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Apr
09
Posted on 09-04-2007
Would you recognize the outstanding talents of one of the world’s great violinists if you caught him performing incognito during your rush-hour commute to work?
The Washington Post turned this hypothetical question into a reality: Pearls before Breakfast.
(via Kottke)
April 9th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
There is a great response to the Joshua Bell article by a NYC subway musician in her blog: http://www.SawLady.com/blog
She interprets the situation differently from the Washington Post reporters… I thought you might find it interesting.
April 11th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
[...] follow-up to the Joshua Bell violinist story I posted a couple of days ago has Washington Post staff writer Gene Weingarten answering questions about the [...]
April 16th, 2007 at 4:53 am
What a fantastic article and experiment. Well I have a lot to comment about so here goes.
1) The fact that such a great classical performer got hardly any attention makes me wonder if classical music is just seen to be too “high brow” and we just aren’t exposed to it enough and therefore don’t know how to appreciate it. I must say, I can listen to some classical music, but after about 10 minutes, it can get a bit tedious.
2) Even if people cannot totally appreciate classical music, I’m surprised at how few people even stopped. I know that I always stop to look at some street performer, even if for a little while. We are missing out on the things around us when we’re so focused about work nowadays and everything is rush rush rush. People take so little time to stop and just enjoy the simple beauties around them. I’m guilty of that sometimes too. Recently I was looking for McNaught’s Comet and realised how beautiful the night sky is and how I rarely go outside to look at the stars and appreciate them. Now I take the time to occasionally look up at the night sky.
3) Do people not want to stop at listen because they think they will then have to put in money. I wonder if he was just playing without asking for money if more people would have stopped?
4) When the lady recognised who he was, she stopped and listen. It shows that fame will affect people and that we are sheep sometimes. If there was an announcement all of a sudden that a world famous violinist was playing, even if you didn’t know who he was or appreciate the music, you would still join the crowd and listen, because you are being told that he is good and hence you want to hear what greatness supposedly sounds like.
5) As one person in the article said, context is so important. I think this experiment shows that if you put the best thing in the wrong environment, it still becomes trash.
6) The article does pose a very interesting question of whether real genius would shine through. I don’t know whether that was proven. I guess genius is only genius if you can recognise it, meaning it depends on other people around you.
April 24th, 2008 at 11:22 am
[...] along the lines of a famous musician being ignored while busking, how will people react to an artist street painting which might sell for millions under normal [...]