Performing music in subway requires audition

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - New York City has many places to showcase musical talent. One of the most endearing is right beneath your feet: the subway.

Rob Anderson is a subway performer -- one of the ones who serenade you as you're racing for the A, the LIRR or any MTA train. Three to four times a week, he hauls his bass to subway stations across the city, greeting straphangers with melodies they may or may not have heard before. He's been doing it for 20 years.

Subway performers are part of the MTA's Music Under New York program, which since 1985 has allowed some of the best unsung Big Apple talent to shine subterraneously.

Susan Keser of Sunnyside, Queens, has been subway performing for about 3 years. We asked her about nerves when playing for some of the toughest critics you'll ever meet: random New York strangers

The MTA has about 350 musicians and groups who do about 7,500 subway performances a year. Each must apply and audition for a chance to make the commute in and around New York City just a little sweeter to do.