The Sweetest Penny

You Make More of an Impact Than You Think You Do

I am 61. Although I’ve been playing violin since I was in fifth grade, one night in June 2019, I earned the sweetest penny in my life.

Walk the town square area in Columbia, Tennessee, on the first Friday of each month and you will find street musicians in front of or inside the various businesses, crafters selling their creations, and the “boutique” style shops, together with the restaurants, open until 8:00, or even 9:00.

I was introduced to playing on the “street” about a year and a half ago. A violinist friend called late one afternoon and asked what I was doing in about two hours and would I be up to joining her to play duets in front of one of the vintage and collectible stores. We even got our picture, a blurb about us in the local paper, and a couple of tips.

We played a couple more times together, but last fall, when she had a conflict, I decided to go solo. I talked to the health food store to secure space in front of their window. Some people paused to listen; some sat on a nearby bench; a couple of people placed a tip in my case; and one lady told me that I should check into playing with the bluegrass band that was performing in the coffee shop above the vintage and collectible store. Wow!

On the November 2018 First Friday, the temperature at sunset dropped down to 48 degrees. I decided that I wasn’t going to let a little cold weather stop me from playing. After all, this was Tennessee and I had grown up braving the cold and snowy winters of Northern Illinois. After the first hour, however, I couldn’t feel the strings under my fingertips anymore. Although I had gotten a couple of tips, I didn’t enjoy playing in the cold, so I decided to take the winter months off.

In late February 2019, the organizers of First Friday put out a call for musicians. I had enjoyed playing in front of the health food store and enjoyed the large number of people that passed by or sat one one of the benches and listened.

But my husband had a different idea.

My husband and his daughter had gone to the event in October 2018 while I was at a writer’s conference. They discovered that the event had grown to encompass the branch streets and the little business strip just beyond the square. Various food trucks lined that parking lot. Hubby suggested that I move my busking to where the food trucks parked. It seemed to have more action than where I had been playing.

(NOTE: Recently, watching the Ken Burns documentary Country Music that I learned playing music on the street was called “busking.”)

Playing violin outside depends on the weather. The day of the June First Friday was rainy, cool enough to play outside, but humid and rainy. I questioned whether I’d be able to play at all that evening. The late morning rain stopped about 1:00, but it was supposed to return about 3:00. Minute by minute, I checked the weather. By 4:10 the rains had not returned so I decided to pack up and go. Half-way to town, a couple of persistent raindrops fell onto my windshield. I could have easily turned around, but I pressed on.

A couple of weeks earlier, I had talked with the owner of our favorite butcher shop, Tallgrass Meat Company, about busking. They were open to it as it would stop food trucks from parking directly in front of their business. If the rain did reappear, Tallgrass also had an awning that covered the sidewalk.

With a three ring notebook full of music in plastic sleeves sitting on my stand and my instrument case laying open on the ground, I sat on a chair and began to play.

Tonight I was going to play my repertoire from the back to the front and then front to back. I had, after all, at least three hours to fill.

As the area became populated, I moved off the sidewalk and onto the parking lot.

A couple of kids, one a little girl age 7, became fascinated and sat on the sidewalk behind me as I played.

When I paused to turn the page, the seven-year-old decided to strike up a conversation.

“How do you play that?” she asked.

I tucked the violin under my chin. “I take my bow and pull it along the string like this.” As I explained, I pulled the bow across the strings.

“Coo,” she said.

I returned to my playing.

I hadn’t realized that she stood behind me while I played several more pieces.

She moved beside me. “What are all those squiggles?” she asked, pointing to my music.

“That’s the music. The lines are called a staff, and each Little dot or circle tells me which note to play. It’s kind of like reading a foreign language.”

“What’s a foreign language?”

“Like Spanish or French.”

“I still don’t get it,” she said and wandered off with her friend.

I smiled and returned to playing.

Throughout the evening, she came back and forth to listen to me play. The last time she came over to me, she held out her hand and said, “HERE.”

Into my hand, she placed a penny.

I don’t know if she found the penny on the ground or had it in her pocket or where it came from, but this penny from a seven-year-old little girl was the sweetest penny I ever earned.

I finished playing that night and wondered on my way home if that seven-year-old would find her way to play the violin.

Rebecca (Becky) spent 34 years in a teaching career, but when she retired in 2014, she picked up her pen and pursued her passion to write. As a high school English teacher, Becky held the philosophy that she wouldn’t give any writing assignment that she personally wouldn’t or couldn’t do. That philosophy strengthened and broadened her own writing.

In addition to publishing her writing on various platforms, Becky also blogs at Life is for Living, a blog to encourage, motivate, and help others live the best life possible. As an extension of Life is for Living, she also publishes a weekly newsletter, Let’s Chat. (Check it out HERE.) Life is for Living also has a social media presence with the group Coffee on my Porch. (Check it out HERE.)

After teaching writing for 34 years, Becky began Ink & Keyboard, a blog for writers at all levels. She supplements what she writes on the blog with a subscription newsletter, The Writer’s Notebook (Check it out HERE.) and the social media group Ink & Keyboard (Check it out HERE.)

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