Two of my favorite things are playing music and being outside. I have found that porches combine these elements in a way that yields pleasure in my soul.
Unfortunately, the house where I currently live doesn't really have a porch. It's more of a stoop, and not much of one at that. I do sit on it from time to time, but it isn't the same. It's mostly just where I hang out with the neighborhood cats.
Of all the places that I have lived over the years, only a few of them have had great porches. I played a lot of music on
those porches.
As a musician, I tend to think of settings like these as kind of a middle ground between public and private spaces. There is a slight performative aspect of playing songs on one's porch or in the back yard, but to me, it's more about expressing my love of music from within the comfort of a familiar place.
Music is meant to be shared. To the occasional pedestrian passing by, it might be a brief moment of atmosphere, if anything, and neighbors tend to be cool with it. Realistically, most people probably don't even notice and/or care. I'm just happy to put my music out into the world in any way that I can.
In my experience, depending on the porch, passersby might hear but not necessarily see me, and very rarely did anyone ever approach me in that space. Even then, they were always friendly. Personally, I find that music in unexpected places can sometimes feel almost magical, and I like to believe that others share that sentiment.
One caveat to this is that I don't recommend engaging in the very early stages of practicing any instrument in a semi-public place, because frankly, no one wants to hear that. Sorry, but practice should always precede performance, even in a low-stakes setting such as this. You have to learn your craft to some degree before you are ready to share it with others, much like how you probably wouldn't want to
prepare a meal for guests if you have never actually cooked before.
However, once you have a song pretty well worked out or the improvisational chops to fake it, playing music on the porch is a good way of easing into the performance part. It's also an opportunity to share your artistry with anyone who cares to listen and happens to be walking by.
Of all the many, many times that I have played music on a porch, no one has ever booed or yelled anything at me. Or maybe I just didn't hear it. Either way. If you have a porch and some songs to play, I encourage you to put those things together and spread some much needed magic in world.
