What I love -should I pursue it?

mini
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:54:20 +0000

Most of the really serious musicians I know basically tell me they can’t do anything else. They just can’t. They HAVE to play 6-10 hours a day, or they are unhappy. Period. It isn’t even a question. They will endure every hardship to do so.

My daughter was a concert pianist. Played concerts on both coasts in her mid-teens. Scholarship to an international music festival, where she was the youngest person. But it was clear very early that this wasn’t to be her career. There were simply too many other things she wanted to do, wanted to see, wanted to experience. (And also clear that the idea of sitting in front of a room of people for 90 minutes without talking to them was an absurdity - she would have made a great Liberace, if she could figure out the shtick.)

Fast forward - she is working on a career in international accounting/international development - and plays jazz every chance she gets.