A man sat at
a metro station in Washington DC 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 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 top 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 average $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?