A man sat at a Metro station in
Washington, D.C. and started to play the 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 musician playing. He slowed his pace and
stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on 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 best 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 his playing in the
subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats
averaged $100.
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 the best music
ever written, how many other things are we missing?
