In a Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007 a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately two thousand people went through the station. The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened. About 20 gave money but continued on their way. The man collected a total of $32. There was no applause when Joshua Bell finished his concert. Bell is one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, he had sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100. Bell’s incognito appearance in the Metro was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities: In a workaday environment do we perceive beauty? 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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2 comments:
its not the cleanest experiment. subway travelers have been conditioned to not listen to subway musicians because sub-par music is played there just about every day. not to mention the intricacies of the violin - something i don't think i could appreciate even if i knew it was good. we clearly miss a lot as we are zoned in on work mode, but a better experiment may have been a famous painter or even guitarist. in this one though, i kind of feel like people were set up to fail.
Do the math: a soldout concert on Boston (how many seats?) relative to the population of the city. And then 6 people stopping in relation to the amount of people that passed. It could very well be that the naumbers are very close. So, the experiment proves what exactly? That x people out of zillions listen to violin music?
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