Klarinet Archive - Posting 000386.txt from 2001/12

From: Neil Leupold <leupold_1@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] Piccolo tuba and subway musicians
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 15:05:21 -0500

> By the time the tuba player was performing the piccolo solo (note for note)
> to the Stars and Stripes....

No way! *That* I'd like to hear! :-) I got a chuckle the other
day while walking across the L platform at the Union Square sub-
way station: a lone tuba player sitting in a chair oom-pah-pah-ing
some tunes for tips. You get plenty of drummers, violinists, and
flutists (and the same pipa player, playing Swan Lake over and
over again, as well as the same cellist playing Saint-Saens' Swan
from Carnival, to a taped plink-plunk accomaniment). I have to
admit, there's been a definite rise in the sophistication of New
York City subway musicians over the last year or so. Some of
these African drum players are simply fantastic. And the pipa
player is actually quite accomplished, as well as the one or two
hammered dulcimer players.

For musicians who've never been to New York, there's a remarkable
wealth of music being made on (and beneath) the streets of Manhat-
tan, reflective of so many different cultures and styles. The bet-
ter musicians earn every dollar bill that is dropped into their
cases. I have yet to see a clarinetist playing in the subways,
but I can attest to audience appreciation: I pulled out my clar-
inet one night after an orchestra rehearsal recently and tootled
around a little at the 14th St. PATH station. I was just relax-
ing after a long day and didn't leave my case open or anything,
yet I kept getting interrupted by people insisting that I take
their dollar bills. At the rate they were coming, I could have
easily made $25/hr. What was "forced" upon me paid my cab fare
home from Journal Square, plus a few bucks to spare.

I love New York!

Neil :-)

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