Where gigs come from

So today was a much better day. As I remarked to my mom this morning, it's truly amazing how quickly things can turn 180 degrees. Yesterday, I had just missed a Sunday gig due to being stuck in traffic (not a great practice, but it was one of my regular church gigs and they are pretty chill about such things - not like a wedding or anything - I wouldn't have been playing a show upstate in the first place if that had been the case); then I was offered a gig Monday morning that fell through. I haven't made the money I needed to this month, and that's always frustrating.

But today, I went out to Queens to play soccer with a Venezuelan friend who has given me work in the past. And he offered me a very lucrative recording gig for mid August. A gig lucrative enough to by itself pay 80% of my expenses for the month (rent, subway, internet, food). He also offered me a potential gig in September that I may or may not be available for. The point is, one day one can be feeling frustrated and wondering how to pay the bills, and the next day the answer can just come out of the blue.

This of course in no way detracts from the validity of yesterday's posts. The NYC scene is indeed a cruel place. But not always.

Anyways, on the commute home I was thinking about how one gets gigs in this city, and I realized that about 90% or so of my gigs have come from only two initial sources: craigslist, and a cellist colleague of mine from Mannes. In her case, she left town and sent a number of people she works with my name. This led to both my regular church gigs, as well as work with some excellent bands. While working with one of those bands I met a violinist, who knows a composer, who wrote some string arrangements for a folk singer who then needed quality string players to record for him. Several degrees of separation, yet yielding some very good work.

As for Craigslist, much of the work I get directly, as in someone posts a message looking for a cellist, I send them my materials, and I'd say about 40%-50% of the time, I get hired. However, one also tends to meet people during these gigs who can end up being excellent connections. For instance, the guy I was playing soccer with who offered me this most timely of recording gigs was someone I met while doing a not so well paying gig for a church that posted on Craigslist. I recently was asked to do a film score by a friend of a singer-songwriter I used to work with, whom I met via craigslist.

All this goes to show that no matter what, you HAVE to get yourself out there. Relying on music school and people you meet there can sometimes work out, but the reality is that having as broad a base of contacts as possible is absolutely key. Even if at first you have to take a lot of free or low-paying gigs. I got my second church gig while playing a service that, at the time, was ostensibly a free gig (I was later paid, but I was told beforehand that I wouldn't be). That's not to say that one should ever undervalue their talent; if you're going to play a free gig, at least make sure it's worth your time, either through quality of musicianship (working with great people is its own reward, as far as I'm concerned) or for a good cause. However, especially in a big city, it's unwise to always turn up your nose at a gig just because it's in an odd part of town, requires a long commute, and/or doesn't pay well. You never know, the people you meet may be the only thing between you and needing to get a day job.