Something to think about
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 $200 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?
Or, perhaps the average person is sooooo musically illiterate that he or she can’t hear genius when it’s right there.
Although I suspect framing had a lot to do with it in this case.
I don’t see the problem, he worked/played an hour and made 32 dollars, I’d say that’s a far wage for a working musician without a PA or lighting gear.
Although I’d suspect a run down looking guy with holes in his pants and a beat up guitar singing the blues would have made more, there is the pity factor when it comes to subway station performances, considering he doesn’t look like anyone you might feel sorry for I’d say he did pretty good on talent and musicianship alone.
I think people want to appreciate beauty, but when THEY want to RIGHT NOW, not now, but NOW, or maybe LATER, it’s a control thing people want to control when and where and only when they are ready to be entertained or admire beauty, flick the remote, click the mouse, press start on the microwave…play with their ipad…you would think with all this tech advantage to scheduling things so quickly people would have more time to live life, instead it becomes their life just running all the gadgets, stuff like this is just a nuisance when they are trying to listen to LAdy GAGA on their ipod and text their friend at the same time…
keep shinin
jerm 
Hhmm!? Would a rare orhid blooming through the metro concrete or a pair of black swans landing in the station attract more attention?
I’m not sure I understand the integrity of the experiment. Entrapment?
And what does that say about us? 
keep shinin
jerm
I don’t think the guy would have made that much over here at the Halifax/Dartmouth Ferry Terminal on the Dartmouth or Halifax side of the harbour… However, if you’d spend $2,000.00 on promotions and Media Interviews and feature him a the Dalhousie University Arts Center on a Wednesday night, it could be interesting what his ticket sales totals at $40.00,each, might be… ?
Bill…
recently, a woman, seven and a half month pregnant, tripped and fell in a busy street and no one helped her to her feet - one passer-by actually tutted?
Great post Bill! Tony that’s a frightening thought
Lots of University Kids in their third and fourth year are given papers to do …
where they experiment with people’s minds and see just how human nature behaves…
Large cities like New York are great places/centers to work on projects like that…
Not so much here in Downtown, Cole Harbour…
You do that here you might get shot…
hehehe…
Bill…
Perception is nine tenths of the law.
keep shinin
jerm
Tony,
I agree that as an "experiment’ it is fatally flawed, nonetheless it raises interesting questions. I, for instance, can’t help but wonder if I would have stopped to listen - for more than a few seconds. Sadly, I think the answer is: …depends on what else I had going on.
Yup. Same. We’re not evil - we’re just crap
I also wonder if we sometimes might ignore some things because of deep seated snobbery, fear, selfishness…
Hi Gents:
It was late October/1998 ?
Was it that long ago ?
gEE wIZZ… The AES Show was in San Fransisco that fall…
Radar Wayne and I were there for the Big Event…
We had a Hotel Booked on South Central Market Street…
(Downtown)
However, the Convention Center isn’t open to visitors, in the evenings or after dark…
We used to go uptown, Knob Hill/ China Town, to the restaurants wherever, in the evenings…
It’s a great town…
I’ve never been there before…
Anyway, we used to take the Cable Car and look at the sights-and-all…
Anyway, that one night we were a little later when we decided to walk back home…
Mostly downhill, but quite a walk…
I’d say it was close to 1 am…
We were several blocks from the Hotel…
WHEN…
a guy came outta an alley…
He had a tin cup…
and was lookin for a hand-out…
I conceived we were in some kind of trouble…
I gave Wayne an elbow and said, we had better keep to ourselves…
With-in minutes it got pretty bad and I said lets pick up the pace…
At that moment he (Wayne, WHY ?
I don’t know), dropped some coins into one of the cups when the guy began to shake it like a rattle…
All the Cardboard Boxes, came to life…
As a result, we ended up at a full run for the rest of the way to the hotel and barely made it back…
It was that close…
Downtown San Fransisco
is known for Panhandlers…
among other things…
we later found out…
Anyway, we survived…
Bill…
I dunno…was the experiment flawed? Depends on what they were testing for. The thing is, how many people capable of understanding the genius of that music, or the quality of that musician, actually passed by? If the answer is “none,” then the test was flawed, but if the answer is “many” then the test may not have been flawed, and we could conclude that framing is necessary for the appreciation of art.
So is it a question of choice?
I don’t think the experiment was flawed at all. The experiment was to see how people would respond to the entire experience.
People won’t necessarily be as receptive in some environments compared to other environment because of what they are interesting in at that moment.
Folks that went to the subway expecting to see and hear a great music performance would more than likely be aware of the quality of the musicianship in front of them than those that were simply thinking about getting home to relax after a long days work (or were of the going to work mindset).
I don’t think the experiment in it’s simplicity should be taken to show more than the general public needs to be in a receptive mode to notice things.
Take this really out of context and envision of someone crossing a busy street. Would they notice the beauty of a painting lying in the road if they were dogging cars? They might see a painting. They might not notice the extent of the beauty. They might notice enough beauty to go back and stop cars to rescue the painting from cars running over it. Only after doing that would they be able to find out if it was a painting or a $3 poster.
So I tried the same experiment, I played guitar downtown, and people did in fact notice me, which is why I had to leave, because they seemed not to appreciate my genius.
paradiddle-splash