A Run-In with New York’s Subway Performers

Over fall break this past weekend, my friends and I rented out an Airbnb in Harlem and spent four days exploring and taking in the big city. Being about a hundred blocks from downtown, we inevitably spent much of our time riding the New York subway. On one such occasion, we happened across a pair of young performers who had set up a speaker below the streets, and were performing as a violin-clarinet duo. Now, I’ve seen subway performers before, and a majority of the time the performances are nothing to get excited about. On this occasion, though, two things stood out. The first was how young this duo was: the two were obviously still high school students; one was even wearing sweatpants with their school’s band logo on it. The second was how talented they were despite their age, and, most importantly, how much passion they put into the music they were producing. In one moment the violinist hit a minute-long improv, while in another the clarinetist took the crowd on a smooth, echoing solo. Their performance not only held everyone on our platform spellbound,  but even attracted the attention of the platform across the rail. It was very refreshing seeing young talent going out and performing what they love, no matter the stage.