how do you know aprofessional musician?

Question

is it by the rythm or wordings ,composition,the dancing step they take?i want 2 know

Answer 1

It doesn't matter what type of job a person is in--there's a plateau of professionalism that every amateur in a field must strive to rise above if they want to be a professional in that field. For writers, it's a point where the amateurishness begins to disappear from their thought and sentence structure and they begin to show a sense of forethought--i.e., the words should not only be the prettiest ones they can think of, but the ideas behind those words should be well-thought out too. If you want a plumber to make a nice, neat, water-tight job, you need someone with savvy and experience, and so for plumbers, there's a plateau that they need to surpass in order to get to a level people would consider professional.

For musicians, there's a plateau similar to that for writers when it comes to composition and lyric writing, but there's an additional factor that comes into play because musicians are in a field where they perform for the public. If a musician is having a bad day, for example, they can't afford to let it show on stage, or it will affect their future marketability. And developing the ability to suppress negative emotions on stage like that isn't something a music teacher can give you--it's something you have to develop within yourself. While some musicians drink alcohol during breaks, most of those are careful to moderate themselves because drinking too much will show up in a musician's performance and will affect the musician's future marketability too.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actor Marc Alaimo once said at a convention, "People are paying you to entertain them, so don't screw around with the performance." I once read of a band that didn't follow this principle. They played a gig in a seedy bar that had maybe five or six people in the audience the whole night. They decided to goof off in front of the audience, take extra long breaks, that sort of thing. Unbeknownst to them, one of the people in the audience was a booking agent that was looking for a band to book at a venue that would have taken this band to the next level in their career. He was unimpressed, and he left the bar without bothering to talk to the band. Clearly, this band wasn't as professional as they could have been. They were professional in the sense that they were being paid to perform, yes, but little more than that.

Music is a tough, tough business. Before the dawn of the gramophone, it used to be that the only way you could have music in your home was if you had someone in the family who was studying an instrument, or if you were wealthy enough to hire your own ensemble. When the gramophone was invented, successful ensembles now had a means by which they didn't have to be at a particular venue and their performance could still be heard. Unfortunately, advancements in recording technology have meant that musicians today have to compete with DJs for gigs at live venues and be prepared to deal with potential losses in the wake of MP3 file-sharing. Xena actor Robert Trebor once said that in the entertainment business, you have to learn to manage your finances "so that when you go into the dips, you don't go into the hock." And most arts schools don't teach you financial management--again, it's something you're pretty well left to figure out for yourself.

Answer 2

I know professional musicians.... but I'm not sure I understand your question.

I've worked as a professional musician, as have others I know. I know them simply as the people they are. I also know what styles of music they play. As far as your question goes, I really can't answer as I don't have a clue as to what you want to know.

Answer 3

Generally a professional is someone who gets paid to do their job (vs an amateur). I think that definition would follow for a musician...