I think any perfomer craves an audience, and I much prefer playing before
people who have come specifically to hear me. But, realistically, that very
seldom happens to me. The crowds at the Renaissance Faire, however, present
a different sort of challenge - that of getting people who didn't come to
hear you to stay and enjoy themselves. Sometimes, when Sue and I are really
playing well, and we have a receptive audience, it works marvelously.
Sometimes, despite anything we do, people just walk on by. And, on occasion,
we're assigned to play a location, say relatively early on Sunday morning,
and there aren't people there at all.
We're comfortable with this, because we know to expect it, we know that the
people who hire us at the fair expect it, and we're paid just the same. We
also get a chance to deal with our audience in small numbers, like one or
two, so we can do such things as take requests, let children touch the harp
under our supervison, and so on. I've also played at weddings where
(obviously) people didn't come specifically to hear me. But I can also
understand why performers can get frustrated with this kind of situation. It
takes a certain amount of ego to get up and perform, and that ego can take
quite a brusing when you're playing well and people seem to ignore you. I
have to tell you, though, that many of those who do seem to be ignoring you
do hear you, and I've gotten many compliments from people for whom I've been
background music.
Bob Esty