amazing, yet scary...

[peeddrroo]

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.

Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the top 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 his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station

was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty?

Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?


The video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw

[Emissary]

The children wanted to stop and listen, thus proving my theory that the further we emotionally move away from childhood the less intelligent we become. Thats why i'm such an immature twat.

[Moody]

Pretty insane story!

[p00ka]

I think the moral of this story is:

People won't stop to listen to a "street performer" when they are late for work.

As sad as this may be, I can't say I'm too surprised.

[Hidden Driveways]

NOTE TO SELF:

Stop releasing albums during rush hour.

[mr.adl]

Wow, thanx for that!

[vicz]

maybe he should take up the accordion..

[Heiko]

great playing

[Homebelly]

About a very silly and baseless "experiment"

What a bunch of shit....
Most people are not musicians or art conscious.
Most people passing through that subway station have to go to work for eight to ten hours.
They have to get up early to do it.
They have to spend 30 or 40 minutes, maybe more, on a crowded form of mass transit to get there.
If they are any thing like me, the are probably partially sleep deprived and in need of coffee, not some wanker, no matter how good he might be, or how lofty the music he is playing, squawking away on a fucking expensive fiddle!!

[peeddrroo]

About a very silly and baseless "experiment"

What a bunch of shit....
Most people are not musicians or art conscious.
Most people passing through that subway station have to go to work for eight to ten hours.
They have to get up early to do it.
They have to spend 30 or 40 minutes, maybe more, on a crowded form of mass transit to get there.
If they are any thing like me, the are probably partially sleep deprived and in need of coffee, not some wanker, no matter how good he might be, or how lofty the music he is playing, squawking away on a fucking expensive fiddle!!

still, beauty would be next door, and they would miss it because of all these reasons, and it's a shame.

if instead they had put a poster about paris hilton's latest sexual fantasy, i'm sure a lot of ppl would have taken 2mn to check it.

[heavensdaw]

I've never been understood or appreciated..

Hd

[leonard]

Do we perceive beauty?

what's beauty?

best music ever written,

who says?
you shouldn't criticise people because they don't share the same values as you. more than likely they don't give a shit. it would be more interesting to take a survey to see who on the subway actually went to the $100 a head concert the other night. don't call people 'blind' or 'ignorant' because they don't care for bach. it's not the only thing in the world, you know.

[leonard]

btw why is it scary?

[timothyallan]

Good question

[udp]

He should have played in Detroit. There aren't any people rushing off to work in Detroit.