If there is a commonality to everything I've done with Jeremy and His Kazoo so far, it has to be that I've spent most of this time challenging my own preconceptions. Preconceptions about working solo, writing songs, performing, the instruments I play and what I want out of this. Even as I've ventured full steam ahead into many parts of this I'm presented with new ideas to consider.
This week found me trying something new again: busking. Yep, I took a handful of kazoos, my trusty acoustic and a bit of gumption and headed out to the Regina Farmer's Market on Wednesday and Saturday to spend a few hours tooting, strumming and singing for people. It was a largely risk-free project for me. The $10 fee was a loss I was more than willing to suffer for the chance to play in front of people and get some practice in. If I could make the money back or even make some profit - all the better.
To cut to the chase, I got everything I wanted out of busking and with ease. I didn't exactly roll in the cash but I earned back my fee and then roughly minimum wage for my time. Not a long-term solution by any stretch and I may offset my earnings in the aloe cream I put on my sunburns. But I got to go through my repertoire a handful of times, see how people respond and just practice moving, interacting and singing out. But as with almost anything in life, it was the unexpected lessons that were the most valuable.
Like bring a paperweight for your guitar case/bucket/tip jar. In addition to the fact that paper money is more prevalent than silver these days, I had some stickers in my case too and with a bit of breeze, that created a problem. I've already commissioned my daughter to paint me up an attractive rock I can bring along on my adventures.
I also need to add some colour to my setup. In particular my case is pretty much 50 shades of gray. Some yellow on my QR code or a brightly coloured rock would go some distance to grab attention. Maybe just a colourful sign next to the QR that says "Check me out!"
And attention is another aspect I really need to consider. A bit of a story.
Yesterday (Saturday) at the market a young man came up who wanted to share some empinadas with me and enjoy some music with him. He was also completely hammered and was in the mood to rap, sing and be joyful. And yes, even disruptive. He wasn't bothering me much and as someone who was out there trying to learn from the crowd, I engaged with him. I played songs to make him dance. I spat my one rap song so he could be my hype man. And I tell ya when he was there, when he was dancing and being joyful and throwing hype - the tips rolled in. By myself I was a hard working musician sharing something interesting. With him, we were a spetacle. So much for thinking the kazoo would do the trick!
He also gave me some valuable critical feedback in that I needed to be LOUDER. Some of this is stacked against me. I play without amplification, play fingerstyle guitar and I really don't have much volume to work with when I sing in my lower range. But a fresh set of strings, a plastic kazoo and leaning into the higher parts could help to bring a lot more attention to what I'm doing.
Alas, my hype man kept consuming from his very large can of beer and as the can drained, so did his civility and before long, security was walking him out. Not saying I was contemplating becoming a duo but I was enjoying learning from his carefree morning. Even if getting drunk at the Farmer's Market on a Sarturday morning isn't exactly my good-time recipe.
And maybe it would all stop at that until I got a text message on Thursday from scene regular, friend and open mic regular, Niel Child that just read, "YOU HAVE A BLOG?!". Ok maybe it wasn't that expressive but he was eager to share his own blog and learn more about mine. I wasn't surprised to learn Niel busked but it was quite a discovery to see how experienced he was with it and how much though and philosophy he'd put into it. Because gentle reader, Niel has a blog of his own, PSYCHOLOGY BUSKING a la wordswords. A delight to find a fellow blogger and his articles are satisfying a real curiosity for me.
While I've only read a handful of the articles to date, what I have read are uncovering a deeper aura to the art of busking and I feel more like I've joined the Freemasons than say a fry cook (which could be concluded from the income I'm making). I always knew I'd be able to learn from Niel but this blog kinda blew things up for me to the point that I'm going to have tea with im next week, maybe pick his brain a bit. Or maybe just enjoy some iced tea.
Niel fancies himself a "planetary bsuker". A fantastic thing to consider yourself, if a bit challenging to haul a guitar around only to make a few bucks. But it has inspired me that with every trip I take to play at a bar or a festival, I could also be finding the nearest place to busk. Make a few more bucks for gas, find one more person who likes what I'm doing or just learn more about the community and the people I'd like to make into fans.
So, it's been a fun week and I think that busking is about to become a key part of how I move my music forward in the future. If nothing else, it gives me another "drop in" venue to play when gigs are slim or I don't have anything motivating me to practice and write. Already busking has pressed me to pull a half-dozen older songs out of the archive to play and has been enough to inspire this blog post. So there is a bright future ahead.
I have much to learn and this young padawan is far from being a master.
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