BY MICA CALFEE

 

After my first article appeared in Juggler's World, many of my friends pointed out that I failed to mention street performiing a.nd busking as a method of testing your act and determining its value.

 

The following information comes from research as well as personal experience.

First, the advantages of street performing and passing the hat.

 

Number One: It is possible to make good money working for tips. I have seen the hats of colleagues as well as my own holding more than $100 for one show. If you multiply that times the number of shows you could do a day you see the potential.

 

Advantage Number Two: The instant feedback is without equal. This feedback takes two forms, audience reaction and money made. If you are testing a new routine you will know without a doubt if it is working. If you ate trying to decide how much your act is worth, just look into your hat. If you see lots of money, congratulations! It's not always true, but very often, lousy show equals lousy money. It is possible to have a really good show but not make much money in the hat. There are many reasons this occurs and many techniques for dealing with them.

 

There are many tip lines in wide use, but that is a subject for another article. Let's talk about the philosophy and psychology of asking people to tip. Your job is to convince the audience member that giving you money is a good thing to do. This is always easier if your show is entertaining. We have all seen performers whose shows are too long or too plain, attempting to make it passing the hat. Work on the quality of the show first.

 

More than once I have attended a workshop hosted by such noted street performers as Laura Green and Robert Nelson. They give hints like, "tell the audience before your last trick that you plan on passing the hat." This lets the people know what they are about to see is not free. The people that stay are informed and prepared. I have observed that the most successful buskers appear to be those who "free" the audience to tip rather than extort money from them. We have all seen the performer who tries to use guilt to encourage members of the audience to tip. Some tip lines almost sound like threats.

 

I personally know of one festival where passing the hat has been banned due to a bad experience with performers and the way they treated the audience. You can joke about how badly you need the money or explain that this is your livelihood but it is a fine line that once crossed can cost you money. Only experience can tell you how far you can go with your audience.

 

One of the best street performers with the nicest way of asking for tips is Kevin Holman. Holman proudly boasts, "I don't need your money, I have a great job at Burger King!" He has a wonderfully relaxed style and is an excellent juggler and entertainer. People feel good about themselves when they place money in his hat. If you make someone proud of the fact they gave you money, you have it made. After Kevin's show I have witnessed people eager to be the first to give him a tip.

 

I have seen some performers run to the rear of the audience so that each member must file by on their way to exit the area. I should mention that the Flaming Idiots do this with great charm and use it as a continuation of the show. But it is easy to see how this could be viewed as an attempt to coerce a tip. It takes a great deal of skill and experience to prevent this from looking tacky. Both of the examples of successful buskers have learned how to earn good tips. Remember, someone can be made to feel guilty if they don't tip, but they can also feel troubled that they did. Do we want either?