Published on June 9, 2025 12:30 AM GMT
Our older two, ages 11 and 9, have been learning fiddle, and aregetting pretty good at it. When the weather's nice we'll occasionallygo play somewhere public for tips ("busking"). It's better thanpracticing, builds performance skills, and the money is a goodmotivation!
We'll usually walk over to Davis Sq, tune the fiddles, setout the case, and play. We'll do a series of fiddle tunes from Lily'slist, playing for20-30min. Today I remember playing Sandy Boys, Angeline the Baker,Marie's Wedding, Cluck Old Hen, Coleman's March, Oh Susanna, Kittycat Jig,Hundred Pipers, and Trip to Moscow.
Since this is a performance we play one tune after another, with onlyshort breaks to decide what to do next. If one of the kids doesn'tremember how it goes or gets lost in the form, it's on them to figureit out and get back on, which is a skill I'm very glad for them to belearning. I'll play fiddle with them, switching between melody andrhythm to support where it's needed while still letting them show whatthey can do.
People often stop and watch for a bit, sometimes dance a little. Somepeople put in a little money, most don't, which is all fine. Todaythe kids made $28 in 25min, split evenly since they both played thewhole time; given the diminishing marginal utility of money and mywanting them to be incentivized to play, I don't take a share.
One thing I didn't anticipate, however, has been the effect onhousehold economy: they have much more buying power than either of usdid at their age, or than they did even a couple years ago. Sometimesthis means spending their money in ways that are thoughtful and seemwell worth it (when our oldest wanted to save up $80 to get her earspierced we went out busking a lot) while other times they're more freewith their money than I think is prudent (a drink from a vendingmachine because they didn't want to use a water fountain). It's theirmoney, though, and I think it's good for them to get a sense of how tospend it. Still, I'm thinking some about how to build more of a senseof fiscal responsibility.
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