Ecology of Busking

The term, ecology, has been used extensively in the field of biology. It, however, is increasingly used in sociology and classical music to describe the relationships of people to one another and their surroundings. In this short journal, I would like to briefly talk about the music ecology of busking, focusing on two aspects, namely participants and the environment, and hopefully encourage more of you to appreciate this sort of music performances.

Concerning the environment, busking, in other words, street performance, takes place in public areas, i.e., streets. Unlike the old tradition of classical music, the venue is no longer necessarily be those grand, acoustically designed concert halls, which are so costly to rent that could cause pressure to the performers if they fail at the box office. Instead, it could be anywhere such as footbridges.

Indeed, the change of venue might negatively affect the performance quality because of plentiful distractions, e.g., chatters. It, nonetheless, is not the performers’ primary concern as busking gives more freedom to allow performers to choose when and where their performances would take place liberally, without pressure, waste of time owing to the miscellaneous paperwork required for reservation of music venues, providing more possibilities to the music playing. Furthermore, it helps the performers to obtain more exposure because more audience could be reached, helping them grow in stature. Such a change, moreover, brings a significant effect on the participants of busking.

Regarding the participants, undeniably, there are the audience and the performers (buskers). Nevertheless, in busking, the boundary between the audience and the performers is blurred, unlike classical music. The phenomenon is all due to the shift of environment.

In the tradition of classical music, it is plain to see that the one who is onstage performing music is the performers; the one who listens to and enjoys the music downstage is the audience. Yet, in busking, the audience, anti-traditionally, has the freedom to be more engaged in street performance. What I mean is that the audience has the freedom to sing along or clap to a song while enjoying the performance.

Such an act is mostly unacceptable in classical music concerts. The audience is not even permitted to applaud until the end of pieces (attention: not the end of movements). Contrastingly, in the way of busking, the audience can, de facto, take more part in the performance and become one of the performers. Such engagement is also greatly encouraged by the buskers to create an interactive atmosphere, shortening the distance between the buskers and the audience and finding an echo with the audience.

This form of music performance is reasonably different from ‘regular’ music performances, and yet, to a certain extent, it gives great pleasure and minimises the requirement of music enjoyment, such as ticket money, formal attire, and knowledge of classical music norms. So, when you see people performing on the street, why not stop by and give them a big hand to provide them with a bit of support?