Social Experiment
violin; it was a cold January morning. 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 a 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 most
famous musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate
pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a
theater in Boston and the seats average $100 each.
This is a real 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 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 some of the best music ever written, how many other things
are we missing?
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