The Adult Music Student Forum was founded to provide adult amateur musicians with a venue for performance. It was recognized that young people and professional musicians have opportunities to perform not available to amateur adults. Thus, from the time of its founding, AMSF has sought to provide supportive opportunities to amateur adult musicians of all levels of skill and experience.

The following statement is from the AMSF Policy Manual:

Regular membership is available to any adult who actively studies or plays a musical instrument or is engaged in the study of vocal music in a non-professional capacity. This guideline does not require that a person take lessons; active study may be self-directed.

Applicants fail to meet the “non-professional” criterion if they:

• • receive compensation for music-related services, or
  • currently major in music in an undergraduate or graduate degree program, or
  • have spent the majority of their adult lives as music professionals (teaching or performing on a particular instrument) or professionals-in-training.

Applicants who are music professionals in one area, such as voice, however, may qualify for regular membership if they restrict their participation to areas (other instruments) in which they are clearly amateurs.

Please note that any adult, including music teachers and other professional musicians, may join AMSF as an Associate Member. Associate members receive our quarterly newsletter, Keynotes and may attend all special events and open recitals but are not permitted to participate as soloists in recitals.

For more on both categories of membership — regular and associate, see Membership.