we only do two programmes per year, and that is enough, as it is each time a lot of organisation all done by a small group of volunteers. we perform each programme two or sometimes even three times though, typically, a saturday evening concert and a matinee the following day (sunday).

January 29, 2024 at 09:42 PM · …and, Lydia, are you sure you have a demanding job :-) :-)

January 29, 2024 at 09:44 PM · Lydia, I agree with Buri. Your contribution to the international violinist.com music community via countless insightful, well-researched posts is also an amazing accomplishment!

January 30, 2024 at 12:06 AM · Six is not uncommon for serious community orchestras. My orchestra plays six concert programs a year, and the other two high-level community orchestras in the area each play five.

January 30, 2024 at 01:52 AM · Lydia - you are a role model for all of us! As you point out so well, being part of a community orch and a chamber group are really crucial to us amateurs. Lessons are also a basic building block. I hope next summer we will have the opportunity again to be in the same adult chamber music workshop.

January 30, 2024 at 02:01 AM · Thanks for the fascinating post, Lydia. Likewise, always enjoy your very well-reasoned / informed advice and commentary.

Also totally agree on the multitude of options available to the amateur / semi-pro / ex-pro musician. This is true of many things in life, isn't it? From music to sport to many other pursuits. Music and sport in particular do provide lots of opportunities to socialise and work on improvement and achieve things that feed the soul.

I'm finding the physical rigour of lots of practice a bit much these days (I'm almost 50 with lingering back and wrist issues), so would never be able to do as much musical activity as you're currently doing, but it's still an absolute pleasure to play with like-minded people and discover new things in the world of music.

I too am very glad that I had other options outside of music - I was always scrabbling for the standard of a professional orchestra (and orchestras aren't my fave thing anyway) - I've had so many wonderful experiences, but since turning 30, haven't had to rely on it. For me (and everyone is different), the professional musical life started to become a grind. I need variety and balance across other things.

January 30, 2024 at 02:46 AM · My community orchestra is at a lower level. We play two concerts per year. If there can be praise for amateurism, then let there also be praise for rank amateurism!!

Our orchestra does not require auditions. The group is super fun. I'm the CM. This season we're going to try to perform Dvorak No. 9 "From the New World." This will be a very big stretch for the first violins, as there is high stuff that is also chromatic. That's an area where I personally need significant improvement, so working on those parts will be good for me. We had our first rehearsal for our spring concert (in early April) this evening, and wow -- we've got a lot of work to do.

Years ago I bought a viola and learned alto clef in the hopes that it would bring me more opportunities, which it certainly has.

These days I am in a "play through" type chamber music group. I usually play viola but sometimes violin, too. Most of our repertoire is classical-era and some of the easier romantic-era quartets. Sometimes we can put together quintets, sextets, etc.

There is a local private music school that has a small chamber orchestra. My daughter has cello lessons there. I help out with the orchestra by filling in on viola, along with a friend who is about my age also (she's the principal violist in the community orchestra too). The best violinists in that group are beyond Bruch. There is one violinist, a boy of about 12, who I would describe as unusually advanced for his age.

As with Lydia, I have a demanding job that saps practice time. I try to divide my practice time evenly between orchestra parts, chamber parts, and solo rep. For a while I was able to practice 90 minutes a day, but now that's more like 90 minutes every other day.

Oh, I play the piano in a jazz quintet also. We rehearse every other week or so, for two hours. I play one or two jazz piano gigs per month as well.

January 30, 2024 at 03:03 AM · I love that you are also serving on the board of this orchestra - helping ensure its continued health. Music is one of the better activities that we human beings have devised - it brings us together, makes us cooperate, helps us explore our emotions, creates something enjoyable for both the player and listener. In this day and age, playing music can get people off their cell phones and into the real world. If amateur playing could take off, the world would be a better place!

January 31, 2024 at 12:52 AM · I'd like to make two points:

1. I have only ever met one person who can match Lydia's energy and commitment: my step daughter (she does not play an instrument, her fields of labor are different).

2. This sentence from Lydia's account needs to be highlighted:

"Indeed, I think I get to do far more music for fun, than a career as a violinist would have given me."

Everybody who considers music as a career should keep this in mind. One of my teachers, in my very last lesson with him, told me that he was envious of my status as an amateur.

January 31, 2024 at 03:56 AM · @Albrecht I've noticed over the years that there are some pro violinists who do their professional work -- always some combination of teaching and performing, among those I know well -- and they still seem to engage in a variety of musical activities "on the side" for what appears to be pure joy and life-long commitment. They might organize charity concerts, or play-ins with amateurs, or chamber coaching, or whatever, and in many cases these are activities for which they would likely be very poorly compensated if at all. They seem to do everything that comes their way, and one wonders how they find the time and energy.

Then there are the violinists who ... don't. They won't do stuff "on the side" unless it's professionally compensated such as "real" wedding gigs or freeway phil services or festival teaching. But I don't think less of these people, because I follow an overarching principle, which is that you can never know everything about someone else's life. Among those I know, the "don't" musicians are still really good people. These kinds of decisions can be influenced by so many factors, not the least of which is just individual preference for how one spends one's discretionary time. I can well imagine, for example, that I would not enjoy spending two hours playing string quartets with a group of Suzuki Book 2 level players. Such people exist in my community orchestra, but I don't really hear them. Sure, I played chamber music with my kids when they were little (we'd page through books of arrangements for piano trio) but that's different. So I'm not inviting my teacher (someone who "doesn't") to sit with my string quartet group. I just know he doesn't want to do that. And that's okay.

Speaking about my own professional life as a chemist and a university professor, I can tell you that a lot of the work is drudgery. But then there are moments where you feel like you've really accomplished something or inspired a student or made a contribution to your field or to your institution or community. To integrate over that whole professional landscape and ask whether the work is "fun" seems a little too simplistic in my view. People study 8-12 years to become surgeons. Probably in some cases appendectomies are interesting or challenging, but is it fun? That seems hard to envision for me.

January 31, 2024 at 07:47 AM · I am vastly aided by the fact that my husband is enormously supportive of both my career and of my musical pursuits. I am a workaholic by nature -- and I am lucky to really love my job. But I think part of loving that job is that I don't normally do stuff in the same field of endeavor for fun any longer.

I had double frozen shoulders during the pandemic, and am still recovering. I'm having the hold the violin a bit differently now, and am still getting used to it, but I've benefitted from generally being a relaxed player. I'm wary what age is doing to me and will no doubt continue to do to me, but I'm guessing that I'll have another ten good playing years ahead of me, and then I'll have to start adapting more actively to a physical decline.

February 1, 2024 at 12:54 AM · Oh my goodness you have my sympathy on the frozen shoulder. I had that during the pandemic as well, in my right shoulder. Not fun, and there was not much of a solution offered, my doctor was like, "It will freeze, it will unfreeze. It may take 9 months." And it DID, ugh!

February 4, 2024 at 09:45 PM · “The cornerstone of amateur playing is typically the community orchestra …. For many amateurs, though, chamber music is their principal pleasure.”

I majored in music, having had the childhood ambition to be a symphony player. But during the degree program, I found that chamber music suited me better. I love the blend of “voices” in the small group - plus having one player to a part, which requires each person to step up.

I listen to orchestra music a lot, probably every day, but no longer do any orchestra playing. I was 21 y/o when I made this decision - plus the decision not to go into the music business after all. For me, amateurism is a better fit. Like you, I have no regrets. I enjoy the music far more as a serious amateur than I did as an aspiring pro.