It is a matter of awareness or .......?

[Guest msclonly]

Subject: Violinist

 

 

 

 

 

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?

 

;(

[Rick Munroe]

>A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy

>steps!

 

What are the 2 easy steps?

[Guy Fawkes]

Thank-you So Much for that Story! Daddy

[Guest andrewd]

A modern day reminder to stop and smell the roses...poignant

[Steven_Draker]

Very nice story. Thanks for sharing, msclonly

 

Steven Draker ~

[a href=http://www.hotsexystud.com/uk]website[/a] [a href=http://www.daddysreviews.com/review.php?who=steven_draker_brussels]reviews[/a]

[a href=http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/stevendraker]Aids LifeCycle 2009[/a]

[+ Tom Isern]

Here's the man in question. You'd think a few might stop.

 

http://froggypic.com/image/01/e73ac782c3c91b213c67364f6ea3731c.jpg

 

http://froggypic.com/image/01/068bc15f0b7201ed106e13c837c589a6.jpg

 

I have to confess, dark hair, smooth body (I suspect), blue eyes...WOOF!

[Guest showme43]

hell yeah I would have stopped, Joshua is fantastic, have a few of his CDs

[Guest EuropTravl]

I was Christmas shopping on a visit to SF and gave a Lincoln to a young violinist who was outside of Macys. After being panhandled by some female thing carrying a white rat and some dude with what looked like a bone through his nose....

[whipped guy]

I certainly would have stopped and given those roses a smell… I remember when Joshua Bell first burst onto the scene in the mid to late 1980’s. He was so very young and contrary to most classical artists at the time many of his publicity shots showed him wearing jeans and casual clothing… He still looks quite young in his early 40’s.

 

At any rate, I always try and stop to listen to the talent that inhabits the subway system when visiting NYC. Always a nice touch is the flutist that plays melodies from that evening’s opera presentation at the MET at the Lincoln Center Subway Station as one is waiting for the train to arrive after the performance. Also, speaking of the MET, I recall a number of years ago hearing a tenor singing in that little plaza across the street from Lincoln Center. It was freezing cold beyond belief and he was performing the aria “Ah! Perche non posso odiarti” from Bellini’s La Sonnambula… a very atypical choice indeed…. And something I will always remember as it is a special favorite of mine. I always wondered what ever happened to him. Could he possibly have turned out to be Juan Diego Flórez???? I doubt it… but looking back it makes one wonder… and is incentive for one to always try and savor that special moment.

[+ Charlie]

One day many years ago, I was walking my dog on 10th Ave behind the Met, and I heard a man walking behind me softly singing an aria to himself. When I bent down to pick up my dog's poop, he stopped singing and said, "Well done!" I twisted around to look up and saw a smiling Jon Vickers.

[Steven_Draker]

A friend of mine sent me the original link from the Washington Post (April 8th, 2007)

 

It's an eye-opening read. Enjoy!

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?referrer=emailarticle

 

and the short video on YouTube

 

 

Cheers, Steven ~

[a href=http://www.hotsexystud.com/uk]website[/a] [a href=http://www.daddysreviews.com/review.php?who=steven_draker_brussels]reviews[/a]

[a href=http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/stevendraker]Aids LifeCycle 2009[/a]

[Guest EuropTravl]

I watched the last video on the WP site - it's not really true he wasn't recognized, was it?

[+ honcho]

At the end of the video, they subtitle what the woman was saying

"I saw you at the library of congress ..."

"It was fantastic".

 

So, clearly, he was recognized by at least one person.

[J-Man]

The story won the Pulitzer Prize for its author, Gene Weingarten, the humor columnist for the Washington Post. I highly recommend his articles and his weekly (Tuesdays, usually) online chats at the Post's website.