The Sound of Music

When asked what people associate with the City of Salzburg, the most common answer will be: “Well, Mozart of course!” and if it´s tourists from Asia or America the answer will likely include The Sound of Music as well as Mozart – I know I´m working with a cliché here. Music is a big part of Salzburg´s cultural experience and doesn´t only include classical composers like Mozart or the story of a convent woman who set out and conquered the world with her music. Street musicians play another important role in the Salzburg experience, just as street music is an important part in each and every city.

On a warm sunny day, when the city is filled with the sounds of guitars, violins and other instruments, this is when a city feels really alive to me.

In Salzburg there are several spots where this coming alive through music happens. It never occurred to me that there are strict rules for where and when the making of music is permitted in Salzburg. Only after a trip to New Orleans did I start to really notice the street musicians and wonder why there weren´t any musicians playing the drums or the trumpet. In New Orleans, those instruments can be found on nearly every street corner.

Curiosity took over and I started looking for the musicians in Salzburg. More and more I started noticing the guitars, banjos, violins, flutes and other instruments I am unable to name, but still no drums or trumpets.

Checking the guidelines for street musicians on the cities webpage (Stadt Salzburg) 

it astonished me to see how restricted musicians are in a city that boasts about itself as the city that brought forth one of the greatest musicians in history – ignoring the fact that Mozart himself wasn´t too fond of Salzburg and moved away.

On the multilingual leaflet the webpage provides I finally found my beloved brass instruments. Unfortunately it says that “individuals and small groups are not allowed to use drums, saxophones, trumpets, or other very loud instruments” but “large groups, such as brass band, are allowed to play all instruments.” Honestly, that puzzles me a bit. Why are individuals not allowed to use loud instruments and large groups are. Isn´t that a bit paradoxical!? A brass band with all instruments makes a lot more noise than an individual with a trumpet; therefore, shouldn´t individuals who make less noise be allowed to play brass instruments? How many people make up a large group? What are loud instruments? I understand that the city is trying to ensure a pleasant and harmonious musical experience but still, are all these rules really necessary?

In Salzburg you are not allowed to just go out and play anywhere you want. There are only seven spots where public street music is allowed: the Kapitelplatz, Hanuschplatz, Mozartplatz, Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz, Mirabellplatz, Volksgarten Park and the Lehener Park. The City Administration offers city plans for every single location where the spots for street musicians are indicated. I checked the plans and saw that many places I see street musicians on a daily basis are not indicated. It seems that even with all their rules and guidelines, the city of Mozart has a heart for musicians and at least the locations for street music are not taken that seriously. The curfew for public music making is at 9 p.m. and Salzburg takes theses regulations very serious, unlike the location rule. Apparently the citizens of Salzburg really need their beauty sleep to begin at 9 p.m.

Being a street musician seems to be way more challenging than I anticipated. For me, street musicians were people who just love to make music, go out into the streets and do what they love, without thinking about it too much. As it turns out there is a lot more to keep in mind than just taking your instrument and a case for tips with you. Maybe the next time you are out in the city you will try to be on the look-out for street musicians. As we learned in the movie August Rush: “The music is all around us. You just have to listen!”