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 $100.
Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?
My additional thoughts would only be that so many people do things because they are “fashionable” that they forget to look at things with their own eyes, listen with their own ears, and appreciate anything with their own hearts.
Source: WashingtonPost.com
32$ 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.
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