I think what more important is how our customers respond to our music. Putting a good effort in playing songs that will reach out the audience, not to ourselves. Last night on my break a man came up to me speaking in broken English. How he loves the accordion and the songs I was playing. That made my evening, thinking we can accomplish something for the love of others.
I really like that post, and it is SO TRUE, but there is a "maybe" in there. It depends on the musician. If you are a gigging musician, a performer, this is all so true.
But what if you are like me? I did my time performing and am past that. I spent 90% of my accordion life playing for others and never played for my pleasure.
Since I came back, the main constraint was that I played what made me happy, that the accordion was now for me and I cared much less about what others thought.
Today I am still playing and still enjoying, and I have done a few gigs here and there, just to keep alive other skills like communicating with the audience, watching what style of music they respond to and grow in that direction.
Ultimately, nothing makes me smile more than being alone in my basement and going through the process of learning a piece and making a video of it. If someone else likes it, cool, and if they don't, equally ok, which is a far different cry from the paid professional.
