Published on 12, July, 2020
It now seems that it's pretty standard practice for buskers to use amplifiers. Who has decided that this is acceptable?
The volume of these things is always uncormfortably high for people like me with hypersensitive hearing. Even normal people seem to need to stand back from them, causing a secondary problem of significnatly increasing the space taken up by the activity.
I used to make a point of givinga few quid to a decent busker. Some of them really used to make places nicer to be - the woman who was always in the tunnel at South Ken station during the late nineties when I was at uni was particular good. But now, regardless of how skillful they are or how good the music is, they are making the world a worse place.
Similarly, it now seems acceptable for people with smart phones to play music without earphones - on the bus, on the train, in the street. And people rarely remonstrate because of fear of the possible consequences. If someone is so arrogant, selfish and insensitive as to subject everyone around them to their crappy teen pop or hip-hop, then telling them to turn it down won't cut much ice - and might just get you a visit to A & E.
I'd been noticing both things in the last few days. I'd always said I don't have hypersensitive hearing, but when I'm feeling particularly low something like that just adds to it. People just watch stuff with tinny soundtracks on their phone, so in one case I moved away, and in another I asked if they had any headphones, and they were very apologetic. I'm thinking of carrying a sealed spare pair to offer.
I wonder if amps came in because some people started using backing tracks. Now with loop pedals and so on, it's like you're not completely sure what's pre-recorded. I've been thinking of autistic friends, so been in two minds about giving money that might encourage the practice, even when it's say a harpist using an amplifier, rather than someone with an electric guitar. Some kind of polite written note to go in the hat might work.
People playing music out of car windows too >> Incidentally I have never heard good music coming out of a car window or a mobile phone in a public place. I think it's just such an inherently tacky thing to do that the offenders' taste in music naturally reflects that. ;)AND don't get me started on those pathetic "look at me" super-noisy exhausts. An exercise in vanity that serves no purpose but to damage the ears of bystanders.