THE SITUATION

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 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 the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 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.

After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

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 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*If so, 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 as we rush through life?



Enjoy life NOW .. it has an unknown expiration date

Wow.

Awesome story.

Whenever I'm in the subway and something GOOD is being played (provided that I am not rushing to catch a train)...I do sit and watch/listen...and I give my kids a dollar or two to throw in the hat.

If dude had been at a BART station in San Francisco somebody would have gone, "Hey! That's Joshua Bell!"

Very cool story, but I'm not sure I understand exactly how the first two questions apply.

*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

Beauty is, as they say, in the eye of the beholder. Even amongst classical music listeners, of which I am one, there is a great deal of argument and debate of what is "beautiful", or "great". Different people like different eras of classical composition. Maybe talent would be a better fit. And care, do we care about the talent on display? I'm not sure that really works either, as someone could recognize talent and still not care because they don't like the music. Or somebody could see something as beautiful but not care about their talent. Shoot. I don't know - that's a weird question.

*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

I've known a few people (a couple of them are friends) who make really good money busking (you don't have to report it as income), so I don't think I can answer this objectively. Personally, I'll stop. In fact, I'm far more likely to stop and listen than I am to give them money. I get this question, I'm just no sure how the "If so" applies to my difficulty with the question above.

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

See, here they use talent, not beauty. And my anwer to that is, yes, but we don't always care.

I wonder if female strippers could do they same thing. You know strip at the metro station?

kewlschool said:

I wonder if female strippers could do they same thing. You know strip at the metro station?

Yes, please.