Statistics

I thought some of you would want to know some stats about what I'm doing.

I'm keeping the numbers and figures secret for now, but I can share percentages. Everyone loves percentages.

So, as at 1 February 2012, here's some stats for you. Get ready to be statted to the max!!!

• 38% of people I meet are women
• Unsurprisingly, 62% of people I meet are men
• I cannot be 100% certain the above statements are true, but I am going with my general views on gender. I normally get it right.
• 15% of musicians I have found are carrying brass instruments
• 15% of musicians I have found are carrying woodwind instruments
• 70% of musicians I have found are carrying string instruments
• 0% of musicians I have found are carrying percussion instruments
• 35% of musicians I meet express no interest in joining an orchestra for the challenge (the "no"s)
• 50% of musicians I meet express possible interested (the "maybe"s)
• 15% of musicians I meet express a positive interest in joining an orchestra (the "yes"s)
• However, although you could say 65% of musicians express some interest, only half (well, 55%) give me their details. The rest take the website.
• Also, of this 65% of musicians interested, only one third (yes, 33%) respond back to me.
• Of the musicians that respond back, 50% are happy to be placed on a roster for further details.

So...you could say I have an....wait a minute....a...

• 1.6% chance of finding a woodwind player
• 1.6% chance of finding a brass player
• 7.5% chance of finding a string player

So...to make a full symphony orchestra..I will have to meet....2,620 musicians!!

And that's assuming I have no chance of getting my timpani!! :)

Oh.......

My letter to the mayor of London

Below is the e-mail I sent to Boris Johnson, mayor of London. For footage of the football tackle I reference in the letter, watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOivzoRc0I8. It's amazing!

Dear Boris,

Forgive me emailing you out of the blue but I wondered if I might lay bare my challenge to you to inform you of something I am doing which I also believe promotes the great city of London.

My name is Shaun Buswell and I perform musical challenges for charity. The latest is something called The 12.12.12 Underground Orchestra Challenge, in aid of Music4Life, a project ran by the charity Kick4Life (http://www.kick4life.org/).

I aim to form an entire orchestra made up of strangers I’ve met for the first time on the London Underground. I have to approach anyone on the tube who carries an instrument and try to form an orchestra which must
then perform at one of the top twelve London venues on the 12th December 2012. We are also aiming to screen a premiere of the documentary being made to accompany the challenge.

More information can be found at http://www.121212.org.uk/

The reason for contacting you? Well, as with many things in life, you can rush into things with a lot of passion and good-heartedness, but not think out all the consequences (your amazing tackle against Maurizio Gaudino springs to mind here!). I have started this challenge on 1st January 2012, and really want to promote this as an example of how close and connected we all are in London. But I now realise this may affect the brand of TLF, which could seriously affect the challenge and the charity.

I am keen to highlight the transport in a very positive way and think this is something that can really assist post-Olympics in boosting people's moral. Numerous PR companies, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Strad magazine and many others have already plugged and supported this as an insprirational tale of one man battling odds to show the beauty of London. I really only want to consider continuing with this if that same beauty can be seen by the mayor and TFL.

Any endorsement or assistance you or your team could provide would be greatfully appreciated.

Kind regards

Shaun Buswell

Admin, admin, admin

Well, the first month is nearly over, and I've realised that I'm not working on this project as muchas I should be. There's a number of reasons for this

1) TFL have yet to give it their full support/blessing/go ahead.
Now, I don't want to get tied down in the debates about freedom to do what you want and red tape/beaurocracy, etc. But I do respect the transport system and don't want to do anything that might p them off. So I'm trying to get at least somewhere with that first which will then make me feel better about doing this challenge.
2) TFL have yet to issue a permit to film
Maybe partly due to point 1. Considering there's meant to be a documentary about this, it's meant that I'm reduced to video diary footage. Also means none of the vids I've seen the guys make can be used until they sort this out. All footage needs to be cleared by TFL before being shown. More admin. I'd like to be able to get some authorisation to go with the film crew and let them follow me around. It'll be great footage, but alas, still waiting. If anyone from TFL/anyone who knows people at TFL are reading, please help. I'm certain that what I'm doing puts the public transport system in a great light. But alas, everything needs clearance. I've also written to Boris about points 1 and 2 (see next post)
3) We don't have the venue.
I hate to let this dictate the challenge, but it's a pretty big part of it. If we have nowhere to show, it's over. We've got some meetings coming up and I'm confident this won't be an issue, but what happens if all of the venues do turn out to say no? Should the challenge stop? Can I change the venue? How much does this matter? Any thoughts anyone?
4) It's 11 months away
Well, less. But I'm realising that it's a snowball effect, so it's something that most people are tentatively providing details, saying they're interested. It's a long way off. And I guess a lot of people aren't certain where they'll be.

So I'm not putting 100% into finding people right at the moment because of these four main reasons. There's a few other reasons too (out of town, busy performing/writing, feeling low, etc) but in general I'm trying as much as I think I need to. once these 4 points (well, three really) disappear, I'll be on the case.

So much admin! So much organising! I just want to meet musicians on the tube and play music (not on the tube, TFL, I know this is not legal!) :)

So, it's all admin and no fun for me at the moment. But at least it's keeping me busy. And I'm confident that this will work. Just with a LOT more work.....onwards and upwards!
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Musicians, venues, the long hard weekend ahead

Well, first things first. Some of the venues are booked. It was always going to be the case and unfortunately it is my own fault for misunderstanding and thinking I had assistance with booking for these. But alas, as with the rest of the challenge, it's a one man show. So I'm scrabbling around trying to find a venue before it's too late. Imagine! I get an orchestra together, suffer the ups and downs and the months and month of finding all these strangers to bring them together....in the cold with no venue!!

So, bad news first. The following venues appear to be already booked:

The Royal Albert Hall (Christmas season, innit)
Hammersmith Apollo (99% certain to go)
The Barbican (London Symphony Orchestra & Valery Gerviev performing here - http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=13129)

So, that's 1/4 of the venues gone. 75% left. I guess my focus has to change and instead of focusing on finding musicians I'm going to have to go into admin mode for the next few weeks. I also have a lot of legal gumph that's been left for me to sort out (I really am on my own with all this!!) so sadly, musician hunting takes a backseat.

So....Good news now! What this challenge does more than any other, is give me the ability to work at any point in time. Being a Londoner, I travel on the tube at all hours. And often, when I'm going from one place to another, I bump into a musician. So I'm actually working 24/7. It's quite a nice feeling to always have something to look for. Like a Panini football sticker collection, finding the needs, the really really needs and the gots (maybe a reference that young English boys will get, I don't know).

Example of this - I was on the way to the cinema yesterday, and low and behold I saw a large bulky case on the floor of the tube. Upon closer inspection it was a double bass case. I approached the guy (very friendly man called Dave) who expressed interest, gave me his number and asked a lot about the challenge. I was so engrossed in conversation I nearly missed my stop. Running off, I realised that some people around us had taken interest in this story. And it starts to enforce that this really is a challenge that can bring people together.

I will find a way in the future of getting more people involved, not just musicians. We're all a lot closer than we realise. It would be nice to be able to show this however possible.

Another week, another adventure

I have decided to slow down my blogs, as it isn't that interesting hearing about my ramblings on a daily basis. Plus, it means I can give you the creme de la creme of good musician/venue/film hunting.

This week, I have mostly been speaking to people about venues and also to TFL about legalities of filming. There is a documentary now being made about this, and they have to work out the wonders of how to film me on my adventures, when they take me all over London. I'm sure we'll get it sorted but having to assist with this, and with the venue hunting, has taken it's toll on me and I'm finding myself not looking for musicians as much. To be honest, that makes sense. There would be no point getting musicians if they have nowhere to play.

I realised this week also that it's going to be a very long year for me, and I've been travelling down to Winchester to film and talk about some of the more emotional stuff going on. That's always fun....

I have currently seen an average of nearly one musician a day since doing this, ranging from :

violins
violas
trombones
trumpets
saxophones (which I haven't planned on having in the orchestra, but may sneak into the woodwind section as I have written for them before)

I am still going to be struggling to find certain instruments but I am confident I have a masterplan to get all the instruments needed. I just have to have the strength and belief to carry on. Even though if I'm honest, all I want to do this week is have a holiday!!

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!!!
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Day 10 - Easy to number when you're in January....

Well, it's been a fun and hectic time doing this. I recently had my first real turning point in the way I do things. I saw a guy just before going into the Underground station and made a real snapshot judgement of him. I thought "he's carrying an orchestra instrument but he doesn't look like he'd be interested in this type of music". So I walked on and think about whether he's going to come into the station.

As I'm waiting at the platform, he comes down the escalator and goes to the other platform. I consider going to see him, then think to myself "there's no point". No point? There's always a point! So I get on my train and sit down. But I couldn't excuse this feeling that I'm being a coward and making excuses. At the last minute, as the doors were closing, I ran back out and onto the other platform. Spoke to the person and they actually seemed interested. They knew other musicians too who would love the project. I spent a good few stops chatting to this person.

I was nearly a coward. But realised just in time that you never regret the things you do in life, you just regret the things you don't do or give away.

The first week - Ups and downs

Well, this first week has been a fairly crazy one. I always struggled with the lack of sunlight this time of year, feeling a lot more run down. And dealing with heartache and loss at any time isn't easy. But this combination, coupled with the amount of challenges and tasks I set myself, really took it's toll. I'll be honest. There have been times I've thought about giving it all up. Just not bother. But throughout my entire life, through all the different pieces of excellent advice I've received, the one thing that stands out the most to me is the simplest:

If your head and your heart agree, never give up

I guess it's common sense really. But something we all forget. Sometimes, quitting is good. But if you really believe in something, hold onto it and try to make it work.

I have had to have this mantra many times this week. I have fallen on more than one occasion. I've struggled to get out of bed, not really wanting to face the day. But when I do, I always realise how awesome things can be. And these challenges have started to give me the discipline I'd forgotten I had. I am starting to feel more like myself, and even through all the bad and low points, I've never stopped believing that this thing is possible.

I love realising your dreams and aiming to fulfil them. The journey is by far the best payoff. I've been contacted and had support shown from people all over the world, strangers I never knew, and without me really doing any marketing. I've had The London Symphony Orchestra show support and tweet about it. I've had film-makers want to make documentaries (lucky old Mr Barnett for getting there first!), had people want to help sort out shows on The London Eye, been given good contacts at the top venues in London, had The Strad magazine do a story on me. It seems everyone is spreading the word for me. I can't be grateful enough for this. It's truly humbling. And whilst I may be trying to climb this mountain alone, it's heartwarming to know that there's a sea of people willing me on and helping me. I truly hope I don't let you down.

So, moving to the weekend, and a vast array of musician-hunting, I have learned the following:

Don't approach strangers and ask where they live. It's creepy.
Don't search for ANYTHING during rush hour.
A flute is going to be like the holy grail. It's hidden in bags and almost impossible to find!
I need to get something laminated. Everyone trusts a laminate.
I am glad I went into this journey unprepared. The learning curve is brilliant.
Sending physical gifts to people is really rewarding. I will do more of this.
The internet and social media are a great tool
However, I rely on the internet far too much in my day to day world. So I'm writing letters again.
My handwriting has become atrocious. Lucky I'll be practicing lots.
Breakfast is good. It is my friend.
I never needed to bite my nails.
It's ok to stumble and fall. It's the not getting up that's bad.

Onwards and upwards. I look forward to meeting some of you on my travels.

Shaun
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