I busked yesterday! And I need tips--cuz I got none.

[Happy]

Hi All. Newbie here.

I played for an hour in Touristy Place Anonymous Town I Will Not Name. That's the touristy place where people walk by and ignore shy newbie buskers like me.

Well, the wind blew my music away--even when I strummed hard. Or the traffic drowned me out.

This other dude made über-bucks! He played popular songs on his guitar and drowned out the traffic with his loud singing. I "played" with him. Good thing nobody could hear my instrument but him. I faked it. I tried to play melody or single notes that blended with his singing/playing. I got it right maybe 35-50% of the time. He played requests and everything.

Anyway. My problems: I was too quiet. I didn't play Popular Tunes. I didn't have the guts to sing.

Well. I don't *like* popular tunes. I play hymns. I like hymns. And I was afraid to sing those. Perhaps people would be offended? I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to convert them while they tour Old Town.

Perhaps fast instrumental hymns, amplified? Learn some Irish tunes? I like Irish tunes...

[strumelia]

Hymns are great. But play them louder or sing with them.
My best suggestion- learn some simple and colorful songs that appeal to children. Songs about dogs, frogs, crawdads, funny old folks or funny courting songs, songs using animals noises or counting songs, pickin' up pawpaws, etc... Children will stop to listen and even to dance, and if the children like the songs, their parents will often give them some money to put in your tip container. Parents like to encourage their children to appreciate music. I like to play my limberjack when busking- it's a surefire way to bring children (and their parents) screeching to a halt to watch and enjoy for a couple of minutes. Make the kids happy and you'll make the parents happy.
Make sure your tip jar or dulcimer case is prominently placed, and put a rock on top of a couple dollar bills in it to show people what to do.

Strumelia
http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/

[folkfan]

Happy

Learn a couple of really snappy Irish tunes that can be played loudly. Hymns just don't sound the same on the street corner as they do in a church. They just shouldn't have to compete with traffic. Irish tunes don't care. They compete with the sound in a pub all of the time.

And as for tips, unless someone actually stops to listen to you, don't expect them. It sounds as if the other guy was the one being heard.

[brashley46]

The only folks who have ever really gotten heard doing hymn tunes on street corners are the Salvationists ... and the Industrial Workers of the World. You don't have a brass band, or 25 Wobblies with cheerleader megaphones.

[KenH]

The others are right - busking hymns - sung or especially not sung - just isn't going to draw any positive attention to you in a modern city. Especially if you set up next to a "pop" singing guitarist (or he set up next to you).

My tips?

Don't try to play along with another busker. They may feel you're trying to 'steal' listeners and tips from them
Don't try to play near another busker.
Street corners suck for dulcimer buskers - parks are much better, even better IMHO than amplifying.
Play secular popular or Irish music. As I said, unless you're busking in front major churches, you're just not going to draw m(any) listeners.

[Rahere]

For a quiet instrument, find places with resonance. Start in subways, also porches if publicly accessible.
For repertoire, start with accessible tunes, even if they're not specialist repertoire. You add that in later to break the pattern of predictability.

I once had a someone who turned up in clarsach class, really after a taster. The teacher was out of the room, there was a spare harp, I sat her down behind it and showed her basic hand position. By the end of the class, she'd rented a harp and then hit a problem, practicing wasn't too feasible in her house for some reason, so she took it outside onto the street. Worked on her first tune, Greensleeves, and in half an hour she'd more cash in front of her than she'd earned that day as a temp. The book we were using was Sylvia Woods's harp primer, which isn't inaccessible to dulcimers either - things like Robin Adair, Greensleeves, Si beg si mhor, some of the O'Carolan planxties. Also include more recent repertoire, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen's Halleluyah, Dylan, show tunes, current hits. But do one at a time until it's right. The same happened every day, so by the end of the week she'd stopped temping and was a full-time busker, learning repertoire as she went. By the end of the month she knew more tunes than anyone else, and within a year had turned pro.

Another tip is to seed the pot. Just four or five small coins, not too much, but enough to suggest other people liked it. Also keep it drained, a full pot suggests you don't need more. Of course, being female did no harm.

I keep coming back to this to add more: another thought is soundbites. If someone stops to listen, a mini performance, something to hook them in, something for show, then a slower piece focusing on melody, and then a blow-off, really showy. Maybe don't be afraid to ask for cash, even!

Another part of what you said suggests you need to work on your own resonance - not daring to sing. Solid singing practice means you cannot help but sing in resonance to the city around you, and that then chooses what you play. It may be you want to sing in a nasal tone - don't, find your diaphragm "inspiration point" and sing from there. The way to do that is to relax down and find the point at which your inhalation turns to exhalation - sing from there. Project the sound outside the skull and it'll be nigh on impossible to sing nasally, but more to the point you'll have a starting point for volume.

That resonance question is very much of the order of the day when it comes to hearing where to play. Too much background noise and you get drowned out, but you need footfall as well. Also be aware there are protocols amongst buskers which differ from town to town. Some prioritize pitch, others first come first served, and there can be constraints from local authorities: TFL, for instance, asks for a fairly simple proficiency test and then you play on set pitches, often with good acoustics, but limited for an hour.

[john p]

Here's an Irish street singer who is far from the parlour, but has a voice that will stop you in your tracks, The banjo helps as well, some instruments just work better on the street.

Margaret Barry - My Lagan Love.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCl1VBM-0A0

She pretty much redefined this song for all the singers who have sung it since.

john p

[strumelia]

Margaret Barry...what a woman, what a voice, what a presence! She strung her old 5 string banjo like a tenor I believe, and had her own way of picking it. Alan Lomax noticed how rusty her banjo strings were, and he asked how she managed to find new strings for her banjo when a string would break. She replied "Bicycle cables". Awesome!!

Strumelia
http://dulcimer-noter-drone.blogspot.com/

[Acmespaceship]

Don't feel discouraged and don't give up! Like any other skill, busking takes practice. Expect to come home empty-handed for a while, that's OK. Eventually you'll notice what gets people to stop and listen, even if only for a second or two, and you'll build on that. A few notes from the listener's viewpoint:

1) They have to HEAR and SEE you. If you're playing a quiet instrument in a noisy place, you can enjoy the fresh air but you won't be getting any tips. Get loud. Stand up. Seed the tip jar and tape a big sign to it that says "Thank You." Wear a hat and a bright-colored shirt. You know everything you would normally do to blend into a crowd? Do the opposite.

2) They have to know it's OK to stop and listen. That seems obvious, but people are accustomed to ignoring each other in public. LOOK UP, make eye contact, smile and give them a brief nod. Set up in a location that gives people room to gather around (even better, set up near benches or stairs where they can sit). (Still better, set up near the ice cream truck where you'll have a captive audience.)

Busking is show biz in its purest form. Get in touch with your inner carnival barker and have fun. (Confession: I am an introvert who prefers blending into crowds. On the rare occasions when I busk, I approach it like an acting role. Under my breath I may be humming "my friends, you've got Trouble, right here in River City, with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool..."

[Rahere]

Indeed, Acme, it's been too long, I'd forgotten the barker bit - but then I was chugging for Oxfam during the Biafra famine and not having to depend on it for my main income. The game's the same though - I was bringing in about £2000 a morning, somewhere around £17000 today, but it was all about the image being played, and in that case it was one of the most powerful ever created outside of the Vatican and pop worlds. You should have taken the thing further, it's not about the music, it's about the symbols, and the music can suggest those.

As consolation, no tips can happen to anyone...

[folkfan]

Oh, and one point that seems a bit of a contradiction to what you actually want, which is a crowd. Don't impede the flow of traffic. Many people will hesitate to stop if they think that they're going to be getting in other people's way. Make sure you have room for a few people to stand around without congestion. I actually get irritated with buskers who play in the entrances to one of Chicago's metra stations. It has a long tunnel that at rush hour is really crowded, and buskers just get in the way of movement.

That leads to another tip, don't busk during rush hour, when people simply want to get home or to work.

[Rahere]

Us Londoners get leery of crowds as they are easy prey for pickpockets - I don't think we're even over the bombings yet. We often see the less scrupulous performers picking bottlenecks to make life even easier for them.