Friday, October 24, 2008
People and musicians that ask for money: are their stories really true?
A couple of months ago, I was on the red line train. Suddenly a musician that usually plays in one of the stations sits down beside me. He is very badly dressed and people don't feel very comfortable around him in the train. He starts talking to me and I keep on the conversation. We talk about professions, my profession and what I'm studying and then we talk about his. At the end of the conversation I asked him how is it like to work in the station playing music for money (thinking how tough it might be). Well guess what? he earns 20 dollars per hour! more than I DO in my current job (and tax free). I ask him where he lives and he tells me that he lives in a very good area of Lake view which surprises me a lot. I guess its a good business to ask for money in the public transportation as a musician!
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4 comments:
Rhaquel,
It's been my experience that CTA musicians make a lot of money and make it fast.
When my daughter first picked up the clarinet, I lived in a older hi-rise with thin walls. My neighboors, when they got tired of banging on the walls, ceilings, etc., would call the management company. Her practice sessions had to be taken outside.
Our favorite place was the Jackson Red Line subway platform. She would play (extremely) rudimentary versions of "O, Canada", "My Favorite Things", and a simple etude by Chopin over and over again.
I would watch from a discreet distance as the change from tourists and week-end workers bounced into her clarinet case. I'm sure part of it was the sight of a little girl with a CPL card clipped to her plaid jacket blasting away at these tunes.
After about an hour, she had close to nine dollars, which she propmtly took up to Rainbo Fashions to buy a punk-style metal belt.
She called her mother with the exciting news, and after a minute gave the phone to me. The noise from the receiver was worse than any mangled Chopin could ever be.
We haven't been back to the subway, but sometimes, in the West Loop, you may hear a now less-tortured melody wafting through the evening air, "...we stand on guard for theeeeee."
But would you agree that it's better to play in the subway for money than to simply ask for it?
Well, hopefully you'll eventually earn more than $20 when you rise up the salary ladder. That guy is about to take a pay cut because of the worsening economy. Plus, he doesn't get health benefits.
Yes, chevrefoo', but she must also ask herself this: Is the economy really that bad? Will she be able to set her own hours? Work without a boss? Do something I assume she loves (play an instrument)? Choose her workplace? What about the health benefits of fresh air, exercise, lack of corporate stress? I am amazed the streets aren't full of musicians.
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