Ghozer Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 This is so awesome. Please take a moment to read: 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 1,100 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, and 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 most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $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? ... Discuss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattricia Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Its funny you should mention this, but on The Moor last Friday was a guitarist playing Beatles numbers. He was excellent and made me stop in my tracks. I put him money in his cap, but he didnt have much in. He didnt look bothered, because he was lost in the beauty of the music. Makes you think doesnt it ? People have no time these days do they ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I thought I saw Elvis Presley doing Jail House Rock in Picadilly Circus Underground back in 1965 but then someone else told me that he never even went to England. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audra Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 This illustrates my late teens bringing a son into the world when I had no job no hopes no money no home and was often stressed trying to find my way to these and sometimes noticing a picture he drew or the light in his innocent eyes ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce_Shark Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Its funny you should mention this, but... You're saying John Lennon was on The Moor last Friday? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I saw this also. Its not suprising that people just get on and do what they have to do no matter how artistic the distraction. If we all stopped and wondered at the beauty in the world we would never get anything done, I don't think this proves anything. Equally we all spend some time in our daily lives to look at the sky, the stars or moon and get lost in how brilliant the world or universe is, if we did not we would not be Human. As far as we know we are the only thing to ever exist that appreciates the complexity of the universe and have created art out to show our respect of it and gain pleasure from it. The fact that we can switch off from it should be no big deal because if you think about it rationally we actually switch 'on' to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Why didn't he choose a busier station? 1 person passing, on average, every three seconds. Nevertheless, as the writer wrote elsewhere in the article: "as an experiment in context, perception and priorities — as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?" Nope. Next question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Its a load of rubbish, as a social experiment it proves nothing that they did not expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phanerothyme Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Like I said, I wonder why they chose the station that they did. Is there usually a busker there? Or is it a really unappealing spot? It won a Pulitzer prize (the whole feature) which surprises me. But I think they are using the word experiment in the literary (i.e. wrong) sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hard2miss Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 More to the point it was just where you came in, and as people we are programmed to not block up door ways and exits so they would would carry on. Had this been a main foyer it would have been a lot different. In an open space people feel free to stop as they are not concious of blocking anyone's path. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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