First street gig

[walrii]

I've got my first street gig lined up for this Thursday evening. The gig is a "culture crawl" in the downtown area sponsored by a local bookstore. It's like a pub crawl but the businesses involved at museums, bookstores and the like rather than bars. I'll be playing on an assigned street corner for several hours. I've got enough material for that time with a few repeats.

My question concerns the music details: How many times through do you play a tune? How do you mix the tunes (fast/slow/fast, a group of fast then some slow)? My Irish tunes include the usual suspects for an intermediate player plus some bluegrass and folk tunes - any thought on mixing genres? How do you handle people who ask questions? Heckle? Anything you wish you'd know before your first gig?

I know that if I just go stand on the corner and play it will work out OK but a few pointers never hurt. Thanks in advance.

[ubizmo]

Are you busking or paid by the sponsoring businesses? And are you playing solo or will there be accompaniment? I haven't done anything quite like what you describe, but I've done busking. I'd expect small groups to gather to listen, and some will request tunes. My practice was to alternate fast and slow, as much as possible. Of course, when I was busking I wasn't playing whistle, but recorder. I never played "recorder music", however, so genre mixing was by default. I just played what I liked, be it classical, pop, folk, or jazz. Nobody ever complained. The whistle carries an expectation of Celtic music, but I seriously doubt that anyone will be upset if you mix it up, and some will be delighted. I recently played "Old Man River", of all things, on low whistle, at an open mic thing, and it was received very well (a great tune for using the whole range of the whistle, by the way).

Chatty people can be a problem when busking, since while you're chatting you're not playing, and not making money. In the sort of gig you describe (which sounds like great fun), it sounds like you're playing to help create atmosphere, so you don't want to have too many gaps either. It's just a matter of politely saying "I'd better keep playing" and doing so. I doubt you'll have hecklers in that setting, beyond the stray "I think I just saw a leprechaun" sort of comment.

I've done a lot more public playing on ocarina than whistle, and the Mountain ocarinas that I play aren't readily recognizable to people, so I tend to get a lot of "What is that thing?" I generally carry cards to hand out, to help answer that question. You won't get that sort of question, but some people might be curious about the specific whistles you're playing, so you could consider having a few cards or something prepared.

Ubizmo

[dspmusik]

Are you using a mic and a small PA system? I would think wind and even soft chatter/street noise will drown you out fast.
We might have some new members to this board after your gig!

[crookedtune]

My session-buddies and I played a similar street festival yesterday. http://www.hillsboroughstreet.org/

We played typical session tunes: a set each of reels, jigs, slides and polkas. We prearranged the setlist, and played through most of the tunes twice before changing. With one encore, we crammed it all into about 25 minutes.

The stage had four mics and a good PA, and we had eight players. It went off very well. FWIW, I think mixing genres would have detracted from it.

[Mack.Hoover]

I suggest 12th Street Rag on your 1st street gig.
I'd bet you'd be the 1st! Ever! On whistle that is.
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=As7jcYDVbO4

[walrii]

Thanks for the advice, keep it coming. The gig is non-paying, volunteer work - exposure for the performer and atmosphere for the event. There will be other performers on other street corners. I haven't gotten an answer yet on tips but the city allegedly requires a permit (easy to get, so I'm told) for "commercial busking." No mics or PA unless you bring your own. I don't have any and not sure I want to play beyond a small circle of folks. I might use a Susato for the volume. Nice idea, Mack, I'll work that one up for next year.

[brewerpaul]

By all means chat with people and let them know how much fun the whistle is.
Ignore hecklers.
Avoid wind! Before the gig, try to do some private practice outdoors to develop strategies for playing in the wind in case you can't avoid it. These may include playing with your back to the wind, turning the head of the whistle backwards, blowing harder, trying different whistles, etc. Lower whistles seem to have more problems with wind.
Mostly, have fun and know that you're bringing happiness to a lot of people.

[mutepointe]

We'll want to hear how it went. My two cents carries no weight whatsover but I think I remember hearing once to play a tune three times through.

[walrii]

The Culture Crawl went off as scheduled yesterday evening and the weather was perfect - cool, clear and only a slight wind. The setup for musicians was pretty much “pick a spot and play.” There were dozens of guitar cases walking around, looking for a street corner, but only one whistle!

Wife Kathy came along as head whistle groupie; we set up on a street corner with a large bush that blocked the mild breeze just right. It was about a block from the center of the action and on a natural route from parking to the event area - about six square blocks downtown. There were a hundred or so people walking around at any one time. The musicians a block down were getting crowds of several dozen. We got mostly people walking to the event who paused to listen which suited me fine.

I brought several whistles and one recorder but ended up using the Dixon low A for almost everything. I pulled out a Freeman D for a brief jam session in G with a wandering guitar; everything else stayed in the case. I used the Dixon mostly because it has a pleasant sound and I’m comfortable with it - it just fits my hands well. I’ve always thought of the Dixon as a fairly quiet whistle but outside it seemed to penetrate the street noise better than the Freeman D.

The music went better than I expected and we had a blast. I played mostly Irish trad with a little bluegrass/country thrown in. A production of “Cats” is in town and a couple of the actors, in costume, came over to listen. I played “Memory” for them and their eyes bugged out!

My best fans were the kids and a dog. Everyone under the age of 10 who got within earshot tugged their parents over to listen. Several of them danced. One couple walked up with a collie mix. The dog stared at me, mesmerized by the music. It moved its mouth and shuffled its feet like it was trying to sing and dance along! The owners were as amazed as we were - they’d never seen the dog do that.

Things I learned as a first-time street performer (more experienced performers will have learned more/differently):

1. Play what you KNOW. By KNOW, I mean tunes you can play while reading a math textbook. Or in your sleep. If you are hesitant on a passage in practice, you’ll probably flub it while performing unless you slow it way down. The tune doesn’t have to be perfect or have all the ornaments in but you need to play it confidently. Mutepoint's "three times through" seemed about right.

2. Play slower than you practice. You’re excited and will try to play faster than you think plus you have more distractions and need to slow down a little to give yourself more mental room. You don’t need to slow down a lot, just enough to feel smooth and in control. The corollary is, if you want to play a piece at, say, 120 bpm, practice until you are comfortable at 130 or so then back off to 120 while performing.

3. If you do make a mistake, play through it. I had a good handful of goofs and just played through most of them, fixing them on the next repeat. No one, including my wife who is a firm critic, seemed to notice.

4. If the wheels fall off, stop and go on to something else that you KNOW. I had a few goofs I couldn’t play through, the tune just fell apart. I tried to fix the first one but the wheels kept falling off. Moving on to something easy got my head back in the “play it right” mode and out of the “fix the goofs” mode.

5. You are “on stage” until you pack up and leave. For performers in a stadium, looking down on 100,000 screaming fans, this one is easy. When you are standing on a dark street corner, with the event winding down and the nearest potential audience member is a block away, it’s easy to slip back into the practice mode. I did and started repeating a phrase I wanted to polish. I repeated it over and over until I saw the two couples who had walked up behind me, standing there with funny looks on their faces.

6. Pay attention to both the music and your audience. More people would have stopped and listened if I had made eye contact and “invited them into the circle” with my eyes and body language. I spent most of my time looking down, focused on the music. You need to focus on the music or you won’t have an audience at all. But look at your audience; they need your acknowledgement as much as you need theirs. I found it hard to do and still stay focused on the music. I’d look up and there would be a kid doing something funny or a cute lady in tight jeans or a biker dude giving me an odd look and my musical focus would waver. My guess is this ability to divide one’s focus comes with experience. I plan to find out!

7. Bring an unbiased critic. I would not have noticed I was losing audience members by looking down if my wife hadn’t said something. Your critic doesn’t need to beat you bloody while you are playing, just point out honestly things you may be missing. They should also say words of praise when deserved and hold their tongue if it’s something you can’t fix right now. My wife did a great job on all three counts.

8. Put you tip container out front and put some money in it so the audience knows what it’s for. The event encouraged tips and every other performer had a guitar case or tips bucket out. I put my gig bag next to me but it just looked like an empty gig bag. Plus, a potential tipper had to step around me to get to the bag. Result: gross receipts = zero. I wasn’t really disappointed as I mostly wanted to see if I could do it and have fun - mission accomplished.

Lastly, go out and do it! Practicing by yourself is well and good but music is meant to be shared. The two three-year-olds dancing their hearts out and the “Cats” actress staring at the whistle were a rush like few others. Go out and feel it.

[Folk312]

Very useful info.
Thanks!

[brewerpaul]

Nice post Walrii, and I'm glad you had such a great experience.
I play in a little Irish band but I've never busked for money. However, I've often played outdoors in public places just for fun and it's a really fun thing to do. Here on C&F we take playing an instrument for granted, but most walking-around people are genuinely surprised to hear someone playing live impromptu music. They'll often stop to listen and ask questions-- I always steer them to Chiff and Fipple.
Encouraging a non-musician to give playing an instrument a try is a great gift to share.

[mutepointe]

I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself. Children and dogs are the best critics. Don't trust a cat.

[s1m0n]

8. Put you tip container out front and put some money in it so the audience knows what it’s for. The event encouraged tips and every other performer had a guitar case or tips bucket out. I put my gig bag next to me but it just looked like an empty gig bag. Plus, a potential tipper had to step around me to get to the bag. Result: gross receipts = zero. I wasn’t really disappointed as I mostly wanted to see if I could do it and have fun - mission accomplished.

Right. And keep in mind the fact that busking isn't begging, but performance. When a pan handler salts the pan, they wanna look needy, so they start lowish and remove any large bills, etc. Buskers don't need to do that. People give you money because they think you're good, not because you look like you need it. The best cue for 'he's good' is the presence of a bunch of other money. If you've been making money, the punters will think other people agree with them, and will give accordingly. If you have only a few dimes, they'll change their minds about how much they liked it. Salt the hat with larger coins and bills, and take money out only for safety (ie, if the hat is a mugging/snatch&run target), not to keep the obvious take down.