Connect Four or Guess Who?

Written by Tanya Cooling

Yesterday I was down in London’s Denmark Street, a narrow road lined with specialist music shops once frequented by the Beatles and the Sex Pistols and now by myself, an opera singer on a mission to purchase a Drum Practice Pad (and that’s a whole other column).

Contrary to a recent review which mentioned the rudeness of the retail staff on Denmark Street, I was having a good old yarn, including obligatory cultural jibes and casual banter, to a drummer from Australia:

Tanya: So, how’s the gig hunting going?

Drummer: It’s not bad. You play somewhere and hopefully someone will see you. It takes time to meet people. It’s all about connections…”

It’s all about connections.

You would be forgiven for thinking the main purpose of a music conservatorium is to equip students with the skills and technique required to work in the industry. But to be frank, the theoretical information learnt there is a side-product. A student should understand the language of music fluently before they arrive. Their knowledge of history and repertoire will increase according to how much music they perform and their technical proficiency is in the hands of their teacher and the students own dedication to the practice.

What a music college really provides the young musician with is a base for networking. London is vast and with so many musicians to choose from, it’s often impossible for a casting director, producer or head of department to make an informed decision about every candidate. In a profession where time is money, and there’s not much of either, it’s important that the music director makes the best decision in the shortest amount of time.

A popular website for everything and anything in London is www.gumtree.com. Locals and ex-patriots will direct each other to it on a regular basis. With our move to Central London imminent we started looking for “A Man with a Van”. Trouble is, there are many men with vans in this town and sometimes they’re actually criminals with a van. It took two attempts to find the right Man and we henceforth swear our unswerving loyalty to him. You could tell me dazzling stories about all the Men with Vans you know but I’m always going to use my “Man with a Van”.  And it would be no different were I a casting director hiring the same musicians as I did last year because I know I can trust them.

A New Zealand student entering this kind of environment can find himself or herself at a considerable social and professional disadvantage. Many of the English people I was studying with had already met most of the professors at summer schools they attended while they were still teenagers. 

Similarly my own pathway was entirely determined by the connections I made in London long before I even auditioned for any of the colleges. In 2002 I impulsively joined my father on a brief visit to London, where I met with the now retired Head of Vocal at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.  I made appointments at other colleges but call it fate or just coincidence, I only made it to the Guildhall meeting.

This connection would set the course of my life over the next three years. I attended a summer school in France the following year to study with the same professor and I am certain that his prior knowledge of my personality and ability was influential in winning me a place at the Guildhall. Not only this but it also afforded me further opportunities while I was there.

In the music world the old adage “it’s not what you know but who you know” still rings very true.  But this doesn’t mean you don’t have to work hard. You can just as easily form a reputation as a slacker or a diva if you take your opportunities for granted.

It also helps to be aware of whom everybody else knows.  If you’re as blunt as a Bull Elephant Seal as I am,  always assume that everybody knows everybody else. The first audition I did here was for a production of Sweeney Todd. Pre-audition I’d been chattering away with the schedule co-ordinator and afterwards I gave him an impassioned full run-down on my performance.  When I got the role of Johanna, I was ecstatic and went off to Somerset for a month of rehearsals and performances. Imagine my surprise when I met the co-ordinator again and found out he was the director’s son. I was immediately replaying a six-month-old adrenaline charged conversation, scanning for anything potentially damning. The moral of the story is be careful opening your big bazoo. The people you don’t know? Well, they know everyone else you don’t yet know you don’t know.

No matter what you’ve left behind, it’s hard work moving to a new country on the other side of the world and nobody can prepare you for that. A lot of people cope by forming communities of other expatriates and grouping together behind a cultural shield.

Musicians rely almost exclusively on reputation and social networking. We don’t have the luxury of hiding in a culturally familiar little corner. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask about anything and everything and until you’ve got some street cred’, your best bet is to say yes to every opportunity.

And call your Mother.