Street Musicians

The best things I love while walking in downtown San Francisco are usually odd: Ladies with extraordinarily fancy costume, spray paint artists, a family of confused Asian tourists and most importantly, the street musicians.

What I notice about them is that they never precisely play. However, there is an obvious connection between their emotions and physical movements. Some may call it talent, some may call it trash music, but I call it passion. Music is all about passion, the most important value is your intention of producing music itself. You can play as celestial as you might, if you lack passion, you are no one greater than those street musicians. It never matters whether or not they sound good or educated. As what LV Beethoven said, "To play a wrong note is insignificant, to play without passion is inexcusable".

Sometimes they introduce themselves to Music and therefore also teach themselves how to produce music. This leads to their specially unique ways to play our instruments. There have been movies about street musicians unique ways of playing, their passion and how emotionally unstable (and also financially) they are. My favorites are August Rush and The Soloist. Totally recommended, even if you are not a Music lover.

Do you think they would be thankful and joyous if we enroll them to a music school? Some of them might, but some of them might be depressed and eventually rebel. Why? Because they are like wild birds, beautiful or not, they cannot be caged. They will never stop pursuing their dreams, which in this case are playing by their hearts, not books, theory classes and tight competition schedules. Some tamed birds—which in this case are trained musicians—might consider this cage as their home, and without the cage, they will die.

But again, not all street musicians dislike the idea of Music education. According to the movie The Soloist, which is based on a true story, Nathaniel Anthony Ayers had been studying in Juilliard Music School but was expelled due to his mental illness. However, Steve Lopez heard him play his fiddle on the street, wrote his story on the LA Times paper, and finally brought him back to the Music education world. It was difficult at first, for taming a wild creature is never easy. But once Ayers felt appreciated for his passion despite his defects, he once again feels at home.

Here are some clips of San Francisco street musicians for you to enjoy. These street musicians range from the pretty-sounding ones...

 

To the interesting, in an abstract way ones.

But nobody shall measure others' passion based on what is heard or seen, but with their deepest hearts.

Alice