Classical music performed in the street. Is it good or bad?
This happened a few years ago in Kyiv. Many graduates of the conservatory (now the National Musical Academy) still remember their unique colleague, who came to one of the Kyiv underpasses every night and perform classical music for no more than two hours. Passersby often liked his music and dropped some change into his viola case from force of habit. And each time he would stop playing abruptly, put away his bow, and say out loud: “I don’t play here for money. It’s just that this underpass has very good acoustics.”
Such cases are rare in world history. As a rule, everyone likes to combine pleasure with profit. This applies to both street performers and city fathers. Consider for example the policy of Western countries toward street musicians. First, any kind of activity there requires a license, in this case a permit from the municipal authorities authorizing the musician in question to play at certain hours in a certain place. Playing without a license means disturbing public order, much like dropping a candy wrapper past a trash can.
Moreover, Westerners traditionally organize festivals of street musicians, which often catapult young musicians to stardom. Meanwhile, the Frenchmen treat this kind of art so seriously as to organize castings for street musicians. All this is done because the local authorities are convinced that tourists must enjoy quality music, since this also enhances the country’s image.
In France, expert juries are assembled periodically to select the best musicians. Just like in a prestigious competition, having listened to the participants, the jury names the winners. The spot where he will perform in the city depends on the place he gets in the competition. For example, the best get the spots most frequented by tourists, while musicians of dubious skills can hope to play only somewhere in a back street. Moreover, the repertoire of a musician playing in the city center should also be special. Classical music performed in the streets is an attribute of a European city. In a word, in this case it is too early to speak of Kyiv as a European capital. To begin with, it seems that none of the City Administration departments oversees street musicians. To the naХve question of why, we were told that they have enough problems without it. Yet word has it that any day now performing in Khreshchatyk underpasses will be classed as a form of labor. Thus the musicians will have to buy licenses and thereby fill the city’s coffers. Contrary to popular belief that such a move would incite protests by street musicians, the musicians themselves say the opposite. Oleksandr Lapushkin, who has been playing in the underpass for six years, says he would readily pay up to UAH 300 per month. “Why not?” he wondered. It’s common practice in Europe. If we had something of the kind, the musicians would be certain that their place would not be occupied. They wouldn’t have to fight with old ladies selling sunflower seeds and each time explain to the police what they are doing there.”
The mentioned seamy side of the profession does not apply to Oleksandr Lapushkin, a graduate student at the National Musical Academy of Ukraine and laureate of a prestigious competition. His repertoire that saves him the embarrassment. Classical music on his accordion has proved a surefire draw in Kyiv. Oleksandr says he has regular listeners who like his repertoire so much that they bring their relatives and friends along. Even freezing temperatures cannot keep the listeners away. They listen dreamily to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, put some money into the performer’s case, and thank him for raising their spirits. “Perhaps the problem is that people have no time to attend classical music concerts, which are seldom advertised. Meanwhile, recently I hung a poster announcing my concert in the conservatory, and, as a result, I performed to a packed house,” Oleksandr said. The police treat classical music with respect. While they find fault with the performers of other genres, they come up and listen to Oleksandr in admiration.
Street musicians working in Kyiv say that today they have more breathing space. Formerly, they had to pay the so-called underpass bosses at least UAH 4 per day for so-called rent. There have been cases when the police would round everyone up and take them to the precinct on the pretence that silence must be observed in the city. On the other hand, better conditions have swelled the ranks of Kyiv musicians and lured their colleagues from across Ukraine. But this has not contributed to healthy competition. Instead, visiting amateurs oust the real professionals. As Oleksandr put it, since Ukrainians have not developed a taste for music, few can see the difference between professionals performing classical rock pieces and raucous dilettantes. As a result, the latter are in greater demand. Moreover, they work with the so-called askers, who accost passersby demanding payment for the musicians’ performance. Even if they are singing something on a par with nursery rhymes, they earn more, because they are more persistent.
Speaking of earnings, it is only natural that to this immodest question you are normally told a commercial secret. Those who dare reveal it name figures ranging from UAH 20 to 200 per day. Moreover, almost all Kyiv musicians tell one and the same story about a foreigner who was so enchanted with their music that he dropped a hundred dollar bill into their case. Graduates of the National Musical Academy say that such things actually do happen. Meanwhile, some of those who found themselves in an underpass at the right time are now performing in orchestras in the US, Germany, and Belgium.
No wonder that one can see meritorious artists in underpasses, and sometimes it is a pass to stardom. The musicians say that this way one can become famous faster than when running around looking for a producer. Moreover, musical graduates think that this is better than selling your instrument and wasting many years of practice. Unfortunately, in Ukraine street musicians are often associated with beggars. Musicians say that people do not understand why one has to go out on the street and play, when he has a cell phone ringing in his pocket and is wearing a suit with a bow tie. But Oleksandr says musicians find such an attitude distressing, much like the quips of the passersby who often ask: “Have you tried working?” The musicians have their own philosophy. If you consider yourself one, you should be playing for the people and not within four walls. Even though teachers frown on their students’ practice of playing in underpasses, the latter find the experience a true test: “For us the street audience is the strictest and the most demanding.” In confirmation of their words professional musicians like to tell a story of one famous Norwegian violinist. Once he put on worn pants, a threadbare coat, an old hat, and started playing at a crossroads in Oslo. Some passersby, not recognizing the celebrated violinist, still stopped to listen. Some praised him, and others criticized. One said, “He might have talent, but he definitely lacks technique.” Later Arve Tellefsen confessed, “I was worried as never before that people would not stop to listen.”
