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My Experience Busking in San Francisco

stevetjoa.com

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Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#21

Post by vram22 »

coldcode wrote: post #17

Just sent a week in SF staying on Union Square loving the trumpeter who played every night. Amazing tone, clearly a professional.

Some years ago I was in Boston. Walking through a park somewhere near the Boston Park Plaza hotel, or Legal Seafoods, on a sunny afternoon, I saw a large man with a bald head, playing a trumpet, surrounded by a few admiring kids, listening. Reminded me of the Wizard of Oz or some such fairy tale. I also listened to him play for a while before getting back to my meeting.

Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#22

Post by stevetjoa »

goblin89 wrote: post #18
stevetjoa wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve here. Thanks for reading! Those earnings are certainly not sustainable over eight hours in a day, nor over every day of the week. But they are attainable in strategically timed bursts. Some earnings are also skewed by a very few who donate $20.

Thank you for sharing your experience! Doubly interesting to me since I’m thinking of performing as well. The kind of performance I’m considering, though, would be of a more obscure style and requiring some electronic gear (worth $xxxx), so I’d probably go for a collaboration with a friend at least to have a sense of safety. Regarding eight hours a day, as a software engineer most days I personally pull off about 5 h…

I think that's a great idea. Electronic aids, despite the overhead, have a higher ceiling than a feeble acoustic violin. It can be more unique, more exotic, and more easily heard.

My focus on software is also 0-5 hours a day, and those hours are only before noon and after 10 pm.

Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#23

Post by coldtea »

robertelder wrote: post #15

Here is a video of Joshua Bell ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Bell ) playing a 3.5 million dollar violin in the subway for 45 minutes and making $32: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

Well, obviously it doesn't matter how expensive your violin is, or how good you are at your music genre -- it's about how popular the genre/tune is, and when busking, how likable you are (plus, putting on a good entertaining show, with emphasis on the "show" part, e.g. not subtle classical skills).

Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#24

Post by rhizome »

coldtea wrote: post #23
robertelder wrote: post #15

Here is a video of Joshua Bell ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Bell ) playing a 3.5 million dollar violin in the subway for 45 minutes and making $32: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

Well, obviously it doesn't matter how expensive your violin is, or how good you are at your music genre -- it's about how popular the genre/tune is, and when busking, how likable you are (plus, putting on a good entertaining show, with emphasis on the "show" part, e.g. not subtle classical skills).

And location.

Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#25

Post by coldtea »

carapace wrote: post #14

Years ago, there was a man who would stand on Market St. wearing a suit and just kind of dance back and forth singing "Gotta keep smiling". It wasn't a song as such, just a refrain that he would roll around over and over, and he would shuffle and sing and point at passersby and smile, encouraging them to smile. One day my dad stopped and asked him, "You seem sane and well-educated, why do you do this?" (I'm paraphras…

Plus it beats working your ass off in most professions...

Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#26

Post by stevetjoa »

coldcode wrote: post #17

Just sent a week in SF staying on Union Square loving the trumpeter who played every night. Amazing tone, clearly a professional.

Steve here. That guy is great! Perfect idea for a trumpet. He's always standing on a bench/podium in the northwest corner of Union Square. His sound really projects; you can hear him from inside the 2-Muni bus that rides on Post.

Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#27

Post by coldtea »

rhizome wrote: post #24
coldtea wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, obviously it doesn't matter how expensive your violin is, or how good you are at your music genre -- it's about how popular the genre/tune is, and when busking, how likable you are (plus, putting on a good entertaining show, with emphasis on the "show" part, e.g. not subtle classical skills).

And location.

Yeah. He would have faired better in some Vienna subway station around Christmas time...

Re: My Experience Busking in San Francisco

#28

Post by coldtea »

jjallen wrote: post #8
hammock wrote: post #4

I busked in Covent Garden in the middle of the summer for about an hour and made something like £100. That's literally my only experience though so it's probably an anomaly.

What instrument and music?

Bassoon and Miami Bass style hip hop.
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