What To Do When Nothing Is Working
Things have been slow moving since this recession hit, and at times it can feel like nothing is working. Maybe you’re doing the same things you used to to get gigs, but no ones calling and you’re not making as much money – what do you do?
The short answer is “try something else”.
Consider for a minute animals in the wild. If resources become scarce – what do they do? They have a variety of coping mechanisms. Some migrate. Some hibernate. Over time, some adapt. The one thing they don’t do is sit on their hands and just hope it gets better. And neither should we.
I’ve tried a lot of different things since this recession started. Some worked, some haven’t. Here are some of my thoughts.
Try Something Else
There are 5 basic employers for musicians. For-profits (i.e. corporate gigs, cruise ships), non-profits (ballets, symphonies), individuals (weddings, parties), education and churches/synagogues. The first 3 on that list have been hit pretty hard by this recession, and it’s my experience that a lot of those gigs are gone for now.
One of the ways that I’ve been able to survive this recession is by focusing on colleges and churches. I asked a friend to give me a little lesson on organ, and I found a job in the Bronx playing every Sunday. It’s not the Broadway gig I was hoping for, but it’s a good gig for a recession. The Church has been hiring musicians for hundreds of years, no recession is going to stop that.
Next, I found a gig accompanying and occasionally music directing at New York University. I started with just 1 class, and now I play for 5. The truth is that I really enjoy it – in a way that I didn’t think I would. The students are smart and the work pays my bills. Again, it’s not Broadway, nor is a the stadium rock tour, or playing with the New York Phil, but it’s a job that I like and I’m glad I tried something else.
Specialize
When work becomes scarce, I think our natural tendency as musicians is to try to generalize, to throw a wider net, to try to get gigs. So instead of a “saxophonist”, our business cards now say “saxophone – piano – keyboards – synth programming – conducting – arranging – transcribing – transposing – orchestrating – notating – cooking – cleaning – eating – breathing”.
Yes, yes, it’s probably true that having a wide variety of skills will get you more work. I encourage anybody to always try new things, try to make money with any skill you have. There’s nothing wrong with that.
The problem, though, is that generalizing can have the effect of making you a scavenger (back to the animal world). Consider cockroaches…rats…vultures, they can eat anything and always survive. But, for real, they eat trash. They are bottom feeders. I know that in my career, sometimes the wider I cast my net, the more crap gigs I get.
Generalizing is not always what works in the animal world. When resources become scarce, a lot of animals adapt by specializing. Think about animals that have adapted to thrive in areas or climates that no other animal could live in. Polar bears. Mountain goats. Gila monsters. Camels. Perhaps as musician opportunities shrink, we should try to adapt and be that one musician that is making a living in the most inhospitable economy or geography.
Imagine, for instance, if you specialized in music for documentaries and you landed a gig composing the music for all American-produced nature shows on the Discovery Channel. Or maybe you are the only creole bandeon player in all of Minnesota and you land a job playing every day at the newly opened French-American History Museum (just an example, not a real museum). Maybe you are simply the best bluegrass zither player on the planet.
I’m not saying that specialization is the key for everyone, but if generalizing isn’t working, you might consider trying it. In my case, I’ve become a sight-reading specialist since the recession began. Nearly every gig I play is a straight sight-reading job these days. I play for auditions, singing classes, church services – situations where it’s just not possible to see the music beforehand. I find in my case that being an expert sight-reader is a specialization that is relatively rare and valuable, even in a big city like New York. It gets me gigs.
Meeting People Outside Music
I stole this one from David Cutler. When he wrote for our Dear 1999 project back in December, he made a great point that has stayed with me for months. Here’s it is:
“Consider your circle of acquaintances, for example. With few exceptions, they are all musicians. While this is a great network to have, branching out will vastly influence your potential impact and perspective. Surround yourself with the greatest minds available. Find ways to befriend influential leaders, artists, educators, media voices, business owners, arts patrons, and other interesting personalities. These relationships will lead to fulfilling encounters and open many doors.”
That is a really valuable insight. I’ve really taken his advice to heart in the past 4 months.
I volunteer now for several environmental organizations. Last week I went down to D.C. for a few days to meet new people, and to talk with my congressional representatives about the environmental policies that I believe in. Yesterday I gave a little speech at the Bronx Zoo to a group of runners before their 5k began. Since I started this I’ve met congressmen, policy experts, researchers, other volunteers, and it’s been really interesting. Sure, I connect best with musicians, and all of my best friends are performers – but it’s been really eye opening to step outside of my bubble and meet new people.
Also, non-musicians tend to be much more interested in my albums!
Start a Community
We started this website around the time the recession hit. I had suddenly found myself with more than enough time on my hands, and I wanted to get more involved with the online musician community, help others out, and make some connections.
Since we start this site we’ve seen a lot of benefits. I’ve been lucky enough to connect with a lot of our readers through the forums, email, Twitter, or a cup of coffee. Also lot of the colleagues that I work with read MW and are glad to have a place where gigging musicians can congregate online. In effect, that puts myself and other MW writers in the middle of a community. A solitary man is going to have a hard time finding a gig, since gigs come from friends, so I’m certain that we have all immeasurably benefitted from starting this website and creating this community.
Get Together
Look at schools of fish. Why do they crowd into big clumps of fish like that? It’s because it’s safer in a group. They are stronger when they are together.
About a year ago I decided to start a private listserv for music directors in the theatre industry. I felt like there really wasn’t a place for MDs like me to gather and talk about issues in our little sub-industry of music and theatre business. The rules I put in place were that anyone can join, provided that they work as a professional music director and have credits to prove it.
There are now a couple dozen experienced, qualified, trained MDs on the list and it’s a great resource. We trade gigs back and forth, ask for advice and talk business. Just today we were giving out ad hoc reviews of Mainstage for the members of the group that hadn’t switched over yet.
In February I asked a friend to help me arrange a meet-up for the listserv at a restaurant in New York City. It was a great event, and John Miller even showed up. John Miller is a music contractor on Broadway. The list of Broadway shows that John has hired the musicians for is decades long. He is by all definitions a MAJOR CAT in the Broadway scene. He stayed for quite awhile that night and let us ask him question after question about getting gigs on Broadway, getting gigs in a recession, and about old stories of shows and recording sessions.
I can promise that the only way you can get a MAJOR CAT like John Miller to come give an improvised question and answer session is if you band together like we have. We are undoubtably more successful as a group that we were alone.
See What Takes
When nothing is working, you have to try everything to get back on track. Write songs, invest in your relationships, make new friends, create or strengthen a community, read new books – try everything and see what takes.
In a new (or, perhaps, “broken”) economy like this one the old tricks just aren’t going to work anymore. So go try something new!
About the author
Great post, David!
I hit the same walls in my neck of the woods. For a couple years, my jazz duo, trio, and quartet did private gigs almost exclusively but when the recession hit, those gigs dropped. Plus, for over a year, almost all of my freelance gigs were on upright bass. To make up for the decline, I started pursuing electric bass gigs with a vigor. I also changed my approach to private parties and my bands. I now have a duo (vibes and upright bass) that serves as a “Standards” group. It’s a base ensemble and, if we need three or more pieces, we just hire them and the gig is booked as “The Living Jazz Duo featuring…” My other group is for public gigs and we lean more towards the modern side. We do my originals and loose interpretations of standards and covers. Differentiating the two has really helped me market the groups and it has actually landed me more club dates.
I really didn’t plan any of it; it just kind of became necessary. As a result, I have remained busy even with my private gigs flirting with the endangered species list.
4/26/2010
To continue the excellent animal analogy, animals such as mice might always go down the same path looking for cheese even those it’s been moved. When people have an employee mindset (working for employers/other people), they try to find ways to find jobs or gigs – ie depending on someone else to give them work such as bar owner. But if you open your mind a little to entrepreneurial opportunities, which often happens during recessions, there can be even more opportunities. Teach guitar, sell online guitar courses, offer a membership to your fans online, sell affiliate products (music, music instruction, instruments, etc).
4/26/2010
Nice one Dave.
4/27/2010
Someone has been watching a lot of Planet Earth ;)
but seriously, I’m glad there’s another nature nerd out there like me.
It always helps me to understand society when I relate it to nature
and evolution. It’s especially important for musicians. Especially
since we tend to be very emotional creatures, sometimes we just need
to suck it up and start adapting. Knowing how to adapt can make you
very powerful.
4/28/2010
Excellent post! Many thanks for all of the advice!! And I too find that the vast majority of my gigs have come from friends and I am truly grateful to the community of musicians who have helped me book shows and gotten me out playing different places. I can’t thank them enough!!
- El Rojo
4/28/2010
Cool… You know, it could be said that cockroaches, dung beetles & vultures are specialists. True, they specialize in crap work (especially the aforementioned beetle), but like you said they survive everything.
5/2/2010
Yeah, I agree with that. Good point, Duke.
5/2/2010
If nothing works, teach. Teach what you’re good at. I plan to teach piano for my career instead of trying to perform. Do something fun with your career in music. You can make a lot of money by doing lessons. Then, get a second job. It could be in resturants,retail, you name it.
5/21/2010
Excellent article- we are very fortunate to have MW as a resource. Thank you!!
5/26/2010
Thanks James!
5/26/2010
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