There was a movie about this, a news piece put together by the Washington Post I think. It was fascinating.
mistertaterbug wrote: > This was sent to me today. I think it is worth passing along. > Tater > > > A Violinist in the Metro > > > > > 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 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? > > > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
