This from friend Allen Fehr. I suggest the issue may be how “free” can de-value very important things in our minds.
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The
man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During
that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of
them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed
there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few
seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in
the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.
6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at
his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly The
kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard
and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This
action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without
exception, forced their children to move on quickly.
45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened
for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their
normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one
applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the
greatest 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 Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats
averaged $100.
This is a true 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 people’s priorities. The
questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate
hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we
recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
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.
17 Comments
Great article. I would have paid for this!
One tiny note.. “dev-alue” should be “de-value”
kg
Lovely.
Its all about perception for the audience. Paul McCartney did a similar thing some years ago and had a result much like that one. Its as much about the setting and the personality (read:celebrity) as it is the music. Nobody in the US was listening to Howling Wolf or John Lee Hooker until the likes of Keith Richards & Erc Clapton started name-checking them as influences. Then their careers really took off and a new audience “discovered” them in the mid 60s, even though these guys had been playing since the late 40s.
Also, just a thought, we tend not to appreciate those things that we get easily.
Amazing…when the music left the front porches and the community halls of our society we all lost some appreciation for beauty. In doing my studies on roots music I’ve discovered that one of the big breaking points in how we appreciate music occurred when the music of our communities started to be broadcast over the radio waves in order to draw listening audiences for the sake of advertising sales. When art became the tool to draw folks into consumerism, we all lost. Sadly today advertisers use great music to sell their wares and many of those artists become “flashes in the pan” because consumers see them as lacking authenticity.
I agree with my good friend Graeme, sadly it takes superstars to turn us on to the music that has been in our own back yard for centuries.
Thanks for posting this Dan.
Indeed. Good weigh-ins guys. Love to see how Thesis research sweeps into this as well, Dylan.
It’s going to be a great book when you’re finished. Everyone, I will be encouraging you to connect with Dylan’s book coming out in a year or two on roots music and its lessons for today. It’s going to be quite elegant for the soul.
Ooph!! Maybe if we didn’t listen to music for 24 hours we might stop, listen and appreciate. But that sounds to much like a discipline…
To add to this, I read an article about U2 adjusting to a changing world of music. In it, Adam Clayton was quoted as saying, “What is rock ‘n’ roll in this changing world?’ Because, to some extent, the concept of the music fan — the concept of the person who buys music and listens to music for the pleasure of music itself — is an outdated idea.” and then continues by observing “Music exists in an environment where people are multitasking, and I think that’s a very different environment.”
Might explain why people passed by Joshua Bell in their multitasking mode…
great post. thanks! i’ve really enjoyed everyone’s comments too.
A number of years ago, while spending 6 weeks in Chicago for IBM training, we came out for lunch and there was a string quartet playing in a courtyard-type area. Every night you can take in some pretty serious jazz players along Michigan Ave but these folks were different. While some people went by quickly without much notice, I spent my entire lunchtime taking in their wonderful music. I never found out who they were but I was lost in their musicianship for quite a blissful long time.
I have found we not only devalue music but we devalue people when we don’t notice. We do miss a lot and people are fascinating. More than that, they are God’s beautiful creation with skills honed over a lifetime. We may never get a chance to listen to them ever again so we should take a bit of time and soak them in for as long as we can. God may be singing words of provision to us that we just pass on by and go on without.
Interesting article. It makes me wonder what I would have done. would I have stopped and listened? or would I have just passed him by? Thanks for the post Dan!
“Amazing…when the music left the front porches and the community halls of our society we all lost some appreciation for beauty.”
Quote of my day. Nice.
Kris
This is really interesting, Dad. I especially liked when the article said, “The
questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate
hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it?’ That’s a really great line…I won’t forget it.
I think miss far more than we could ever imagine. We are trained by society there are certain frameworks or systems that define greatness.
I wonder too if we are so unaware of the reality of such situations because if we stop to notice, our hearts might be affected and we may fell we should give something or do something. If we keep on walking, we don’t have to engage the situation.
This, unfortunately, sort of reflects the attitude of the church towards the world sometimes. we go on with our schedules, at times, hardly stopping to see what may really be going on in people’s lives.
This story also brought to mind the movement, “Playing for Change.” (www.playingforchange.com) A team travels around the globe recording musicians, vocalists, choirs, et cetera. They’re all playing the same music and then, once back at the studio, it gets mixed… Amazing stuff!
Cheers!
For several years I have had a canary in the house. I love the way they sing! When canaries molt, they stop singing and the last several birds I’ve had never sang as beautifully after their first season of molting. But the canary I have now is a canary and goldfinch mix and he is a singer of the most amazing songs! He recently began singing again and I notice his song all throughout the day. Maybe I notice because he has been silent for the last month or so?
I wonder if maybe being surrounded by so much sound and activity (read: noise and hurry) contributes to not being able to hear even the most beautiful songs. Leaving space for silence and stillness has given me the gift of hearing.
Thanks for the post, Dan!
I had perhaps had less chance than others to hear performances like this on the farm in Saskatchewan. What I did learn to appreciate from a young age was sunrises and sunsets. We were blessed daily with un-describable beauty and colours painted on a vast moving canvas.
Where I live now those moments are rare by comparison, but I make every effort when presented with a chance to experiance the “real world” around me, to take it.
Our children learn from watching and modeling us. Is our society in it’s rush for getting more and getting it faster, snuffing out that childlike recognition of beauty and wonder at an earlier age every year?
I hope my children will stop and “listen” to the world around them.
The Washington Post made a video about this as well. You can go to the following link and watch Joshua Bell play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnOPu0_YWhw
Ben – thanks for the posting of the youtube video – it makes the point more poignant. How often I wonder in our lives, have we bypassed something of the beauty of God, just because it wasn’t packaged with the latest fancy wrappings. Or because there wasn’t a huge sign in bright colourful lights saying ‘watch me’. It is a message of appreciation of the simple things in life, not to take anything for granted. Perhaps too, don’t judge a book by its cover – delve deeper. I pray I will listen to the instrinsic beauty of all music and not be judgemental but appreciate everything and that no matter who is playing, the greatest instrumentalist of, will always be God.
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