A true story.
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 approximately 2000 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 was 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?
[XE here] Every Saturday morning, two guys play outside the Gallery Place metro--one on violin, the other on some kind of electric guitar/keyboard thing (dunno what it is--never seen one before). Last Saturday, they were playing Vivaldi's "Four Seasons." Their playing was so beautiful, it stopped lots of people in their tracks, but even so, only a few people contributed. still, what a fabulous gift....
Some of the pickle bucket players are great, too--it costs me an average of $3 just to walk down the street here....NEED to win that lottery!
Mary Ellen Carew
People can't stop to appreciate beauty? Who gets to decide what's beautiful? Must we all agree? I tried (with my eyes closed even) to listen to Joshua Bell's playing and it made me want to leave the room and get a snack! Vivaldi or pickle drums on the other hand...
ReplyDeleteI just came over from Darlene’s blog. This is quite terrible that so few people in the DC metro stopped to listen to the music. I come from a city which also has a metro. In this metro many musicians play, from many countries and many styles, and I remember that quite a few people stopped and listened because they knew that students of great schools or wonderful musicians are allowed to play in this metro. I am going there next week and I’ll go in the metro and shall stop and listen. I have even bought CDs from some of the musicians in this metro. Of course musicians have been playing there for a long time, even before I came over to the USA as I remember in the 60s stopping at station St Michel and listening often to such groups. I shall see next week if people still stop to listen or if they have changed and become like those in DC and shall let you know. By the way the city is Paris.
ReplyDeleteSarah: It's not a fair test, I agree. Hearing Vivaldi on a Saturday played in an area of town where people come to relax is far different from hearing a very difficult piece by Bach during morning rush hour at a major metro transfer point, no matter how wonderful or accomplished the player or how fabulous his violin.
ReplyDeleteVagabonde: (see above) It depends so much on the time of day here in DC. We have many wonderful musicians who play by the metro entrances, and they always draw listeners in midday and evening. Most musicians, in fact, don't play at all during morning rush. People are too harried then to stop--not even if you are Joshua Bell playing a $3.5 million violin.
I am back. I was intrigued by your clip so I tried to find more about it and found the original article from the Washington Post, here it is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html It is called Pearls before Breakfast and it did make me cry – really – because after all these years of living in this country it is still very hard for me to see how people react to music, art or anything that is not money or work to make money – I feel such sorrow for this country, for these people who would not stop to hear an artist. I read your replied to my first comment but if you will read the article you may know what I mean -
ReplyDeleteI remember the article when it appeared in the Post and wondering what I would have done. I know that feeling--attempted seduction by appealing sound. And almost always rejecting the urge to stop and listen. Almost always being so frazzled or pressured that I can't half for a few minutes. Reminds me of that scene in "Our Town" where kid tries to get mom's attention and mom just can't take in the kid...and that line from same scene I think about how we go through life with blinders on. All kind of blinders. It's awful.
ReplyDeleteCat
hi...i read the article, and i still think the DC metro-goers' reactions had most to do with a) the selection itself and b) the hour at which he played. in DC, you'll get run over in the a.m., especially at the big transfer points, like l'enfant plaza.
ReplyDeleteHey, be careful how you throw around that word 'old'. ;-)
ReplyDeleteyou mean as in "good old Darlene"? I was careful. My OED says "old" "used as expression of familiarity,...often in the collocation 'good old,'[an] expression of COMMENDATION or APPRECIATION."
ReplyDeleteso consider yourself commended and appreciated!!
Gee, thank you so much. I'm glad you cleared that up. :-)
ReplyDeleteKidding aside, I have to admit that 84 can't be considered anything but old -- very old.
actually, being that i'm not THAT far behind you, i don't think of 84 as very old at all.
ReplyDeletemy niece's MIL is 109 and counting!! i think THAT's very old.
This is a very interesting post and full of great comments! Off to read the article in its entire glory...
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty big country, and depending on where you are, you can be surrounded with art appreciation, or in the desert-often in the same place. Don't despair and have faith in art. Many, if not most, great artists don't receive wide spread recognition or appreciation until long after they've left this world.
Sally: You're so right. Van Gogh sold ONE painting while he lived. And Emily Dickinson pubished ONE poem!
ReplyDeleteThis has been an interesting post. The event was two years ago!! but I was intrigued when Darlene (GOOD not-necessarily-old-in-that-sense Darlene) sent the article as a forward this week.
Back when I could hear well, I generally sat down and listened to music with my full attention. Now I can't hear it as well, but I still enjoy it--and I still tend to pay full attention to it. So I'm not exactly the best example of a music appreciator. I get pretty annoyed, actually, when musicians gather at the farmers market, for example, and start tootling away. I enjoy the quiet--I love LOOKING at the fruits and vegetables, imagining how they will taste, how I will cook them. The music is a distraction. If it's good music, I'll go listen to it after I've got my week's produce.
I hope that I would be the sort of person who would not pull a child along if they wanted to listen to the music.
ReplyDeletenobody is the kind of person who pulls a child along if they want to listen to music UNLESS
ReplyDeletethe train they have been riding on was delayed and therefore they are
VERY LATE
and this is the third time they've been late this week and their boss has made ominous remarks about lateness
and the child is late for school AGAIN (more ominous remarks from teacher)
and every morning the child does everything possible to delay her/his arrival to school/daycare--"oh, look, mommy! a musician/a gum wrapper/a dead rat!! i love musicians/gum wrappers/dead rats, don't you? let's stop! what's the giant rush?"
and...you can think of more...
makes me mad that the Washpost had Bell playing during morning rush hour. they should know we're all horrible people here. no soul at all.
(where is that "i has a sad" cat from lolcheezburger? make a good illustration. hmm...cheezburger! there's an idea.)
That is such a terribly sad story. I have to admit I don't often listen to violin music, but I had an opportunity to listen to Bell's CD entitled "At Home With Friends", and I thoroughly enjoyed it. He is an incredibly talented musician, and I loved the way he joined with such a diverse group of other talented artists to develop this CD. From now on I will make a point of paying more attention to the sounds around me as I go about my day!
ReplyDeleteb.kittie
Anyone who pays $3.5 million for a violin is a pretentious fool who has more money than brains.
ReplyDeletecharles pergiel....i dunno. if i had even less brains than money--i.e., none--i could buy a 4 bedroom house sagging off the corner on a nearby street for $1.3 million. it's not even attractive. bell's violin is an antique, made in 1793 by master vioin maker antonio stradivari, and it costs roughly two or three times as much as that crappy old house. (you can buy a brand NEW condo here for same price as bell's violin, but will it still be valuable in two or three hundred years? i'd say bell has a marvelous hierarchy of values, and he's far from pretentious or a fool. you might appreciate his pursuits in technology: (www.toysymphony.net)
ReplyDelete