He sat on a short stool in the entrance of a high-end jewelery shop after it had closed for the day playing his guitar. He was singing the Elton John classic Levon. I love hearing the sound of a single guitar and singer doing smooth songs like that. So since I was walking the through the area by myself, I decided to stop a few shops down from him and act like I was intensely Twittering so that I could take a moment just to enjoy the music.
I don’t know what it is about music like this that gets me. But I couldn’t help but to think that it connects to something inside for a lot of people, because this guy was making some pretty good money as people strolled by.
Since I was out there so that I could observe my Evangelism class during their final ’evangelism lab’ (a fancy term for street witnessing), I thought that it would be cool to see what I could observe and learn from this street guitar dude too. After all, I figured that he and I (and my class) were really doing the same thing. We both wanted people to be impacted in such a way that they would have a favorable response to what we were sharing with them.
The more I listened to him (and I hope that this doesn’t sound too harsh), the more I realized that technically speaking he wasn’t all that great. He was really just okay. But he was smooth… really smooth! His music wasn’t overpowering or annoying. It also wasn’t too subtle and easily overlooked. It was just right for the atmosphere that we were in. I was just smooth, and smooth is cool…
Street guitar dude tip #1: You don’t have to be great, just smooth.
I ended up being in the proximity of this guy for a little longer than I expected because one of the teams stopped to chat with me me for a few minutes as they passed by. While I was listening, I noticed that he seemed to keep doing the same few songs over and over again. I think that his two favorites were Elton John’s Levon and Your Song. But no matter how much he sang these songs, new people passing by still dropped money into his guitar case…
Street guitar dude tip #2: If you found something that works, then just go with it… keep your groove going.
Eventually (since there really aren’t a ton of people out on Monday nights anyway), there were several times that traffic literally stopped altogether. When the foot traffic disappeared, I would notice him stop playing, take a rough count of some of the cash in his case, and then stop for a smoke. He didn’t seem interested in wasting his time when there wouldn’t be any fruit coming from it. And if it looked like traffic was about to pick back up, he would even stop mid-smoke and return to the guitar.
Street guitar dude tip #3: If no one is listening, go ahead and take a smoke break (if that’s your thing).
I guess that I’ve always thought that doing something like this for ‘work’ was sort of a cop-out. But the more that I watched, the biggest realization that I had was that this guy (and probably many others like him) are very street-wise and quite masterful at the art of connecting with people in a special way that prompts them to respond (with their wallets). So to street guitar dude… Bravo dude, bravo. I am still learning from watching you the other night!
I don’t know if you’ve ever stopped for a moment to just watch a street musician like this or not. Maybe you have some of your own observations from what I’ve shared here, or other thoughts from other encounters that you’ve had like this.
What lessons (particularly related to your faith) have you learned from street musicians?
Photo by Gail Nadeau, via Laura Boggess on Flickr. Post by Dan King of BibleDude.net.
Check out the bonus video footage at BibleDude.net!
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Hi Dan, I came to your site through Maureen’s at Writing Without Paper. Love it!
You learnt from the street dude — and even better — you gave him the most precious gift. Your attention. Your ears. Your listening.
I know lots of street musicians — and even more than the money, which they love as it is generally their bread and butter, is the feeling that someone ‘gets them’. Someone takes the time to listen intently for more than just the bars its takes to ‘walk on by while throwing a few coin in a hat’.
what a lovely gift.
Thanks for stopping by Louise! I’m glad that you like the site! I’m sure that you’ll appreciate all of the writers that contribute here!
And thanks for your note about giving them the gift of listening. Honestly, that is something that I am trying to do better myself. I am continuing to learn the value of just paying attention more to the world around me. If nothing else, it helps me to take my eyes off of myself every once in a while.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts here! I really appreciate it!
At the Metro Center station in downtown Washington, D.C., a trio regularly sings for those waiting for a train. Unlike most panhandlers at the stations, this group is on the inside, protected from the weather. And they’re at the right station, because it’s a central stop for changing to the different lines. Whenever the guys are there (they’re there a lot), there’s a guitar case open and dollar after dollar dropped in once someone makes the first move to leave a tip. The guys are not bad; they do tend to sing the same songs, occasionally peppered with a little soft shoe. Everyone seems to collect around and enjoy them.
You are right about the quality of the playing. For an experiment, a famous violinist stood outside the GWU station one morning and played. Not only did he not make much money, only a very few people recognized who he was.
Thanks for adding to the illustration here! It also seems to be very important to be strategic about where to go. We could easily make that tip #4, or maybe even tip #1 and bump the rest of them down the list!
I also recognize what you point out as the ‘follow the leader’ mentality. It seems to be much easier to get others to follow after someone else is seen making the move (leaving a tip). That could easily be another lesson that we learn!
I also think that the experiment with the famous violinist is awesome! It certainly reinforces some of what we are talking about here! Thanks for sharing your thoughts! You rock!
Off topic. That painting/collage is gorgeous. I love the way the baby’s hand is poised on the strings…
(Journeying with you…) I agree! It is an awesome image!
No street musicians where I live.
But I did learn something from *reading about* the experiment Maureen mentioned (Joshua Bell at a DC Metro stop, organized by the Washington Post). In fact I launched my entire book (Not So Fast) with that story.
I learned to live slow enough that I can pause when there’s beauty in my path and take it in–and let my kids take it in, as well. In that Joshua Bell “experiment,” the Post discovered that one particular demographic always followed the same pattern: every single time a child passed by, the child wanted to stop. And every single time, a parent hurried that child along.
Only in my travels do I come across street musicians. I hope that when I do travel, however, and pass a street musician trying to make a buck sharing his or her songs, I can take a few minutes like you did to slow down, listen, and pay attention … so that my kids and I might learn a thing or two.
That is really interesting about the children and their parents… I wonder if anyone has explored why ‘grown-ups’ do stuff like that. Why do we get so busy with our own agendas that we cannot stop to enjoy things in life? And more importantly, what are we teaching our kids by acting this way?
I bet you’ve got some thoughts on all of that Ann, and we don’t have to get too deep into that here. But that is really interesting… something’s gotta change, huh?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
i find this to be an awesome post for reflection, especially with the above comments.
and i agree with l.l. that the work by gail nadeau is wonderful…and also perfect for this post…isn’t it wonderful how things like that come together?
i like how you think about how the musician uses his timing, words, and music to send a message that connects in some way with the people that are passing by. enters their thoughts and emotions…influences their being. it makes me think of how the Holy Spirit is singing to our heart within us in an even more powerful way.
That’s really cool nAncY! I hadn’t really looked at it from that perspective yet, but you are absolutely right! And the Song that the Holy Spirit is singing is pretty amazing, isn’t it?!
Thanks for sharing!
Fascinating insights. Inspires me to be more observant. I’m out and about today, and I think I’ll look around more carefully.
Wow, cool! Please feel free to share your observations! I look forward to hearing about what you see!