Busking for Kids

June 20, 2007 at 2:21 AM

I’d like to try busking some time. It sounds like fun, and I could make a little money, too. I feel uncomfortable doing it by myself, though, at least for the first time. Today one of my students, age 9, came in and told me that he and his older brother had been busking earlier this afternoon. (He didn’t know the word “busking,” but that’s what it was.) They walked from home in the heat (about 95 degrees) for about 15 minutes to get to the local town square, where they unpacked their instruments and started playing. When their father came by unexpectedly, the boys asked him for lunch, and he obliged. The kids played for an hour and a half and made $10.79. I think that’s quite good for a metropolitan area where commuters don’t even stop to listen to Joshua Bell busking.