Busking Diary - First Entries

Busking has been in my head for quite some time now but I only put it in practice last saturday. I'll try to keep a diary of my busking sessions to keep tracks for myself, maybe to help wanna-be buskers to get to the streets, or just share my experience.

12/28/13 1:30pm

My first busking experience. I was a little bit nervous but I went for it anyway. Just after eating, I took my car and headed downtown. I parked next to Le Pont Maghin, one of the bridges of the town where I live, took my saxophone and popped it out under the bridge, along a nice footpath.

A saxophonist friend of mine had told me of that spot and his acoustical properties. But when I started playing it just blew my mind. The reverb was just perfect and it sounded terrific. Unfortunately, there weren't as many people walking by as I had expected. A bit after I started playing a man came up to give 1€, and then a group of 2 students gave me like 0.5€. But then nothing, I played for a good 20 minutes and nobody put something in my case. Pretty disappointing. Also, it seemed nobody was walking by anymore. I started thinking people were avoiding going under the bridge and were going on the bridge to cross it so they didn't have to walk past me and give me something. But maybe that's just me.

What was reassuring though is that the 2 students stayed after giving me money. They were sitting on a bench a couple of meters away. They were kind enough to applaud after each of my songs, but after 20 minutes time, I thought of packing up and leaving for a better spot. They told me they were sorry they couldn't give me more but that was the only change they had. They invited me to come by their place to grab a beer instead but I politely refused as I wanted to keep playing somewhere else. They still asked for one more song, to which I obliged because of the support they'd shown me during this first busking experience.

After that last song, I packed up my sax and went back on my steps a little bit to a plaza (Place Saint-Barthélemy) I drove by while going to the bridge. When I saw it I thought it would be a nice spot to play but was a bit scared by all the people who were there. But after that rather disappointing experience under the bridge where there was actually next to nobody, I thought this would be a nice change. And it was !

I was a little more nervous while unpacking because there were many more people there and a couple of teens were hanging by a nearby bench with some music coming out of their phones. But I took my horn anyway, put my case in front of me and started playing. For this session I hadn't prepared anything. I was just improvising some blues and some smooth solos on a minor scale, nothing exciting but I thought it fitted the place rather well. I remember starting playing the theme from Blue Bossa to see what the people's reaction would be as I played a known tune instead of just improvising, but they didn't seem to pay any more attention, let alone give more tips.

This spot was really sweet. There were always people around so I never felt like I was playing for nobody, but not too much either. The tips started coming in much faster than they had at the other spot. A couple of cute noticeable things happened, like this young 5-year-old girl who watched for a couple of minutes with her dad then dropped some tip (don't remember how much), this old lady who, after I thanked her for tipping, said "No, thank YOU !" and this teen girl who was walking by on the opposite side of the road who stopped her dad and asked for some change to put in my case, and who then got teased by her sister for hitting on me. I had actually heard that when as a young boy in your early 20s, you go busking in the streets, you can get hit on by girls, teen girls, especially when you play "lover" instruments like guitar or saxophone :D Unfortunately, this doesn't really interest me as much as it might interest other (straight) buskers but at least it's another reason to tip me !

I left after a good 40 minutes of playing there, a bit exhausted for playing for 1 hour non stop (I literally never stopped blowing), I started packing up. And as I was doing so, a middle-aged man came to me (he had obviously been there for quite some time, but behind me so I couldn't tell) saying that he was also a saxophonist and also used to busk in his youth and might have to again, things being what they were. We connected a bit, then went our ways. I took my car home to count my profit of the day. It went to a bit over 12€, for 1 hour of playing, which I think wasn't so bad, considering that 20 minutes were kind of wasted under the bridge (money-wise of course as playing in such a great acoustics was a real treat !). Also, playing at that plaza was a really nice thing, as the surroundings were really inspiring, and the people really nice (I saw many people driving their cars opening their windows as they were passing by). I promised myself to go back the next day !

On a side note, as I was leaving the first spot, a woman said to me that I shouldn't be playing by night there. I told her I wasn't but then told me that someone that plays the same instrument than me usually plays at that exact same spot during nighttime. I told her it wasn't me but that it wouldn't surprise me that many other musicians come here to play because of the wonderful acoustics. I didn't tell her but I suspect it might actually be my friend who told me about the spot who's playing there by night.

Total profit of the day : 12€ in 1 hour.

12/29/13 11:45am

I was really excited coming back from my first busking session. So I decided to go on the next day for another 1-hour session. But it was sunday and the town wasn't going to be as packed as on a saturday, because most of the venues are closed. But then, I remembered that every sunday there was some kind of farmer market along La Meuse, the river that goes through the town. The idea of playing on that market (La Batte) really scared me at first because the amount of people there is just huge ! But once again, I gathered my strengths and went for it. I started roaming through the market looking for the perfect spot. I found it by a food stall. I asked the owner if I could play next to it just in case, and as she agreed, I started unpacking my saxophone.

As I blew my first notes, people started looking at me by surprise but then quickly looked away and went on with their shopping. Since the day before, I thought I would add a couple of known songs to catch people's ears, so I looked up and learned by heart Autumn Leaves (well I kinda knew it already after all the times i'd played it), The Pink Panther and The Bare Necessities (don't ask). Usually, when I learn tunes by heart I forget them pretty quickly unless I play them regularly. But then if I play them every time I go busking, I should be alright.
What i would do was a bit of improvisation like I had done the day before, and then play one of those themes twice, then go to a bit of soloing (but without accompaniment, I let myself a bit of freedom), then go back to play the theme, and I would alternate that with straight improvisation pieces. People seemed to recognize the themes I played but didn't seem to be willing to tip more for that matter. Still it's nice to see people smile as they recognize one of the tunes.

It was pretty straight forward. I played for one hour (you can't play more than that in the same spot according to the local busking policy) and then packed. I remember the guy from the stall in front of me gave me looks from time to time and I couldn't quite tell if he was upset that I was there, or if he was intrigued, or happy, or even if he had pity for me. Anyway, I tried not to look at him too much.

Tips started flowing in a bit faster than they had during my last busking session, so that was good. I met a guy who had seen me in a concert I conducted and recognized me, so we chatted a little bit (he told me I could be heard from far away, which I don't know if it was a compliment or not). Another guy (obviously a bit drunk already) requested me some AC/DC songs but I actually don't know AC/DC much but he still tipped me 1€ because he and his friends were staying at a terrace nearby. A bit afterwards he came back to me with an empty cup and told me "there, let me help you collect money", then rudely waved the cup in front of some of the people walking by, not really helping me but it was fun still (plus, I think I read it's illegal in my town to actively seek money, you can just have a hat or a case in front of you but you can't go to people with the hat). One of his friends came to me as they were leaving, giving me some tips in excuse of his friend's somewhat bad attitude (which I actually didn't mind). I also remember a mother with her 4 daughters, and each of them gave me some tip (though not much). I also think I recognized another tipper, who ran past my case throwing some coins (don't know how much). I think he might me a trumpet player that played with me a couple of time at the local youth orchestra. Don't know if he recognized me though. Actually maybe it wasn't even him.

At some point, the lady running the food stall just next to me exits to smoke a cigarette. She looks a bit upset. Actually I don't know maybe I just think everyone's upset by me playing the saxophone. I've actually settled so near to the stall that she actually needs to jump over my case to get to the street level.

After one hour of playing, my mouth was completely dry and that's when I told myself I would bring water next times I'm busking. So I decided to pack and come back home.

In the hour I played, I made 22€, which was much better than the last time. I also found some Deutsche Mark in the lot. Don't know how I'll use that though :D

Don't know when I'll go next (nor where actually), but I'll try to go for more than one hour. I thought of bringing my flute with me to rest my lips a little bit. I wonder if I'll see a significant drop (or increase) of tips compared to when I play the saxophone. I'm also a bit worried of letting my saxophone in its case, even at my feet, while I play the flute, as people could easily steal it and that wouldn't be such a good thing. I could put my saxophone back in my car while I play the flute but then people could break in my car which isn't better. Maybe I'm a bit paranoid but well…

Total profit of the day : 22€ in 1 hour.

Stay tuned for more entries !

How To Clap Your Hands

So this is a matter that I often find very disturbing as a musician. This is somewhat a guide to how to clap your hands at a concert. This is mostly useless I guess as musicians already know this and if you're not a musician you're not reading this but anyway.

I love clapping my hands at concerts or snapping my fingers. It's a bit like "soft-dancing" when you're at a sitted concert.
When I'm playing a concert I'm not so hot on people clapping their hands. Of course, it's really nice and it means the people really are into the music you're playing (unless you're subbing in the local concert band with 10 people eating pies and they're clapping like yeah yeah because the conductor is all hot on making the audience clap their hands). But it can get really disturbing because as a musician you have to learn not to listen to the audience clap because they're not musicians and they don't know what a tempo is or how to keep it. So there are many chances you'll get faster or slower with the audience (usually faster unless we're in the situations described above where the audience just came to eat the pies and you're disturbing them more than entertaining them). And that's a first problem.
A funny thing is, I once played "Music" from John Miles. The middle bit is a 7/4. The audience was clapping every other beat. Imagine how weird it was !!

But anyway, when you're in the audience, this shouldn't bother you too much, you're at the concert to enjoy yourself and if you want to clap you hands, just go for it, even if you're the only one clapping, people will eventually join you (maybe). Plus, the musicians are always happy.
BUT !!
And see, that was a big but (hum).
Don't clap on 1 and 3 !!!
Please please please please please.
Of course, clapping on 1 and 3 is what feels natural, at first at least. Because those are the strong beats, but clapping on them lacks so much energy.

"But, what does clapping on 1 and 3 mean ?"
If you don't what "clapping on 1 and 3" means then that's probably what you're doing. If you know what that means, and you do it, stop doing it and clap on 2 and 4 !!

Beats 2 and 4 are the upbeats, they are usually called the weak beats. That's because when you're playing a classical piece you're accentuating the downbeats (1 and 3). But when jazz arrived, the upbeats grew more and more important and the upbeats are stronger in that style. And since most of the modern music (pop, rock and all that) derives one way or another from jazz, this applies as well to those styles.

So that's why it's always better to clap on 2 and 4. If you don't know what that means, concentrate on how you would naturally clap and clap between the claps you would usually clap and you will be clapping on 2 and 4.

If you didn't get that, let's make a bit of music theory : a piece of music is divided in measures that are themselves, most of the time in modern music, divided in 4 beats :
1 2 3 4

Here's what you're certainly doing :
   1     2     3     4
Clap       Clap

Here's what you should be doing :
   1     2     3     4
       Clap       Clap

Hope it makes it easier for you.

If you still don't get it, ask a musician friend of yours and he will most probably be delighted to explain all of this to you.

In the mean time, I salute you. So go to concerts, listen to music (all styles), and clap on 2 and 4 ;)

Concerning Music

So I decided to take the music matter at hand.

I recently realized that I wasn't improving all that much lately on clarinet and on saxophone.

Still being somewhat a beginner (though it's ok by now) at the flute the learning curve is still rather steep but I fear I might let go somehow just like I did for clarinet and saxophone.

See, I was only playing stuff I knew and I was playing it the same way over and over. That's not the way your learn, is it ? That would be too easy.

My aim would be that next year, I could pass and audition for a cruise line agency on woodwinds. That would be quite the life, visiting the world doing what I love and still have so much free time I could catch up on all those readings I always said I would do or work out to become the gym king (well, maybe my expectations are high). I've read blog posts from musicianwages that hinted that it wasn't the dream life you'd hope for, but what the hell it's now or never.

So my hopes are to pass an audition in one of the many agencies. As an orchestra musicians. From what I hear it would be mean playing in a band formed out of others such orchestra musicians to accompany guest entertainers or to play along shows or, or, ... what do I know. The music played is not amazing but it's still music. I'd audition obviously as Saxophone/Woodwinds. So that means Sax, Flute, Clarinet. At least I hope so because no bassoon or oboe for me (well... yet :D). The audition is mainly saxophone. With sight-reading (I'm a beast at sight-reading I've been sight-reading my whole life picking up a stack of scores and just reading them) as the main part of it. For that I'm all set. I hope so at least. I actually don't know if sight-reading includes all 3 instruments or just the sax but I don't care much as sight-reading is sight-reading. Just a bit scared about the flute though, and I still have to work on intonation in the altissimo register (above high D) in the sax and clean up my clarinet articulation. And some other stuff but I coming to this.

So there's sight-reading but I've also seen in some agencies that they were asking for an etude on each instrument. I don't know what kind of etude they are expecting but I picked the Klose books for both sax and clarinet and Gariboldi etudes for flute (maybe those flute etudes are too low for their expectation but I'll talk about that with my flute teacher). I'll start them over from the beginning, practice all of those and pick those I'm most comfortable with (or at least those with which I'd make the best impression).

Then, last but not least, there's the jazz/improv part. Again, this part doesn't show up for all auditions but it still has to be worked on. So you have to pick a standard (from a real book), some med. swing or something like that, and play and improvise on it. I'm not new to the jazz improvisation but I'm no pro either. So there's still work to be done on that.

So the auditions for the different agencies are a mix of those 3 parts, almost all of them include the sight-reading part, most of them have the jazz/improv part, and only some have the etudes parts. But I have to be ready for those 3 things.

That's what I'll be working on for the next year and what this blog will keep track of.

Time to practice, another post coming up explaining how I'll put that in practice.