Interesting encounter outside Redhill MRT station

Encountered something really quite interesting on my way to work this morning....

You know, sometimes there are these street musicians playing around the MRT areas? Usually, they play on an acoustic guitar (plugged in to an amp), and have a small microphone clipped to their shirts, and they'll sing some oldies/pop songs while their plucked their chords or strum along. Well, the guy whom I came across today (at the Red Hill MRT vicinity) was also playing a guitar which was plugged into an amp. But it was an classical guitar, and guess what he was playing - when I was walking past him -?

Bach's Prelude from the fourth lute suite (sometimes referred to as "Preludium" or "Praludium"). I think it's BWV 1006.

Perhaps this is not uncommon in other parts of the world, where classical guitar is a more commonly studied instrument, not unlike the piano or violin. But here in Singapore, the percentage of music students who take classical guitar as a instrument for performance and study is probably minute compared to the ever popular piano, and with the violin coming a close second. To many lay person here, the guitar is mostly viewed as an instrument for pubs and church groups, where it is used as a main tool for strumming out chords to accompany singing/vocals.

Anyway, back to the busker playing the Bach's Prelude.

I stopped long enough to hear a good part of his playing, and though it certainly wasn't like listening to Parkening or Segovia (on CD, of course!), I have to say he was pretty good. A couple of missed notes here and there, some parts weren't well executed, but generally the tempo was not that slow, and it came through. Pity nobody, besides me, was in a mood to listen to him - we are talking about rush hour in the morning, at 8:00am.

Somehow, I feel encouraged to practise my solo scores after this experience. Afterall, I've just changed a new set of strings for my beloved Kohno yesterday, in preparation for Gutiaresque performances in the upcoming weeks!