I had an inadvertent busking experience. I was playing my recorders at the park while the kids enjoyed the playground. It seemed like good use of the time, as it meant fresh air for everyone, exercise for the children, and music practice for me. As we were leaving, some young ladies came up and gave me a few coins as a token of their appreciation for the music. I tried to give the money back, but there was no convincing them. I’d like to think I inspired them to keep up their own music practice or gave them a hint of what’s possible with some effort, but I’ll never know.
After seeing this, my goddaughter begged, “Teach me to play, so I can get money too!” I told her I only teach people if they’re in it for the right reasons (for the music, or the lulz as the case may be). I scared her mum off by telling her the price of a decent solo recorder — over £270 for one of mine. If I tried busking half seriously, I could probably get decent return on the price of the instruments, but it wouldn’t come close to covering the countless hours of spent building and maintaining playing skill.
(I also discovered that one must consider wind direction when playing outdoors. If you try to play a low note while facing into the wind, it behaves as though the bell is stopped. This is clearly not desirable. No-one teaches you important details like that.)