Re: Busking

[Joel Fritz <jfritz666@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Scorcher wrote:

> Was just thinkin' again about other ways to "polish my craft", and listening
> to a little Satan & Adam.
> 
> Is busking "a good thing", barring paying gigs & friendly jams? Can one busk
> solo?
> 
> I've been thinkin' about it, but I'm not sure how to approach it (not even
> sure I WANT to...).
> 
> Anybody with some busking experience care to share some advice? I'm
> interrested in the where/when/what(tunes)/who (with or without an
> accompanist?)/why(why not?)  and any other advice either for or against.
> -Scorcher
> 
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> .
> 
I've never played in the street with just a harmonica.  I've done a lot 
of it singing and playing guitar by myself or in a jug band.  It's a 
good way to practice.  You need to be loud enough to cut through street 
noise. I never used amplification, but I have a loud voice.  I guarantee 
that you'll meet all sorts of people.  Some of them will be people you 
never wanted to meet and others will be absolutely wonderful.  I'm not 
sure how well harmonica alone would work.  If you're fairly loud, have a 
reasonable sized repertoire, and can play requests you might do well.

The next paragraphs concern money.  It may sound mercenary, but I looked 
at playing in the street as a job, and these are my guidelines for 
maximizing your earnings.

The first rule is just like real estate--location, location, location. 
You need to find a spot with heavy foot traffic that has enough room for 
a small crowd to gather and has good acoustics.  In hot weather try for 
a shady spot.  If the crowd doesn't materialize even though there is a 
reasonable amount of traffic, move to a different spot.  While you want 
to have an audience, you want it to turn over fairly often.  They're 
only going to give you money once.

If you draw a crowd, be sure to stop and ask for money before they move 
on.  One sure thing is that asking for money often will double your take 
over not asking. Try to work up a little patter to soften people up.  My 
approach was to try to be humorous, but what's important that you sound 
natural and convey the idea that you would be grateful if people made a 
voluntary contribution. Always thank people.  You should make a sign 
with safe contact info on it if you're interested in playing private 
parties or whatever.  Use something fairly large as a money 
receptacle--you want to make it easy for people to part with it. If 
you're having a good day, periodically stash some of your take.  You 
don't want potential paying customers to think you've made enough 
already, and you don't want less friendly people to think you might be 
convinced to make a donation to them. If you can, start out with a 
dollar bill and some change in the receptacle. It helps people to see 
what's an appropriate donation.

That said, don't expect to make a living at it.  I had a good time 
playing, met some interesting people, played some good parties, and 
developed my skills (such as they are) in interacting with an audience.

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