Buskers
April 7, 2007
Free Music. Micropayments. Internet Tip Jars.
These are things that people have been struggling to bring to the Internet. And yet, you can experience them at many downtown locations.
The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother’s heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us. It may be true with music, too.
What do you do when you hear a street musician? Some people don’t even hear them; some people ignore them, some people listen to them, and some people drop some money for them. Personally, I’d rather give a musician, however bad, money — than any single person asking “spare change?” But I, too, sometimes go on my routes without a second listen.
Consider the Washington Post’s experiment with Joshua Bell. He played for forty-five minutes in a crowded subway in New York DC ( thanks Rhinsker). Over a thousand humans passed him by. How many stopped to listen? How much did his busking earn him?
You might find the article inspiring.
- Posted in : things to do
- Author :russ
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