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Not sure if this has been posted before, but felt it was something to think about...

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and without stopping continued to walk.

6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent without exception forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station as organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written with one of the
most beautiful instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?

That's a good one. There's been similar bits done as far back as the 50s and 60s when Alan Funt was doing Candid Camera... it's a serious head scratcher when you get right down to it.

Maybe Bach is boring?

We're all guilty of this I think, we go about our lives in a kind of bubble and never really take the time to really look at what's around us.

I think it's context.

Classical music isn't background noise. It asks for a lot of attention from the listener in order to be appreciated.

That's not going to happen on the subway.

Most people, I believe, will pigeonhole any performer as 'busker' and stop actively listening when faced with a performer on the street. They don't want to listen. They just don't want to be delayed or asked for money.

Also, the people that appreciate why Joshua Bell is so good are the ones that buy tickets to see him in a setting that makes him the focus. They're also people that have enough of a passion for classical music to pay $100 for a concert ticket. Grab a random slice of New York commuters, and you won't find a massive proprtion that fit that bill.

There are opera singers and classical musicians performing outside shops in Covent Garden on most days. I honestly couldn't tell the good from the great when I'm munching on a sandwich and slurping coffee. In all honesty, I'd have trouble in a concert hall, as I'm no classical music expert!

The bottom line, in my opinion, is that those people who could have recognised and appreciated the talent, just didn't want to make a connection with the performer.

Pete

It's not the commuters fault. A stunt like this proves nothing. People were trying to get to work. They hadn't got time to stop and listen to a violinist. Even if people recognised the music, the violinist, or the instrument he was playing, how many would have had time to actually stop and listen to him? They had to get to work, they had a train to catch, they had food to buy, childcare to organise, and deadlines to keep to. It's life.

Makes a nice "gosh how true, aren't we silly" type story but means nothing apart from that.

This is an interesting post as only a few weeks ago I was faced with a guitar playing busker in Solihull and I had some time to spare.

I really enjoyed sitting on a warm day and listening and tipped him for the entertainment.

Most people, I believe, will pigeonhole any performer as 'busker'

I think that there is a lot of truth in this and it follows on with many an entertainer. There is perhaps a lot of assumption made about performers and I would tend to think that the material and how it appeals to people will have a lot to do with how the public react.

They hadn't got time to stop and listen to a violinist

I see the point but I'm not sure that I agree in most cases. No doubt there are some people who will have a reason for being in a hurry but a lot just get caught in the flow. I feel that people will make time if there is something worth stopping for. If it had been someone who was more instantly recognisable as a celebrity then the whole place would have stopped.

It was just that no-one really knows Joshua Bell or what he looks like.

An interesting experiment though.

theres a cracking singer/guitarist in Westminster tube these days...tall jamaican fella...i always listen...wish he'd do a gig somewhere soon...

i did ask but he was busy singing...very rude...

People are just in too much of a rush sometimes and London seems far worse for it than most places. Why not just leave the house 5 minutes earlier and just take a little more time to stroll and enjoy your surroundings. All this buzz, buzz, buzz can't be good for anyone and we're surrounded by so many amazing things everyday that 99% of people just miss because they're in too much of a hurry.

There is a codicil to this news article.

the next week Joshua Bell played a piece by the American/Chinese classical composer Bright Sheng.

This time the audience loved him. But that's because he managed to get the notes in the right order and actually play a proper tune.

As Bell himself commented.

His Bach's worse than his Bright.

I agree with Pete and Paul. It's about context. I worked at a Tube station for a few years and nothing will stop a commuter from getting on that train as quickly as they possibly can. We had a bomb alert one day and even that didn't stop some of them. "What do you mean there's a bomb on the train?! I need to get to work!"

It was an interesting experiment, but I'm not sure how valid it was in that environment.

I think the people who planned this probably had an idea in their head what they wanted this story to be all about. As Replicant points out, the underground at a major city is a crazy place at the best of time. The Washington DC metro would be crazy at rush hour. Nobody will be there who isn't heading to their offices.

I would suggest if they did the same experiment outside Waitrose in Bournemouth the reaction would be considerably better. It's all about context.

I'm sure Joshua Bell is an excellent performer, well capable of making exquisite music but had a certain segment of the Washington underclass known that he had a $3.5 million violin, there would have been no shortage of attention......................


TI

aporia wrote:His Bach's worse than his Bright.

Oh my.

There is some joke in the back of my head about lots of dogs and Offenbach but let's not go there.

I do agree with the general consensus about the “experiment”, but nevertheless find it an interesting piece.

I like the implication that the kids “knew” he (or the music?) was special. As much as I would love to believe that, I think it was more the case, he was interesting, and they would have been just as fascinated if he had played no music but had been dressed up in – let us say an animal costume.

Having said that though, we know kids excel at many things at a young age that slowly dies out as they get older. Such as learning – specifically language, so why not an appreciation of the complexities of music? Perhaps babies are born with other “powers”? Perhaps in the first months they can read minds? Any way – I digress.

themagicwand wrote:It's not the commuters fault. A stunt like this proves nothing. People were trying to get to work. They hadn't got time to stop and listen to a violinist. Even if people recognised the music, the violinist, or the instrument he was playing, how many would have had time to actually stop and listen to him? They had to get to work, they had a train to catch, they had food to buy, childcare to organise, and deadlines to keep to. It's life.

Makes a nice "gosh how true, aren't we silly" type story but means nothing apart from that.

On the whole I agree with that – however it makes you wonder what they would have stopped for, and what that says about us. For example, would they have stopped for a couple of young attractive and naked females singing Chas and Dave songs? Would they have stopped, if they had seen a celebrity – let us say, David Beckham doing keepy uppies? Perhaps not everyone, but I would hazard a guess that more than stopped for the violinist. So it isn’t all about a lack of time.