An interesting day at the market, once I realized I had forgot my pick case (duh) and retrieved it from my apartment. I then broke a string on the first strum. But it got better fast. The husband of one of the market coordinators came by with his one year old son. They had seen me a few weeks ago, and the little kid simply knew what to do. He smiled, grabbed a maraca and laughed. Another young boy came by with his grandparents. They had seen me a couple of years ago in Macungie and I could see the boy was intent on me. We proceeded to go back and forth and he was quick-witted and intelligent. The interaction was pretty sophisticated as we worked on rhythm, rhyming and other such things. The first half hour was pretty rich for us both.
When they left, I had time to concentrate on my playing and found I was pretty rusty from spending time away from my instruments this week. I have to put my hands on the strings daily to maintain, and after a while I was playing pretty strong. It wasn’t busy so I could hammer away on some tunes.
Last time I had asked the coordinator to pass around a bag for donations from the vendors. It worked marvelously as I came away with apples, peaches, popcorn, pears and a slice of some kind of cake. I also got a FB picture with the pastry lady Beth Anna from Warm Sugar. I nailed down a sponsorship, in jest, but it was fun to do.
What seemed to rise out of this situation was an increased awareness and connection between the musician and the vendors. I had implied that it was a tradition to pass the basket among the vendors, and I think it took hold today. I thanked every one on my way out, and a gentleman commented that I had paved the way, not only for myself, but for future musicians at this farmers’ market. That was very cool.
I got about $10 in tips and a whole bunch of food for the week, played with two young kids and their parents/grandparents, practised and created a template for other musicians at this site. The market is now interested in paying me next season, now that they know what live music does for the atmosphere. Not bad for a Saturday morning.