The Art Of Busking

The Art Of Busking 03 September 2007
As famous classical musicians become 'celebrity buskers' for the day, in London, a more serious effort to promote busking is underway.

Perhaps 2007 should be named ‘Year of the Busker’. During the spring, world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell busked to rush-hour commuters in a Washington metro station. Shortly after, when violinist Tasmin Little repeated the experiment in London, the arches underneath a railway bridge at Waterloo were filled with the strains of Vivaldi. More recently, the buskers who create a varied soundtrack to countless journeys made on the London Tube have been the centre of attention.

Video: Violinist Joshua Bell busking in Washington DC for the Washington Post

Transport for London’s licensed busking scheme — first launched in 2003 in order to regulate the number and quality of performers — this year attracted new sponsors in the form of Capital 95.8 and the London Paper. Re-launched under the name ‘Ear to the Underground’, the scheme has not changed its winning formula: musicians apply to Transport for London and audition for the opportunity to perform at any of the twenty-five licensed pitches on the Underground. What has changed, however, is the public face of the scheme. A new website has been set up, complete with profiles of the buskers involved, and a ‘music map’.

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The new and improved Tube map indicates the presence of a busker in a station by means of a yellow ear symbol. Hover your mouse over the ear and a speech bubble pops up, telling you the name of the busker and the time that they will be playing at the station. So if you know that you’ll be passing through South Kensington next Monday at around 6.00pm, perhaps on your way to a Prom, you can stop and listen to a spot of opera. Violin music more up your street? Make a quick detour using the music map to find the closest violinist. If you decide that your concert ticket money would be better spent on a Tube trip with some classical music thrown in, search for ‘classical’, choose from the six musicians’ profiles that appear and head to the nearest Tube station.

LINK: Thelondonpaper Interactive Music Map [opens in new window]

busker busking Simple though the idea might seem, a ‘music map’, arguably, changes the nature and even the main attraction of busking. Out with the pleasant surprise of suddenly hearing your favourite piece of music. Out with hearing classical music at unexpected times and in unexpected places. In with knowing the busker’s favourite music, favourite quote and funniest job. In with travelling on the Tube to hear a particular busker. Or maybe in with avoiding certain stations so that you don’t get that annoying tune stuck in your head? Performing classical music in public spaces is nothing new, unlike advertising fixed times and places for each busker’s performance This information, offered on Ear to the Underground’s music map, mirrors what happens in the concert hall, albeit in a more user-friendly form with chatty busker profiles and links to MySpace replacing the conventional artist biography. Will the next step be to include a programme of music to be played? Busking is usually seen by both buskers and listeners to be different from concert performance. When Joshua Bell played Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita in D minor as if he was in a concert hall, no one paid much visible attention. Could it be though, that as more and more train stations, Tube stops and shopping centres are filled with musicians performing all kinds of music, the art of busking will change?

Julian Lloyd Webber busks on the London Underground!