What Constitutes a Professional Musician?

[Fat Ol Bear]

For my entire life I have always defined professional as someone who receives a compensation for doing something. That may be rather simplistic but there really is no need to complicate it any farther than that. True, this definition pulls the rug out from underneath the idea that being a professional has to "mean something" .. However, once you have been compensated, be it money, or good will, or even a cupcake from an appreciative old lady, you have stepped over that line in the sand and have become a professional.

Hopefully, you can go beyond a pride in your craft and can become one of the lucky few who love their chosen profession and can make a living at it. If that happens then being a professional does mean something. Please be proud of your status but do not disrespect those who do not rely upon their chosen profession to pay the bills.

At an earlier time in my life I relied upon music to pay my bills and put food on the table for my family. For many reasons I had to get out of the music business. Now, after thirty years I am saving my pennies to buy a bass to get back into the business. I still consider myself to be a musician and consider it a matter of pride that I am a professional.

 

[knumbskull]

What’s the old joke? Someone who takes £5000 of gear in a £500 car to a £50 gig...

(convert currency as needed)

EDIT beaten to it!

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

What’s the old joke? Someone who takes £5000 of gear in a £500 car to a £50 gig...

(convert currency as needed)

Read prior page...

 

[knumbskull]

Read prior page...

Ah yes. Well, great minds etc.

 

[Bruce Calin]

To look at this from a slightly different perspective: back in the olden days when I joined the musicians union there was an audition requirement which I'm not sure still exists. I practiced etudes on the instruments I wanted to be listed for and hoped to be good enough to pass. I went in on audition day and played my pieces to a moderately impressed panel of judges. I paid my $114.00(I think it was) initiation fee and was officially a member of AF of M local 73. The guy who came after me literally banged(but I guess musically enough) on a tambourine for a while and paid his $114.00 and we were both in. I'm not sure what this taught me but it did change my perspective somewhat. If being in the union made you a professional then I guess we both were. That's not to say I regretted joining because I don't. It's been essential for many reasons. It just made me more aware of some realities.

 

[amper]

I did say, so it's hardly surprising to have been proven correct many times over.

You will probably discover that people who fall into this category (and even more who *don't*, lol) jealously guard the use of the term, "professional musician", often to the point of disdaining those who do not fall into this category by their definition, including themselves.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

I did say, so it's hardly surprising to have been proven correct many times over.

But mostly...who cares?

 

[amper]

But mostly...who cares?

Yes, that's the point. People get really super bent out of shape when they don't get to judge who is a "pro" and who isn't, especially people who are not themselves, by their own admission, professionals.

Me, I'm a professional musician. I have been a professional musician all my life. I play my music, rather than other people's music, so I'm not making "a living" with my music, but neither am I making "a living" by anyone's usual standards at my "day job(s)".

I have several recordings out and have received critical acclaim internationally. I've been in music, and performing publicly, since I was a small child, and have been a professional audio engineer for over 30 years. I went to a World Top 5 university for Music Theatre and Theatre Design (Lighting & Sound), and I gigged and recorded all original music with my last band for 20 years. I've played bass for over 25 years, guitar for over 30, keys and vocals for over 45 years, on stage and paid (though not always paid).

If I don't meet someone's definition of a "professional musician", that's their problem, not mine.

 

[PhatBottomBass1]

Yes, that's the point. People get really super bent out of shape when they don't get to judge who is a "pro" and who isn't, especially people who are not themselves, by their own admission, professionals.

Me, I'm a professional musician. I have been a professional musician all my life. I play my music, rather than other people's music, so I'm not making "a living" with my music, but neither am I making "a living" by anyone's usual standards at my "day job(s)".

I have several recordings out and have received critical acclaim internationally. I've been in music, and performing publicly, since I was a small child, and have been a professional audio engineer for over 30 years. I went to a World Top 5 university for Music Theatre and Theatre Design (Lighting & Sound), and I gigged and recorded all original music with my last band for 20 years. I've played bass for over 25 years, guitar for over 30, keys and vocals for over 45 years, on stage and paid (though not always paid).

If I don't meet someone's definition of a "professional musician", that's their problem, not mine.

Wurd!

 

[Spooky88]

I make my living driving a tractor trailer mainly on snow and ice. I do that well enough to scare the hell out of my brother while driving his Porsche 911 4s around the nurburgring at under 9 minutes. That said, I never considered myself a pro musician til I played guitar (electric, and 6&12 string acoustics) in a musical for a local theatre company at a 500 seat venue. 3 rehearsals, 1 with the cast on stage, sight reading the music, 2.5 hours worth. I got called back by the same theatre company to do more musicals but declined as I make substantially more driving truck. If only Porsche would hire me to drive their cars..... {Sigh}

 

[nightchef]

Pretty much any monkey who can play an instrument can play in a cover/wedding/p&w band and be well-paid, even make a majority or all of their income in that manner, while another musician can perform nothing but original music in dive bars/"rock clubs" and be grossly underpaid, because that is the nature of the business.

Fair point about the money, but I have to push back on the first part of the sentence. I spent the first 15-20 years of my musical career mostly in originals bands (doing sometimes my own, sometimes other people's music), and then from about 2000 to 2010 my primary gig was a wedding band. I had been very snooty about wedding bands until I was in one. Three things I learned:

1) It's extremely hard work. You have to be far better prepared then you need to be for an originals gig, and you have to play for three or four hours, putting out maximum energy all that time. I came home exhausted from wedding gigs.
2) It's a hell of a lot of fun. You get to be part of an event that is (usually) full of joy, and if you do your job right you get to add something to it. So I also came home elated.
2) It can be artistically rewarding. There are certainly cheesy, cookie-cutter wedding bands out there, but it's possible to do that gig with integrity and artistry, and when you do, the folks hiring you notice and appreciate the difference. We got countless heartfelt emails from brides and grooms telling us how much they appreciated that we not only did the gig professionally in the sense of showing up on time, not getting drunk, etc., but clearly invested mental and emotional energy in the music we made.

"Any monkey" definitely could not have done what we did--though any professional musician could have. Because to me, that's what professionalism ultimately is in music. It's a combination of having the skills to do the gig, and having the respect for yourself and your employer to fully commit yourself to making the best music you can in that moment, whether it's Friday night headlining the hottest originals club in town, or a Sunday afternoon wedding at some featureless suburban country club.

 

[mikewalker]

So in your opinion, semi-pros are not pros? The reason I ask is, I am more than good enough to make a living playing music...for me. Am I good enough to provide for a family of 4, living in a decent safe neighborHood with good schools, and pay for things like our health insurance, and a retirement fund? That is debatable.

That said, I consider myself a pro. I don’t think it matters at all how much money you make, and how often you play. When people are paying their hard earned cash to see you play, you are a pro.

What is this "retirement fund" of which you speak??

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Your collection of vintage basses . What else?... This is Talk Bass after all.

 

[casualmadness]

I tend to have the same attitude as one of my early Russian teachers. When I was first learning the language and could say little more than “Hello, I’m an American” my teacher assured me that I could rightfully claim to be a Russian speaker. I still remember the first time I made the claim that I “speak Russian.” It felt wrong. But he assured me I could make the claim.

So I believe that if you are being paid to play, you are a pro. I was a pro in my 20’s, then I sold all of my gear to go to law school. On my way to law school, I joined the military instead. Never made it to law school. Was a pro again in my middle 30’s as all of my income (supporting my wife and I as she was in school) came from playing bass.

Now I’m trying hard to get there again. But it isn’t easy.

 

[rocklee]

By that logic if someone has 3 jobs that each make up 33.3% of their total income they're not a professional at any of them.

You're a professional when you get paid. Get paid to paint a house, you're a professional house painter. Get paid to play music, you're a professional musician.

Works for me!!!!!

 

[Gordon Mills]

I would consider a professional -- in any field -- to be someone who earns *substantial* income from that pursuit.

And no one is necessarily limited to having only one profession. Consider Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance who is also a very successful comic book writer (The Umbrella Academy). Or my friend who is general manager of a television station as well as a drummer with a popular local band.

A more difficult definition of "professional" might be the case of someone like Gary Sinise. Sure, Sinise is unquestionably a successful professional actor; but if his Lieutenant Dan Band plays charity and USO gigs exclusively -- with no actual income for him -- is he also considered a professional musician?

Nope...

 

[Lagado]

"What's in a name?"

William Shakespeare.