Preliminaries 1-5pm and 7:30-10:30pm Mon-Wed. Semifinals 2-5:30pm and 7:30-11pm Fri. Finals 2-7pm Sat, all at Ed Landreth Auditorium, 2800 S University Dr, FW. Tickets run from $10 for a single preliminary session to $105 for the entire competition. Call 817-335-9000.

One good thing about music is that it isn't the sole province of practitioners who do it for a living. On the contrary, it can also provide a means of expression for inspired amateurs. Starting on Monday, the Van Cliburn Foundation's Fourth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs will present 75 pianists, all of them over the age of 35, whose principal income derives from some activity other than performing or teaching piano (although one of them works as a piano tuner and another is a film composer).

They come from all over the globe -- 27 states are represented, along with Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, South Africa, and Venezuela -- and they're a diverse group, including doctors, scientists, lawyers, business people, media wonks, an acupuncturist and herbalist, a midwife, and several homemakers. Leah Billingsley is an Austin grad student who said she had been "drifting" for 15 years since abandoning her childhood music studies. Community volunteer Averill Piers Baker is a cancer survivor and the wife of a Canadian senator. Jordanian-born environmental engineer Salam Murtada sees parallels between science and music. Both, he says, "seek truth."

Having survived the initial selection process (there were 110 applicants), the contestants will compete in three rounds: the preliminaries, in which each pianist will perform a 12-minute recital; the semifinals, where as many as 16 who make the cut will play 20-minute slots; and the finals, in which six of them will perform for 30 minutes each. The pianists are prohibited from repeating works from round to round. Judging will be done by a jury that's headed by Fort Worth Symphony music director emeritus John Giordano and includes last year's co-winners, Victoria Bragin and Michael Hawley. Think of it as American Idol with less fake drama and classier music.