(no subject)

[ewt]

It's that time of year again.

It's the time of year where I get told off by one commuter for not playing Christmas Carols, and by the next commuter for playing them. People are so rude! On the grounds that I can't please everyone I do a bit of both; today the carols and the other stuff made me equal amounts of money, roughly, when the carols start getting more drops than the conventional repertoire then I'll switch to only carols for a while.

It's the time of year where at colder pitches like Westminster, where I was this morning, playing heat sink horn for two or three hours involves extensive cost/benefit analysis to decide when I should put a glove on my left hand and live with the resulting reduced mobility (if I wait long enough, I'll lose the mobility anyway due to the cold). It's the time of year when I finish busking and get all happy using the handrails on the escalator because they're WARM.

It's the time of year where I can't get through all of a piece without having to figure out where is the most musically appropriate place to stop and empty the condensation out of my horn.

For all that, I don't suffer horribly with the cold when I'm busking at this time of year. The pitches that can be unbearably hot in summer, like Green Park, are actually quite comfortable for playing at thsi time of year. I get cold hands because there's a limit to how much I can wear to keep them warm adn still play the horn, and it is basically a big heat sink, but I have plenty of warm clothing, and the huffing and puffing required to play horn generates a fair amount of heat anyway, so the rest of me stays fairly comfortable. I'm not at risk of frostbite (I'd stop playing before numbness set in, if nothing else because I do not want to drop my horn!) and I'm certainly not at risk of hypothermia. The horn doesn't get so cold that I stick to it or anything, because a) it usually isnt' quite that cold here and b) I'm blowing hot air down it. And afterward I can generally go somewhere warm and have a hot drink or lunch or whatever.


[Poll #619780]

Do discuss in comments if you like.

Comments

[arkady.livejournal.com]

If it's an unusual instrument played well, or a violin or flute played extremely well, I'll give money if I have it to spare. I only give money to classical guitarists (if they play Cavatina for me I have been known to give a fiver or more) or electric guitarists who are very, very good. If they play the Beatles or Oasis they get nothing except my contempt and disgust.

I very rarely give anything to singers unless they're singing opera - and singing it well.

And there are very few Christmas carols I can tolerate, because quite frankly I hate Christmas and prefer not to be bludgeoned aurally with it everywhere I go. And it is far too early for carols, tinsel and all that crap and tat.

[karen2205]

A friend of mine who does a lot of rowing pointed me at http://www.sealskinz.com/cgi-bin/psProdSrch.cgi yesterday.

Would the liner gloves be of any use? ie providing some warmth without removing too much mobility?

[pfy.livejournal.com]

I start hearing shops playing 'The El-Cheapo Pan Pipe Carols Album' some time in early November. By Christmas, I am utterly sick of carols, and even more sick of that accursed song by Slade. Don't get me wrong, I love carols and Christmas (although I'm not so keen on all the tat associated with both), but being jolly and festive for seven weeks straight is beyond me. I wouldn't mind if the carols started around the second week of December.

I can't understand why people bother telling you what to play. It's not like they're going to hang around to hear it, and if they're rude about it they don't deserve to have their demands granted anyway. But then, people are idiots.

I don't have lots of piddly rules about which buskers get money from me. I generally give them money if I have it and I enjoy their playing.

[corto.livejournal.com]

my sis... my wonderful sister... has "busked" for ages and ages... she plays a fiddle... fabulously.

[phelyan.livejournal.com]

I have to admit if I saw a busker playing christmas carols I'd run a mile. Unless they've done an interesting arrangement or are really really highly skilled and it shows in their playing.

I'm a Bah! Humbug! when it comes to christmas, so playing carols would be the best way to get nothing from me but a withering stare.

[561.livejournal.com]

Good buskers are fine and if I have money I can spare and I have enjoyed what they are playing I will pay.

However, in bath busking often means inducing large crowds of tourists to block the pavement/entire way through. This isn't necessarily the fault of the buskers but irritates me so much I stomp about. Obviously I would not join such an ill placed crowd and hence they won't receive money from me.

[pasdeschiens.livejournal.com]

My parents' wedding anniversary is December 2nd. As a rule that means our tree (etc) isn't put up until after that, and it's a feeling I've carried over to "the rest of the world". Late November is okay, the last week or so. October is right out.

Do you have any moral (etc) issues with playing Christmas carols, btw? I was just wondering as I filled out the poll.
(And forgot to answer a question, I now see. Isn't it Greensleeves that has Christmas-sy words to go with it? Something like that. "The babe, the son of Mary" ...one of Daniel's nieces was singing it this morning. That's my seasonal tune for you.)

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

I don't have religious issues with playing Christmas carols on horn because I'm not saying the words. And honestly, I'm getting so vague on the whole Judaism thing now, I don't know whether I would consider it idolatry if I did.

I don't really have moral issues with playing music that people want to hear and getting paid for it. If I did I'd probably have difficulty with Wagner and Strauss before Christmas carols, and as a horn player I'd be shooting myself in the foot from the outset if I refused to play those composers.

There are some pieces I won't play when I busk, but that's usually more because I don't want some political asswipe to get shirty and abusive, and I don't want the BTP (British Transport Police) to ask me to stop for my own safety. An example is The Wearin' of the Green which is an Irish song about how badz0r the Engrish are and we will fit3 them 4 evar. All your blood are belong to us, and so on. It's a shame, because I really like that song even if it deals with difficult topics. I'd probably play it if I were in North America - the IRA hasn't bombed any train stations there that I know of.

I have a lot of childhood memories that involve Christmas carols and good warm times spent with family. Some of the carols are also quite beautiful music in and of themselves.

Yes, Greensleeves has been turned into a Christmas carol.

[horngirl.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm not the best person to be filling out this poll, given that I don't see buskers terribly often. Although I saw this guy in Canberra on Thursday who was actually singing along to a Casio-type keyboard rhythm machine thing, which I thought was a pretty piss poor effort.

And also, I'm one of those poor people like you who have to play Christmas carols every year, and I'm just all a bit over it after having done it for, oh, well over ten years now.