Whenever I watch career talks by musicians, they almost always mention how the moment when they got their first break was almost entirely through luck. Being in the right place when someone walked into the room, singing for the right person at the right time, random encounters at concerts and auditions that lead to future projects, having just the right person in their network who notices them were all reliable ways to get opportunities. My lucky break was in 1994 when I arrived in Vancouver with no work but at just the right time, and got my first staff pianist position at the Vancouver Academy of Music because there were so few qualified collaborative pianists in the area who knew both the operatic and string repertoire.

But we’re in a pandemic now. Live music is shuttered. Almost no one on the continent makes a living as a performer. Until the majority of people can be vaccinated, most musical instruction is now online. Some professions are thriving (such as online teaching and administration), but some have been obliterated for the time being. How can we create the conditions for musical success at such a time when the ground is constantly shifting under our feet and nothing is certain?

One way is to increase the number of unexpected opportunities that present themselves to us. I don’t mean pure luck, but maximizing the conditions that allow us to be aware of new opportunities which might present themselves to us and not others. Articles from Wealest and Mind Cafe mention the types of luck that arise from preparation, taking the initiative, and keeping an eye open to opportunity. For a deeper look at this subject, read Nassim Taleb’s Antifragile.

Here are some ways that musicians can cultivate these types of probabilities:

1. Take care of your mental health. Developing awareness of our mental health is an ongoing process, and at a difficult time is everything. Once we’re in a better place, then we can develop a clearer awareness of what lies around us.

A few days ago I had a chance to catch up with singer, pianist, and mental health student Kristine Dandavino, who talks about why mental health is so critically important for musicians:

My two cents. Self-care should be taught in music schools. I think you teach that, in a way, to your students, how to practice smart rather than harder. There are a lot of people complaining that there is no "free help" out there. That is just plain false. I can find mental health care for almost anyone at low cost, or no cost. A lot of people, I will sound harsh, just do not want to go get help. There is a lot of stigma to mental health. I have found, that some artists believe that it part of making [it]. We must suffer to be an artist. Which is not correct. Anyhow, I wrote something positive and as "short" as I could. The most important thing that I always convey to clients is that there is no cure to mental health issues but, there is a better way. Similar to diabetes or asthma. There is no cure but, asthma can be managed. Music and poetry were created in the concentration camp. Isn't that even worse than what we are going through now? It is all about mindset. But, I am preaching to the choir.

2. Be able to move quickly on ideas, projects, and opportunities. One of the advantages of being an individual or startup organization is that you can create things without the friction and bureaucracy that one finds with larger organizations. Making the shift to online-only lessons last spring (and back to a hybrid model in the fall, then back to online-only lessons again this month) and writing an e-book in 30 days are ways that you can create and execute projects quickly in order to gain personal competitive advantage. These fast moves then open up opportunities.

3. Treat everything as a challenge. Whether you’re optimistic, pessimistic, or somewhere in between, seeing everything that comes your way as a challenge rather than something you can’t control can create the mindset that allows you to see a wider range of possibilities, and the breaks that come with them. Carlos Castaneda, from The Wheel of Time:

The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.

4. Create a continuing series and share it as widely as possible. One of the largest untapped growth areas in the arts is in the area of developing a continuing series. Whether it be a YouTube channel, blog, podcast, or regular livestream, there is already a captive audience for your potential idea, and the people that you reach through these initiatives can create long-term relationships in the profession. Creating these types of content can have far greater reach, and will last much longer than your outpourings on social media.

For a prime example of a successful series that started during the pandemic, look no further than Abe Hunter’s The Lied Society Round Table, a podcast that started on a dime in April 2020 and has expanded to become a continuing series that features some of the top minds in the art song world.

5. Create something online that can be later converted to an in-person initiative. Creating something online is an inexpensive way to develop an audience. More difficult is how to transfer that initiative to in-person events once the pandemic fades into memory. But the fans, captive market, and relationships you build with an online initiative is a starting point towards in-person opportunities in the After Times when most of us are vaccinated and concert life begins its inexorable return to normality (whatever that might look like).

6. Meet new people in your profession and become a valued colleague to them. In the Before Times, going to concerts, workshops, auditions, and parties were only some of the ways that you could meet new people in the profession and develop connections that could lead to work. Since most professional events are operating online-only this year, this is one of the toughest nuts to crack. Many people are doubling down on pre-existing relationships, and it is much harder than ever before to break into the profession. If you can find a community in which to develop new professional relationships online, you’ll be able to expand your circle at a time when many are deciding not to.

7. Find a way to connect people. If you can become a connector that allows people to reach each other, that can give your work even stronger leverage. Gone are the random meetings in the musical field that allowed new professional relationships to continually blossom. Create a way to replicate those relationships online and you will fill a major need.

8. Find a way to help people. If you’re one of the people whose work was relatively unaffected by the pandemic or actually benefitted from it, don’t just sit on your butt. Help people! Mentor them, and spread the word about the ideas and practices that are allowing you to carry on at this time. It’s important that we care about the profession as a whole and the people who work in it, not just ourselves.

9. Share the activities of those in your network to become known as a positive force. When I first started the Collaborative Piano Blog in 2005, I intended it to be a personal website that tracked my own activities. But everything changed when I decided to make the blog about not just me, but the entire collaborative piano profession. This allowed it to become a hub for knowledge and resources over the coming years and created innumerable opportunities for others.

10. Leverage all of the above in order to create an income stream, even if it’s a related one. For all the attention that my work on the Collaborative Piano Blog brought me, I never made more than about $100 a month, even when the site was littered with ads and I was pushing products on it. The breakthrough for me was when I realized that I could advertise myself on the blog in order to get private piano students, which was infinitely more profitable. This led to my studio operating at capacity for the last 10 years.

In other words, I learned how to give something away in order to sell something else that was more profitable. Creating a blog that reached thousands of people created the audience that allowed a very small subset of people who needed a piano teacher to find me. More importantly, the resources I built also enabled a lot of other people to find what they were looking for, even if that path led away from my own offerings. All this happened only after a huge investment of time on my part with preparation, research, writing, and acquired skills.

What did you have to put into place to get your lucky breaks during the pandemic? Leave your story in the comments.

(Photo by Dustin Humes on Unsplash)