Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Devil 505 on June 29, 2012, 11:41:43 PM
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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 approx. 2 thousand 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?
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interesting. never been one to totally ignore anything but rapcrap.
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Maybe they were in a hurry, knew it was him, but didnt want to be late for work. Besides maybe they think the violin sucks, "I dont".
Could be Amadeus Mozart sitting there but if Im in a hurry, Im in a hurry. I'll buy a CD later.
In DC He's lucky he didnt get beat down by a gang of 16yo "wilder's" who would then sell his 3.5 m violin for a $20 bag of rock.
If he did the same thing on a Sunday in a lovely park setting with people strolling by at leisure? Im sure a different result. Most of all with the violin, which is a wonderful instrument.
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Interesting read. I love all types of music and song.... except rap which I do not consider as either.
I think I would have stopped to listen. I do not even know the man but a well played instrument by anyone is worth listening to. Of couse I am the type that can look at a painting for long periods of time studying brush strokes and the painters methodology.
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Should of played some Van Halen tunes.
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If I'm in a hurry to work I wouldn't stop to listen to any of my favorite artists. But I do listen to them, through earbuds the whole way. I have about 40 gigabytes of music loaded to my iphone for my work journeys.
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If I'm in a hurry to work I wouldn't stop to listen to any of my favorite artists. But I do listen to them, through earbuds the whole way. I have about 40 gigabytes of music loaded to my iphone for my work journeys.
same here :)
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The 'experiment' was a deliberate attempt to produce the result they intended. People on their way to work don't have time to stop and enjoy. Do the same thing in Central Park or Times square on a weekend and you'll get a quite different result.
The main shopping street in the town I live in, 'Shop Street' always has a few musicians busking. Shoppers and tourists often block the street listening to them. Funnily enough there were none there the other morning at nine o'clock, just delivery trucks and people hurrying to work in the rain.
But it is all too true that we often miss enjoying the finer things of life because we have too much else going on.