My school is having a National Day Carnival on 8/8, and I have been asked to do walkaround magic or "busking" as my teacher calls it.

I have done such walkaround street stuff before, but I would just like to ask for advice on any tips I may have missed out on.

Plus, I have to collect money, in the form of either cash or carnival coupons (it's a charity thing, as usual). Anyone advise me on how to collect the money? Since I am doing it with my friend, I was thinking maybe I would be performing, and my friend would be going around the crowd collecting coupons in a tin can.

Better ideas anyone?

Dude...walk arounds is VERY different from busking.

When you are doing walk around (like the recent CCF event), you are walking around targetting small pockets of people. You might do 2 or 3 effects and you move on. It's basically close up guerilla styled.

For busking, you are basically doing a parlour act with a catch, you have to find your own audience. There will not be a group of people waiting to see your act when you start.
You have to be routined from head to finish for everything to flow into a complete act.
You have to somehow draw a crowd around you and KEEP the crowd interested (remember, these are people walking by who probably have plans), and towards the end, somehow get them to open their wallet and contribute.

The last part of getting them to drop money in your hat is almost an art by itself. I have seen not particularly skillful buskers getting a very good contribution from the crowd, just by the way he words and builds his ending. He wasn't begging at all, and was quite dignified in fact, but it's the way he structures the ending speech that really worked.

The best person to ask would be MultiTalent, Alan. He's a full time busker. Send him a PM or wait and see if he drops in and give you some tips.


But whatever you do, please don't think you are going to be doing close up if it's going to be a busking environment. It's a parlour act. Surrounded probably. :blink:

Yup... typically buskers do a self contained magic show at a stetch and they have a table of props too, for entertaining a circle of people...

Jeff Hill for instance, well known Canadian magician/ busker did a wide range of repertoires like fire spinning, razor blade swallowing and a series of other magic effects. The Western busker (sorry, forgot his name) who competed in the last IF and won 2nd place for close up, did cups & balls... and very beautifully too.

David Blaine/ Criss Angel = TV Magic. They don't actually busk... they do street magic, so there's a difference there. A wee bit difference here. I think besides Alan, you can contact Shade too... I'd consider what he did during CCF, as busking in a way. He's got a solid repertoire of effects which kept coming for a good 30 mins... and his cards (that slayed his audience) were performed on a nice portable table that also had a topit :)

Good luck Pan!
ning

okay to clear stuff up:

I am doing walkaround, not "busking". Busking was just a term my teacher used, but she said I could use any style I want.

Anyway thanks for the tips!

Hi panpanpan,

You could announce that you'll be collecting tokens of appreciation after the show just before you continue to the finale. Tell them your reason for doing so and why should they give. If you include telling them how much to give, most prob they'll try not to give lesser than expectation (eg. you say $5, they might give $2 instead of coins). The finale is up to you but have to have something really strong.

Take a deep bow after your show and remember to remind them about donating to your hat.

The easiest way to earn the most is to do a show. "Monkey see, monkey do", when people see others giving, they'll follow.

Heavy hats to you! ^_^
-Alan-

ah, yes. Monkey see, monkey do. This made me think of an idea!

Get your friend to act as a part of an audience. Then give him $2.50. Ask him to keep the $0.50 and throw in the $2. So when your act's done, he is to throw in the money and people will follow suit! ^_^

haha, sounds like cheating people. :P

Aaron

Audience psychology 101 ;) If it works, just do it!!!

Don't just get ONE friend... get a few cos crowd begets crowd as well :g:

Multitalent,

Where can we find you busking, how often and from when? Would like to observe how you do it when I get back to Singapore.

Hi joeltay81,

Just contact me when you're free, it'll be better if you could come out busking as well so maybe we can exchange pointers? ^_^

I don't usually know when or where I'll do busking, it'll depends on the weather and mood. :P I know this sounds " <_< " but how good the show will be will depends on the mood of the performer, audience, weather and location. E.g. if you're in a bad mood, it'll be harder to entertain the crowd cos your smile will look fake. If poor weather, audience tend to lose their attention easier. If audience are not respondsive, no matter how good you are the show will still look dead. Lastly, you won't want to perform at a location where there's no crowd do you? ^_^

-Alan-