YESTERDAY I was approached by a man who berated me - "you need to diversify your repertoire - every time I walk by, you're playing the same Beatles and Beach Boys songs."

He seemed surprised that I was quite put out by this; I informed him that, in fact, I pride myself that my repertoire, if nothing else, IS diverse. I asked him if he played a musical instrument, to which he replied, unsurprisingly, "no" - of course he didn't because if he did, he'd know how long it takes to learn how to play one and how long it takes to learn how to play a piece, particularly anything complex, which much of my fingerstyle guitar repertoire is. In fact, it's taken me 12 years to build up a repertoire of almost three hours and in saying that, I've worked it out that there's a one in seven chance that someone will walk by while I'm playing a Beatles or Beach Boys song. There is one man who, nine times out of 10, will suddenly appear while I'm playing a certain Erik Satie piece. In fact, it happens so unnervingly often, I'm convinced there's something paranormal going on. Yet he never complains.

Buskers can have tough time out there, with no guarantee of substantial 'coinage', being ignored by 99 per cent who walk by, being approached by drunks and other undesirables, and the last thing we need is someone complaining about our repertoire. And by the way, the reason we play lots of Beatles is because lots of people like them and this equates to money in the hat.

So a word to anyone who walks by a busker and thinks they're "always playing the same thing." Please keep it to yourself, because it won't go down well. You'll soon be out of earshot so just grin and bear it and keep walking.

Marvin B. Naylor,

Greenhill Road,

Fulflood,

Winchester

 

Message from the editor Kimberley Barber

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