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interesting...
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| Fran666 |
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 1,100 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, and 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 most talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston where 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? |
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| Fran666 |
| quote: | Originally posted by zeKsg
old news bro |
sorry caught this on facebook today. guess i missed it.
yeah it's from 2007. |
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| DarknessBrotha |
| Interesting story I had this as a case study in Buyer behaviour class. |
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| WittyHandle |
It is an interesting study. It tries to paint the picture that we only perceive beauty where we expect to see it, and overlook it where we don't. The other side of it, though, is that like a lot of refined art, classical violin requires some knowledge and experience in order to appreciate it. It's like wine. I don't know jack about it, so if you put a glass of what others would pay top dollar for in front of me, I would react to it the same way people reacted to this violinist in the subway. Doesn't mean I'm overlooking quality. It just means I haven't learned to appreciate it. If you took a normal person off the street and put them in the best club in the world with the best DJ's on Earth, they'd probably go "meh". Same thing.
There is some truth to this study, but it's rather misleading at the same time. |
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| Spin Laden |
| what he made over that 45 mins could be translated to a salary of over $90,000, that's not too shabby either |
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| justin |
| This news still circulating in internet circles. Mighty morphine power beaver. |
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| Looney4Clooney |
buskers make money by being slightly odd and between a certain range of talent. Too good and people just think you will do find. There has to be a desperation to it. HIs repertoire stuff people just won't give a about. Technical but not flashy to turn heads. Had he done the pagannini caprices and looked like a junkie, he would be making alot more. Had he played folkish music, even more.
most classical takes too long for the pay off. People won't recognize it and assume it is some student and figure they are taking the money from the real buskers. That is at least how I feel when i see certain musicians that are too good to be doing that .
It is very simple why he made so little. People give money to buskers mostly out of pity. It is charity, not a reward for skill.
That drummer guy in montreal, looks dishevelled , is good but not too good and does lots of flashy stuff that people think is hard. I heard he makes 100 - 200 an hour during peak times. He has a website, runs a ty studio and owns a home. But he looks so ing poor, looks desperate and well there you go. |
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