Due to the fact that this post primarily contains information related to the more limited topic of music, the original question could be restated more accurately as “Are You A Professional or An Amateur Musician”?
According to the latest AI (Artificial Intelligence) source:
A professional musician is someone who earns a living by performing, creating, recording, or teaching music. They may work as freelancers, be employed by institutions (e.g., orchestras, bands, schools), or work independently to create and promote their music. Their level of income and recognition can vary widely, from local performances to global fame.
An amateur musician is a term used to describe an individual who engages in music-making for personal enjoyment or as a hobby rather than as a profession. This type of musician may have a high level of skill or knowledge in their craft, but they typically do not pursue music as a primary source of income. Instead, they may perform in community bands, orchestras, or small informal groups, or simply play music privately for self-expression and enjoyment.
So, if your primary source of income supports your present lifestyle you are by definition a professional musician.
But wait!
Suppose your current lifestyle is barely able to keep food on your table and a roof over your head. Does that mean that you are a substandard professional musician? That sounds like an example of a starving amateur musician. Also, why did I have to correct the spacing error in the last AI generated material? It makes you wonder just how smart AI actually is………
I have performed with many musicians whose primary income is derived from their musical skills and yet their actual performances were very amateurish. The reverse has also been true where an amateur musician has consistently performed at a professional level and at the same time garnered a livelihood from a nonmusical area.
After contemplating these earlier questions, I finally formed my own opinion as to a more accurate definition of the terms professional and amateur.
“Professionals anticipate problems and amateurs react to problems”.
One example of my own profession/amateur level of musicianship can be illustrated from this event in my life.
While teaching at the University of Northern Iowa, it was the custom to perform from time to time as a featured faculty member on solo recitals.
On one such program, I performed in a less than desired level due to the fact that the two previous days my time was spent in a hunting dog field trial in the middle of the winter season in Iowa. For those of you less knowledgeable of winters in Iowa, let me just say that it is less than ideal conditions for neither man nor beast. Let me say that the below freezing winds can do savvier damage to one’s lips. By the time my recital performance arrived, I could barely play a tuning note, let alone a rendition of the Haydn Trumpet Concerto. The question might be asked, did a poor performance that evening on stage indicate that I was still a professional musician due to the fact that I was still making a comfortable living teaching at our institution? Or did my embarrassing performance demonstrate that professional musicians can still function at an amateur level?
My previous statement “Professional anticipate problems and amateurs react to problems” holds true in this example for if I were a true professional, I would not have put myself in that situation and would have refrained from the enjoyment of watching my German Short Hair Pointer win the amateur class at the previously mentioned field trial
In conclusion, even though a person fully supports himself/herself financially in the field of music, does not mean they are by definition a professional musician. In every field, professionalism must be judged by the quality of their performance and not by the origin of their income.
