A sunny day in St. Louis, temp in the 50s,
a fair number of people out walking on the Delmar Loop.
Shifting back and forth tween a Copley F flute
and a Susato C whistle, both very audible.
Christmas carols, mostly.
45 dollars in an hour and a half.
This happens at least once a year, weather
permitting. The most gorgeous and beloved
music in the western world (plus some
middle eastern stuff thrown in), played to appreciative
people on instruments ideally suited to
the music.
A lady in a fur coat walked by, took out a large bunch
of bills and gave me a dollar.
A minute later I saw a ten dollar bill lying on the sidewalk!
So I picked it up. Then I thought I should somehow give it
back to her–she was by now a block away. Could see her
dissapearing. I would have
to grab everything, my jar, my bag, my coat (which was
on the ground) and run after her. It seemed too much,
so I kept the bill. I felt guilty, though.
About half an hour later she came back, walking the other way.
I said: ‘Oh listen. I think you dropped a ten dollar bill on
the sidewalk. Let me give it back to you…’
I’m in a group of volunteer singers who perform during our
Renaissance Faire. The Faire is run by a non-profit educational
society, and we had a fundraiser at a bookstore, which involved
wrapping presents for donations. Our singing group was going to
carol at the store to try to promote the faire and our group, since
we already had a presence in the store. When we got there, it
turned out that there was a scheduling mixup, and another charity
was giftwrapping. So, the manager said they’d let us busk around
the store instead.
None of us had ever busked before, and certainly hadn’t expected
to yesterday, but it was fun! I had no idea how generous people
are around Christmas. One guy even dropped a twenty in our jar.
We were flabbergasted. We’ll have to make sure to find some well-
populated areas around this time next year, and try this again!
That’s the kind of music you can give to people without obligation or expectation. I think people appreciate being entertained during the holidays like that.
Merry Christmas!