A young man in a baseball cap positioned himself near a trash can at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin. 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 off.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the hat and without stopping continued to walk.
A few minutes later, a man leaned against the wall to listen to him, but quickly looked at his watch and started to walk again.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother pulled him along, but the kid stopped to stare 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.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He had just played some of the most intricate pieces ever written on a violin worth about $3.5 million dollars.
Joshua Bell played incognito in the metro station as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people organized by the Washington Post. The questions the experiment asked were: in a common environment at an inappropriate hour do we recognize beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context/environment?
In this modern society if we can not take a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the most beautiful music ever written, how many other things are we missing? Have we lost the ability to recognize raw talent or appreciate beauty?
The Village Voice captured a moment like this when Kaki King played in a New York subway station as part of their "Possibly 4th Street" series.
For any of you who might not be familiar with Kaki King...In February 2006, King was named as a “Guitar God” by Rolling Stone Magazine, becoming the first ever female to make this list in the history of the publication. Also Dave Grohl is quoted as saying: “There are some guitar players that are good and there are some guitar players that are really fucking good. And then there's Kaki King." in front of an sold-out audience that included Jimmy Page. She then joined him on stage and made him look like an amateur and he knew it.
Here is Kaki King's subway performance:
Just a reminder to stop, look, and listen. You never know what might be right in front of you.
Posts
