The Rock Academy school holiday programme takes young musicians busking every day during their four-day programme. They are met with minor fame and a good wad of cash!
How much do they make?
And what is the true value of $50 to someone who pays no bills? Interesting question but I'm sure that $50 inflates substantially. On a good week at our holiday programme, our young musicians make around $50 each and they deserve it. They work hard, overcome their fear of public performance and play their hearts out on the streets of Kilbirnie. To date the record amount made in an hour and a half is $357! I remember a hundred dollar bill going in the case along with more notes and loads of coins. We almost had to call Armourguard to bring it back to the hall!
Work ethic.
Creating this type of work ethic has been helpful to young musicians who have attended our holiday programme in the past. Betty Jo-Smith started lessons with The Rock Academy at the age of seven. Not long after this she started at our holiday programme and then went on to busk on her own (with mum and dad in tow). These days she not only makes a decent amount busking (at the age of 15) but she knows the value of her worth as a musician and plays at weddings, parties and now major festivals like Peachy Green
Road-tested busking songs.
The songs we use for the busking trips have been road-tested and they work! They are the type of songs that project, are 'cool' and well known. Probably the most important common ground of these songs is that they are easy to play. On the first morning, we teach the group 6 to 10 songs and three hours later we are on the street performing them. It's amazing how fast the kids adapt to this scary environment and then go on to thrive. The next day is rinse and repeat, we teach them a handful of new songs and off we go again. By the end of the week, they are seasoned rockers oozing with confidence and a full piggy bank!
