How I Made More Money Than You Do Now When I Was 12 Years Old
I started playing the guitar when I was 6 years old, It’s always been a part of my life. I had my ups and downs with it, but somehow I managed to stick with it for so long. This story is the story of how it helped make money as a 12-year-old.
At my school, about half of the students played an instrument, so I wasn't anything special. Some of my friends played too and we would play together at school plays and birthdays celebrated in class.
One day, one of my friends asked me and another friend to play with him at his uncle's wedding. He played the saxophone and my other friend also played guitar. We were a guitar-saxophone-guitar trio and we started practicing with our friend’s saxophone teacher for the wedding.
As the date of the wedding approached, we were told we were no longer going to play at the wedding, I can’t particularly remember the reason, but we didn't take it to heart and moved on. We continued practicing, building a repertoire of about five songs.
The spring fair came about and we were going to play there. We got ready and a bit excited only to find out we were going to play in a tiny little room with an audience of less than 15.
We played, but after our part was over, we sat outside and played for everyone. I don't remember who proposed the idea of placing the saxophone case before us, but we did, and we were treated with some spare change from smiling parents.
That day sparked something in us. Playing for so many people and making them smile was great, and we also got the bonus of making some money to buy us pizza! What else could some 12-year-olds ask for? We decided to take our playing to some public places with lots of strangers, and see how we will do there.
From my personal experience, I’ve come to learn that most inexperienced performers that go on stage start off with stage freight of some degree. The benefit of street performing is that most people come and go, completely changing the audience and taking that fear away.
As the year progressed, we probably went on the streets every other weekend. We went to busy streets and parks and played to tens of thousands of people. When playing we also made some money, more than we originally expected, usually 2–3 times the average American hourly pay. It was very surprising to us at first, but we then used it to buy better instruments and equipment.
When the summer came, the saxophonist of the group went to summer camp for 8 weeks, so each of us guitarists went to play on his own. We tried it together, but it didn't really work.
Playing alone isn’t that bad, it’s definitely less of a social event, but when someone smiles from my playing, or even stops to tell me that I made his day, it’s a great feeling.
After our friend came back, we kept playing a bit, but it wasn't the same. Slowly we came to halt and our little band was over. I went playing a few more times, but the motivation wasn't the same and the thought of doing it alone revived my inner fear of crowds.
I know we should've kept playing together, it’s clear to all of us. I just wanted to share the story of how we did it, because I think it’s a rare one, considering the surprised look on people’s faces when the found out the band they heard a few seconds ago had a joint age smaller than their own.
