This is an incredibly sad story which gave me chills. It is a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people.
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 best 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.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an 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?
My additional thoughts would only be that so many people do things because they are “fashionable” that they forget to look at things with their own eyes, listen with their own ears, and appreciate anything with their own hearts.
Source: WashingtonPost.com
The structure of the human personality as defined by C G Jung described a condition based on four universal aspects. The Persona, The Shadow, The Anima/Animus, The Wise Old Man. I have puzzled at why successful women often marry creative men (who have little else to recommend them). I have concluded that the acceptance of art and the artist is part of the Persona – if you can’t be one, then identify with one – this includes buying art – people identify with the art and it becomes wrapped up in their Persona – that arbitrary construction of a human mask that is shown to others.
A better conclusion is that the arts are not to do with art, but to do with money and prestige.
The woods around my home ring with bird song, drowned out by the sirens, and the sound of traffic. The birds sing louder and more sweetly as if to give nature’s judgement on the cacophony of our daily lives. In the autumn, there is a thrill about the woods, for two or three days the birds that are migrating sing non stop and then suddenly all is quiet. Bach went blind and had ten children, he complained about money and manuovered for his place in the musical hierarchy of his time, which was lowly. Did he know what inspired him was genius, it is doubtful. Like the birds, it was his function in reality to create sublimity and it is what he did. This time, man’s art is dominated by the gloomy spirit of the end of days. It is my sincere hope, that when it passes, ALL individuals will listen to Bach and also the birds as indivisible from each other in a world based on aesthetics, meaning and beauty, rather than the frivolous and the melancholy that partners it.
[...] The art of live performance is one that is often over-looked, we have all read the story about the ignored busker who in fact was actually one of the world’s most respected musicians and this is one of the reasons Melbourne is so wonderful, we love live music. We love our buskers [...]
x posting my comment on a link to this from facebook.
Bach is one of my favorite classical composers. But if I was on my way to work I wouldn’t want to lose my job just to watch someone play violin, famous/million dollar violin or not. I don’t think that “experiment” was well thought out. If he’d done this in a park or a mall I think the result would have been significantly different.
32$ for 45 minutes ? I’m not paid that much !
Or maybe most people just don’t want to pay attention.
maybe most people dont give a sh*t about violin music? maybe delivery is part of it, maybe he should switch to guitar. maybe he should stick to his fancy ass halls playing for fancy ass bigots
Brian … You’re the downfall of America. Congrats your parents must be very proud.
who say that good music was only for the fancy and rich people if we that recognice good music , well thats our problem and dont say stuff like that to cover your ingorance.
Blah blah blah to the naysayers that are posting with “but they were on their way to work,” “it was rush hour” or “no one knew who Bell was.” That doesn’t change the crux of the story-and makes the point of the story even truer.
If modern life is incumbent on developing tunnel-vision to the point that we don’t notice the things around us that can make our lives more rewarding–then what point is this modern life?
How do you know the commuters didn’t appreciated his playing? Their was no follow up, nobody asked the communters if they enjoyed it. When I hear musicians at the train station I don’t stop because I have to be somewhere (usually work), but they usually put a smile on my face and give me a happier outlook for the day. Plus it was during rush hour, if someone randomly stopped it would halt eveyone else and piss off everyone behind them.
Just because they didn’t stop and listen doesn’t mean they didn’t enjoy it, they had a schedule to keep. The children stopped because they have no responsibilities.
plus everyone has different taste in music.
I guess more people should approach “strangers”.
I agree with Richard Drew that playing during the morning rush was a bad idea to begin with. people don’t have time to stop and listen. Also, the whole talk about beauty of the music doesn’t take into account that people who don’t listen to violin music (i would say the majority) cannot tell the difference between one of the best violinists in the world and an everyday street musician that is talented on his instrument of choice. none of them would know whether it was some “intricate piece” or 3.5 million dollar violin. this whole experiment just seems like it was done just so they can publish it and make it into some “crisis in humanity” thing.
Oh my… this gave me chills! So… scary for humanity