What Would You Do In This Situation?
Written on September 21, 2007 by Tezza
Friday’s weekly guide to Life Balance from 4EvaYoung.com
Washington Post writer Gene Weingarten wanted to try an experiment on unsuspecting morning rush hour workers. “Will one of the nation’s greatest musicians be noticed in a D.C. Metro stop during rush hour?”
So Gene enlisted the help of Joshua Bell who has been described as “A onetime child prodigy”. “At 39 Joshua Bell has arrived as an internationally acclaimed virtuoso. For this incognito performance, Bell had only one condition for participating. The event had been described to him as a test of whether, in an incongruous context, ordinary people would recognize genius.”
Bell was playing with a priceless Strad bought for $3.5 million so you would expect that a crowd would form to witness a performance that would otherwise cost hundreds. So with this social experiment underway, what would you do in this situation? Would you throw out your morning routine and take a few minutes to appreciate what would otherwise be a once in a lifetime performance, would you just walk by oblivious or would you even care?
“In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.”
Gene goes on to write “We’re busy. Americans have been busy, as a people, since at least 1831, when a young French sociologist named Alexis de Tocqueville visited the States and found himself impressed, bemused and slightly dismayed at the degree to which people were driven, to the exclusion of everything else, by hard work and the accumulation of wealth.”
The bigger question is that “If we can’t take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that — then what else are we missing?”
One of the only people to recognise Joshua Bell and what a gift it was that he was playing was Furukawa. “It was the most astonishing thing I’ve ever seen in Washington,” Furukawa says. “Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and people were not stopping, and not even looking, and some were flipping quarters at him! Quarters! I wouldn’t do that to anybody. I was thinking, Omigosh, what kind of a city do I live in that this could happen?”
Popularity: 9% [?]
If you enjoyed this post please leave a comment, bookmark it or share it:Related Posts:
The reaction of the general populace doesn’t surprise me in the least. Context is everything, don’t you think? And timing. Rush hour is just that: rushing to meet deadlines of some sort.
And OK, I am in love with Joshua Bell. There. I’ve said it. now the whole world knows.
Marti in Mexico
Marti, haha, yes your secret is out, although your not alone i’m sure =). Yes, I think context has a whole lot to do with it as everyone I’ve asked seem to believe that they would also have walked right pass. But I also think it’s symptomatic of our society because if you were to do this stunt in a slower paced society there would definitely be more people who would stop and listen.
Man I would have loved to be passing by – I love JOSHUA BELL – he is an amazing violist!! It’s just a pity he is not well known outside of the classical music genre circle – if they had put a main stream ‘pop artist’ there, im sure there would have been many people stopping to watch, maybe even a traffic riot haha. Yes people are busy but unfortunately people don’t appreciate classical music as much anymore…. It’s a peculiar taste!
both marti and karen have raised great points…interesting though, coz the other night someone (i don’t know who) was playing the cello in the train on peak hour! it was amazing, and most people appreciated the guy and he wasn’t asking for money. what stood out for me was “the bigger question” and all i have to say is just refer to the article “a simple life well lived.”
I’ve said that least 1574875 times. The problem this like that is they are just too compilcated for the average bird, if you know what I mean