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Busking at the Farmers' Market

May 3, 2007 at 1:21 AM

Sometimes it pays to read your junk mail. My town, Belmont Massachusetts, started a farmers' market last year. And although I kept meaning to go all summer long, I never did. Then, this year, I got the newsletter, "Roots and Shoots" in the mail. It said "looking for young performers" to serenade the shoppers and vendors.

And they already had some performers last year, the evidence is here.

Undeterred by the request for "young" performers and the apparent age of the people who have done this so far, I wrote back and said I'd like to fill in when/if they couldn't find enough students. They wrote back and said they'd be happy to have me. So, June 14 and maybe other times as well, I'll be playing Bach in the Farmers' Market. I might even pick up some vegetables along the way.

It reminds me of Albert's blogs about his garden: somehow the combination of string music and fresh vegetables seems just right for a summer day.

That sounds like great fun. I wish I could do something similar here.
I just read that the local Metro system is going to have auditions for people to perform outside of selected Metro stations at a distance far enough from the entrance to leave plenty of room for commuters to enter and leave the stations. The performers will *not* be allowed to accept money from passersby. It doesn't sound like much fun. No one stopped to give money to Joshua Bell when he performed at a local Metro station recently -- what a precedent.
Pauline - There are performers other than classical violinists. Soulful sax in the evening or a handful of breakdancers may draw a small crowd interfering foot traffic. Even a violinist could do better with well chosen repertoire intent on pleasing the crowd. I wish they do the same here in Phildelphia.

Ihnsouk

I don't think money is the point here at the farmers' market either. The kids get community service hours for playing.
Sounds Like a bunch of FUN! Make sure to post about how it goes!
Pauline wrote,

just read that the local Metro system is going to have auditions for people to perform outside of selected Metro stations at a distance far enough from the entrance to leave plenty of room for commuters to enter and leave the stations. The performers will *not* be allowed to accept money from passersby.

Why would performers want to busk at the Metro if they cannot accept money? Will the Metro be paying them? It bothers me that these would-be performers (most of whom have been trained expensively) are expected to donate their talents without compensation. Are accounants also doing tax return gratis at the fringes of the metro for the pleasure of passers-by?

I agree, it doesn't seem fair to make people audition if all they get to do is play for free outside the metro.

On the other hand, the Farmers' Market is largely a volunteer effort by many in the community. The vendors are, of course, selling their produce, but community volunteers organized it, donated and secured a location, publicized it, made the website, and so on. There wouldn't be a Farmers' Market at all without a lot of people donating their time and services.

I'm not myself very savvy in publicity and marketing and my organizational skills are rather poor, but I like that I can still contribute something (e.g. my musical skills) to what I consider a valuable effort. As an amateur, I like the idea of music performance as a community service.