Where to go from here?

[piano_pills]

I am 16 and been playing the piano since i was about four or five, and had lessons with about six different teachers up to the age of about 13, did grade 5 back then, then i pretty much stopped piano playing altogether (in favour of guitar, UGH). In the last year or so I've got more and more back into the piano, and started listening to more classical music (mainly Rachmaninov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovitch (yeah i know im russian crazy :P)) and I'm going to play Rachmaninovs 2nd Piano Concerto 2nd Movement with the school orchestra sometime next academic year. Also im probably going to play the Rachmaninov Prelude in G Minor for my music AS. I practice 3 to 5 hours a day at the moment, im learning the Grade 7 scales at the moment, planning to give up an AS level subject next year and do Grade 8 piano (for those who dont come from the UK, an AS is the second last exam before university). I also am taking A level in Music. My questions are

(This is stupid) 1.) Could I ever potentially be good enough to be a concert pianist, or should I have been to music college etc? (im at a regular college now)

2.) What other composers/music will I like?

3.) Other than concert pianist, what other careers in piano playing are there?

Thanks a lot :)

[GurS]

wow, you sound like a copy of me. exactly a copy. I'm about to do my grade 8, i started learning piano at four, and i'm currently hoping to do the Rach Prelude in G Minor (i can't remember the opus, but it's number 5 from that opus, if it's the one i'm oding) for my AS. weird.

Anyway:

1. You don't have to go to a music college, but it generally helps if you study at a conservatory for piano.
2. If you like Russian, check out Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition - the greatest Piano suite ever written.
3. Well, after my Grade 8 (which my piano teacher's been bugging me to do for about 4 years) I plan to go straight on to a Teaching diploma for piano (the only real reason for doing the grade 8 is that it's nessecary for a diploma). So, when i'm waiting for my career as a novelist and social commentator to kick off, i'm probably gonna be a piano teacher in order to get by. So that's what you can do.

Or else, get a job as a music teacher in a school, as i think you need to be really good at one instrument to teach it, but to be any kind of teacher you need a C at GCSE Math. so, if you got a C for your math GCSE, then you could either be a music teacher in a school or a piano teacher.

i'm sure there's plenty of other jobs aswell.

[henry]

oi, you sexy people, if anyone can answer this question i'll give them cyber bum sex for months, does anyone know the chord of the following notes, (i was gonna ask in the guitar section, but the majority of guitar players are pretty stupid, although i'm learning this for guiar, but i suppose the reason i'm posting this is because i'm stupid too)
e-f#-b-d#

i'd worship anyone who could answer, love you all xxxxxxxxxxxxhenry robert walker

[henry]

ah yeah, i can't tell you the intervals cos i don't know what key its in, sorry, you bunch of sexy piano playing gods

[PDWAB]

It's a B chord with an unaltered 11th, which means it probably doesn't sound too good.

[henry]

right, pull your cyber trousers down, thank you, i know it sounds like its sounds like crap, but on my guitar thar i'm pretty certain is in tune it sounds pretty good, but i don't have a tuner at the moment, and my keyboards on the piss so it might not be tuned to eadgbe, but thank you, your very clever, i fancy you