Sometimes, we must move swiftly and slowly, and we must consider our goals besides thinking of achieving some easy tasks, such as being calm and adventurous simultaneously, eating more or less food, or always feeling that we are in a constant quest to achieve more.
Being an amateur or a professional?
Naturally, we all aim to accomplish more to live better. However, occasionally, we all grow weary of our never-ending struggle for success, wondering if we can rest for a while. In fact, this is achievable if you embrace the idea that you're an amateur rather than a professional.
Personally speaking, I embraced my amateurism, and since then, I have never looked back. This happened while I was listening to the pianist Simone Dinnerstein play the American composer Philip Glass's recent record. His performance was so moving that I found myself getting off the couch and heading towards the piano, trying to reach the same emotional depth I felt while listening to it.
Glass set out to improve his piano skills when he wrote the 20 Etudes. Etudes are a type of musical composition created specifically to gauge a musician's proficiency. Actually, Glass composed this piece as a means of expressing himself as an amateur pianist.
My musical background was a continuous pursuit through hours of hard training. My childhood morning routine consisted of playing notes and practicing music theories. However, every week, I couldn't wait to attend my lessons while waiting for my teacher to praise me or scold me.
Looking back, I don't ever recall being content or happy with who I am. However, I remember myself thinking, "Am I a good pianist or am I a total failure?"
The negative thoughts of being an amateur occupied my mind. In other words, I was worried that I would stop striving to develop my talent. Amateurs have no place in the music industry, as they will always feel inferior to their fellow musicians.
Success stories about some influencers
For example, the inspiring opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins, whose musical passion far exceeded her talent and vocal capabilities, has a biographical movie starring Meryl Streep as Florence and directed by Stephen Frears.
Florence's New York story is well known. She booked Carnegie Hall and performed a wonderful show consisting of a set of epic melodies that only a professional singer dares to perform. As a result, the crowd ridiculed her, and their feedback was disastrous. However, she foresaw all of this. A month after this incident, Florence died due to a sudden illness. However, she died after fulfilling her goal, which was fueled by her amateurism.
Perhaps her ambitions transcended her talent. Success criteria aren't the ultimate goal, as recalling Streep's smile when performing Florence's role is enough to perceive the whole notion.
Florence's pleasure exceeded her pain. Nonetheless, the emergence of amateurism as an artistic and social phenomenon is a contemporary element. For this, the notion of perseverance must be reviewed, where one must replace his perseverance with fulfillment and commitment, and concepts such as failure and success must be erased. It wasn't until the eighteenth century that the word "amateur" first surfaced in English dictionaries, even if the distinction between the so-called amateur and professional in a field existed in the foregoing.
Plato's discussion of musical education in the third chapter of his book, The Republic, indicates that there are amateurs and professionals. For Aristotle, performance skills shouldn't exceed the extent to which the pupil enjoys listening to good music. If only Florence came across this belief, maybe things wouldn't turn out this way.
Society's take on amateurism
In society, amateurs have always been valued. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (C P E Bach) composed a sonata in 1799 that was intended for music enthusiasts and connoisseurs rather than professionals. In the Victorian era, playing the piano was seen as a feminine feature. In other words, it is a domestic skill that enhances a woman's chances of getting married.
However, in 1803, when the concept of "amateurism" first emerged in the English language, it was included in the section of universal arts, sciences, and literature. The word amateur was defined as a foreign term referring to a passing stream of people that includes people who have an understanding and love for the practice of sculpture or architecture without any intention of adopting it as a money-making profession.
The same issue was addressed more than a century later by the French philosopher and theorist Roland Part, who claimed that amateurs participate in drawing, music, sports, and science without intending to become experts or compete with others.
In other words, amateurs engage in their hobbies purely for leisure. However, Part didn't only argue the importance of practicing the arts as a hobby. Rather, he embodied this practice himself. It is well known that Part regularly practiced playing music as a student to aid in his recovery from tuberculosis.
Additionally, according to his biography, he used to play the piano to aid in memory improvement. Therefore, if the concepts put forward by Part can make us appreciate the amateurs' role, then this requires us to reconsider our hobby-practicing process, replacing perseverance with loyalty and commitment, and limitations such as failure and success must be erased.
Hobby vs. Knowledge
Knowing our limitations and understanding our capabilities are the cornerstones of the hobby-practice process. Once we overlook the objective underlying the amateurs' aspirations, we will be able to perceive the psychology of optimal experience that psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi articulates with The Flow Theory.
In addition, journalist Ariel Gore associates this with happiness, as he states, "When we strike a balance between the challenge of an activity and our skill at performing it, when the rhythm of the work itself feels in sync with our pulse, when we know that what we're doing matters, we can get totally absorbed in our task. That is happiness."
I've come to the conclusion that the time I spend playing the piano may be the most memorable for me, and that honing my hobby makes me feel more independent and in control of the situation.
As a result, accomplishing my goals gives me a sense of empowerment and engagement and helps me let go of the negative emotions associated with participating in a subjective experience. I suddenly feel that I'm not lonely but that I'm united with the piano.
A sense of intimacy and wakefulness that becomes a part of our daily routine is required for hobby practice. Once we appreciate that the pursuit of a hobby is not intended to bring about success, we drop our vanity and give the experience our all.
Chiksentmihali refers to this situation as an automatic experience,and he states that engaging in a hobby is the primary goal of the hobby-practicing process. Hence, the amateur is present within each of us, as Aristotle reminds us that musical amateurs define their goals and the things that bring them pleasure.
Keep in mind the phrase "practice makes perfect," which Malcolm Gladwell revived with his book The Outliers: The Story of Success. Gladwell states that in almost any field, 10,000 hours of practice can guarantee expertise.
Chiksentmihali concluded it all by saying
It is time to make a radical change in the practice's concepts, to make it more adapted to the principles of hobby, and to start practicing our hobbies in a brave, spontaneous, devoted, and enthusiastic way.
This doesn’t mean that we should lack commitment when engaging in our hobbies. Rather, it simply means that we do so without any concern for the outcomes. In other words, we must devote our hobby-practicing time to connecting with our poetic selves.
However, my piano-playing experience cannot be generalized. You might have a different hobby—cooking, knitting, or painting—but whatever it is, it's important to enjoy the moment and give the experience your all. This requires you to step out of your comfort zone and free yourself, as the wakefulness and awareness you're experiencing while engaging in your hobby have the potential to greatly increase the impact of your achievements.
As a result, the negative feelings associated with concepts such as success and failure will be erased, and practice will be replaced by pleasure.
Since I reunited with the piano and embraced my amateurism, I have become more peaceful and content. You too can achieve this by embracing your amateurism and getting rid of your limitations.
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