Long time lurker. First time poster. I've had a few lessons at the Tater Institute of Technology.
I spent the summer busking on Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, VT with my mandolin, guitar, banjo-uke, and harp. It was a great experience that I recommend to any performer. You have to audition to get a license to play. There were musicians, mimes, jugglers, acrobats, sketch artists, and even a poet for hire. The music ranged from a husband and wife clarinet/tuba dixieland combo to fiddle and banjo to solo guys like me. No amps were allowed. I had a little folding camping stool that I sat on. Some days where tough because I would end up on the same block as the guy who rode his unicycle on a high-wire while juggling. That's when I would think of Mr. Bell. I usually did about two hours before my voice gave out. Without a PA you really have to project your playing and singing to get over the ambient city noise. After a while I figured out that there were certain songs that were big money makers. "You Are My Sunshine" on the mandolin was huge. It would be interesting to see if Tater played it whether you would have a Joshua Bell situation where people would be completely oblivious to what was going on. Boston has a lot of music at the T(subway) stops. High turnover of customers. When I was younger I used to watch this little blonde girl named Mary Lou Lord at Park Street sing Syd Barrett songs. She told me about her boyfriend in Seattle and that I should meet him when he came to Boston with his band to play. I never made the show but when the mood struck him he played a old D-18 and did a pretty mean version of "In the Pines" :>) Regards, Jim Berkeley On Jan 12, 10:52 am, "Mark Seale" <mark.se...@gmail.com> wrote: > This is a very astute point. Setting up in the subway where your potential > listeners are bound to a schedule isn't a recipe for general success. But, > if you set up in an area where people are spending free time, you stand a > much better chance of catching their less focused attention. Some of the > biggest fiddlers' contests we've had, in terms of listeners, have been in > shopping malls. > > On Sun, Jan 11, 2009 at 11:11 AM, Trey Young <email_t...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > I've always noticed in my times of playing for folks, it seems like young > > children and the elderly are almost always the most appreciative of live > > music...this story definitely shows how hit or miss busking can be. Last > > time I was in New York (City!) there was a dixie land (ish) band playing in > > Central Park. I sat and watched them for about an hour and they always had > > a crowd standing there of about 30 or so and they had to stop twice in that > > hour to empty out the tip bucket. I guess if you set up to play where > > people are there primarily to get some where else... > > > <http://www.myspace.com/mudmusic> > > > ------------------------------ > > *From:* 14strings <perrypale...@gmail.com> > > *To:* Taterbugmando <taterbugmando@googlegroups.com> > > *Sent:* Sunday, January 11, 2009 7:45:05 AM > > *Subject:* Re: Something to think about... > > > Read some more on busking by Danny Barnes (an excellent musician and > > songwriter) > > >http://www.folktronics.com/web/node/121 > > > Perry --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to taterbugmando@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to taterbugmando+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
