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People have been talking about that story in which world-class violinist Joshua Bell plays a world-class Stradivarius playing world-class music for forty-five minutes in a Washington Metro station and most people don't notice.
And I've been thinking about it, and it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers some other folks.
It was mentioned in the transcript of an online chat that the author did that similar things have been done with other artists in various locations around the world, with similar results.
To me, this means one major thing. Busking is a skill-set. Buskers don't just have to play good, or even world-class, music -- they need to do something else as well. What exactly that is, I'm not sure -- I've never really successfully busked. But there IS something else there -- virtuosity isn't enough; you need personal charisma, as well.
In a lot of ways, it's an example of this experiment, with the basketballs. You know this one, right? Watch it, and count how many passes the people make. Every time someone throws and catches the basketball, that is one pass. It can be bounced, or thrown, or whatever -- just count the number of passes.
Then, answer the following question, which is ROT-13: Qvq lbh frr gur tbevyyn?
I think it's the same thing. If you're concentrating on one thing, such as getting to work, or counting basketball passes, you miss other things, like violinists and gorillas. It's just how the brain works.
And the part of the brain which allows you to do that is the prefrontal lobes, which are not fully developed in children, which is why THEY notice the violinist.
And then, one final thought hit me. $32 is actually pretty damn good for a busker for 45 minutes. People actually DO recognize and reward quality.
And I've been thinking about it, and it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers some other folks.
It was mentioned in the transcript of an online chat that the author did that similar things have been done with other artists in various locations around the world, with similar results.
To me, this means one major thing. Busking is a skill-set. Buskers don't just have to play good, or even world-class, music -- they need to do something else as well. What exactly that is, I'm not sure -- I've never really successfully busked. But there IS something else there -- virtuosity isn't enough; you need personal charisma, as well.
In a lot of ways, it's an example of this experiment, with the basketballs. You know this one, right? Watch it, and count how many passes the people make. Every time someone throws and catches the basketball, that is one pass. It can be bounced, or thrown, or whatever -- just count the number of passes.
Then, answer the following question, which is ROT-13: Qvq lbh frr gur tbevyyn?
I think it's the same thing. If you're concentrating on one thing, such as getting to work, or counting basketball passes, you miss other things, like violinists and gorillas. It's just how the brain works.
And the part of the brain which allows you to do that is the prefrontal lobes, which are not fully developed in children, which is why THEY notice the violinist.
And then, one final thought hit me. $32 is actually pretty damn good for a busker for 45 minutes. People actually DO recognize and reward quality.
Comments from someone who used to busk for a living...
Other things that will make a difference - playing stuff people do actually recognise, using a backing track (I have not done this but people I've spoken to have doubled their takings overnight), wearing a low-cut top, looking like I'm enjoying yourself. Eye contact with the public can also be very important. If I let the actual musical integrity slide, though, I immediately get a drop in takings. The other stuff is just showmanship... doing the showmanship but playing poorly NEVER works. Or, it didn't for me.
The difficulty with playing in train stations is that people are on their way somewhere, lots of them are listening to their personal stuff, they might not think they have time to stop and listen. If they have season tickets - as most in rush-hour do - then they don't have their hands on their money, either. The background noise can get pretty bad, too, to the point that there are some pitches I simply can't play - and I play the French horn, which is considered loud. On the bright side it does not rain inside train stations, generally speaking. When I was busking in Bath, at a pitch where there were decent acoustics, and some benches for people to sit on, I routinely made twice as much as busking in the London underground stations, for the same amount of time. I also got rained out a lot more... busking in stations is less lucrative, but more reliable, especially once I've figured out which pitches have the best conditions.
Of course, there were still days where for whatever reason I made hardly any money at all, and others when I made quite a bit for no apparent reason. Mondays were always a flop to the point that I stopped playing on Mondays - people just don't have any change yet, they haven't bought their lunches. There was the pitch where I randomly made about £80 in two hours for reasons I still don't understand. On average, though, I got about £12 an hour, and if a pitch regularly gave me less than £10 an hour I stopped playing there.
There were some pieces that were always winners in certain locations, but I tried to keep a varied programme with a mix of classical, folk, show tunes, and jazz. This was as much for my own sanity as anything else - I was doing two 2-hour pitches four or five days a week, and having a short 20-minute program would have been horrible. Playing for two solid hours without repeating anything and entirely from memory is something some people would find challenging, but I am lucky and have an excellent aural memory.