From an email I received and verified at Snopes:
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 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 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.
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?
Some of the best sidewalk music and acrobatics I’ve ever seen was in Barcelona, Spain. One man held a hundred of us captive for half an hour as he performed various tricks with a bicycle, like balancing it on his nose. Walking through the ancient architecture we found various groups singing and playing instruments. The quality was very high.
But we were on vacation, and had time to take it in. We weren’t on our way to work. I wonder what they proved here?
Piece of Mindful 
I remember when this story came out in the Post. It’s slightly misleading; most folks can’t tell the difference between world-class and, say, a student performance of classical music. Plus it’s during rush-hour. If they tried this experiment during a festival or at an outdoor cafe, you’d get different results…
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I think what they proved, Mark, is that a theater in Boston is a better venue for Joshua Bell than a Metro Station during rush hour in DC. It may have something to do with acoustics. Now, balancing a bicycle on the end of one’s nose is an entirely different matter as far as a plausible Metro gig is concerned. On the next slow news day the Washington Post might consider that guy from Barcelona as a rush hour opening act.
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I’d have to disagree with Jay and Bob. Quality is quality. The theaters and museums are built to exhibit talent like Mr. Bell’s, but they’ve never played a note themselves. The commuters who walked by heard world class music but didn’t lift their heads up to hear it, or open their eyes to see it. That self-absorption causes us to miss or even abuse most of what is a very beautiful world–whether it’s man-made or natural.
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My curiosity aroused, I checked YouTube to see if there was a video posted of this event, and yes, there is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myq8upzJDJc
The Washington Post prefaces their YouTube visuals with a notice that this stunt occurred at “7:51 a.m. on January 12.” The video is run at high speed for the most part, so the 45 minute performance takes slightly less than three minutes on YouTube. People enter and exit the Metro in rushed spurts, obviously intent on boarding a scheduled train, or exiting one.
The article cited by Mark states: “When he [Joshua Bell] finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.” That is not true, as the video demonstrates. One woman, in fact, spoke directly to Joshua Bell: “I saw you at the Library of Congress. It was fantastic. This is one of those things that could only happen in D.C.” Joshua Bell approached the woman and responded: “Thank you.”
The Washington Post concludes by asking: “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?” I would say that accurate reporting by the Washington Post is certainly one thing we are missing, judging from this bit of journalistic nonsense.
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Boy, I just watched the video. An audience of mostly no one, and at most 2 or 3…as hundreds of people stream by. I’d say the Washington Post reported this accurately, and surmised the results of this experiment correctly, as did Mark.
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I spent the better part of 15 years riding the El (Chicago’s subway) and have a realistic take on what gets one’s attention on a subway platform. First there is the constant threat that you’re going to be pick-pocketed. Then there’s the smell, the noise of the trains, and the cacophony of feet on concrete. Combine that with the fact that most everyone is in a hurry. If the guy had performed at say 2:00 pm, when there are less trains and fewer people trying to get to work on time, I’d bet that the audience would have been much, much bigger.
I recall many occasions when I was on a platform in mid-afternoon and enjoying the “street theater.” From percussion bands pounding on 5 gal plastic tubs, to sax quartets, to singers from the Chicago Operetta. But at rush hour I usually had a pretty singular focus – getting my ass to work.
I agree with Bob. This is journalistic nonsense.
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Heartland, have you ever ridden the Metrorail in DC? It’s a damned efficient system, for the most part, but people are always in “haul ass” mode so they can make connections on various Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, and other color-coded lines. If it is ten minutes to eight on a Monday morning, people are streaming in all directions at once. You might compare it to subatomic life in a particle accelerator. The same is true at the end of the day.
When you’ve got a few minutes to board your line on the Metrorail, a violin performance is the last thing on a commuter’s collision course with scheduled reality. That does not disparage Joshua Bell’s talents, nor does it define rush hour commuters as cultural illiterates. If the Washington Post wants to engage in “a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people,” they are going to have to come up with a broader sampling of venues and artistic opportunities to come anywhere near the “accuracy” that you would like to ascribe to this particular publicity stunt. Colonel Tom Parker used to conduct these kinds of “social experiments” for Elvis Presley! It’s called “selling tickets,” not “science.”
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Allow me to add, having just read Dave’s comment above. I agree about an increased potential for an audience in the Metro (or El) at 2:00 p.m. rather than 8:00 a.m. Mom is likely to be out with kids (including the neighbor’s), and would likely encourage them to listen to Joshua Bell or a reggae band or whatever was being presented at the time. I would love to experience Dave’s daughter dancing, but not in a Metrorail station or the El during morning or evening rush hours. That would constitute cruel and unusual punishment for all concerned.
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I have ridden that system, and will again in about 3 weeks–really not a bad venue, accoustically speaking, aside from the competition. I’ve ridden the El, too, the Bart, Philly’s trains and the subways in Paris, Prague and other places. I’ve seen some good talent.
But the question is, what to you think your boss would have said if you’d have been ten minutes late for work because you told him you heard Joshua Bell in the subway, playing real good for free, and it stopped you in your tracks? He’d have probably wished he’d have been in your shoes. If someone had been in the subway handing out hundred dollar bills, people would have been queuing up to get theirs, and if you had waited for the next train so you could get yours, (that train does come by again in 10 minutes at that time of day) you’d have probably felt like a genius, and dreamed up a plausible excuse for your boss. But Joshua Bell was essentially doing exactly the same thing, but for the spirit.
What the Washington Post did was simply an experiment, nothing more, nothing less. They held up a mirror. We may not like the reflection, but it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with the mirror.
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Hmmm… Crappy economy, high unemployment, high financial stress. It’s a great time to be late for work because you were listening to “some dude” playing in the subway. Do you really have to search very hard to figure out why people, at that time and place, didn’t have time to stop and smell the roses?
Wait, smelling the roses takes much less time –
bad analogy.
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This is so true!!!!!
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Markus Unread, i think you don’t use the good arguments. At last, what are you working for? Ok, you can tell me “money”, but you use money to buy things you consider usefull, and that you like. Maybe some of the people that didn’t stop envisaged buying some concert tickets, for example. What i want to say is that working to earn money has no sense if you cannot make the most of what life can give you free.
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this research is as interesting as it is simple. It is won’t be inaccurate if they don’t say “one woman stopped and recognized him” because thousand others did not. Recognizing a thousands from a statistical point of view won’t change the conclusion which is: quality is perceived by people based on the context. Here is Joshua performing the best quality music in a different context and nobody recognized it. However, the degree of distraction plays a major role too. I’m sure if he was playing at 2pm in the same place, as Dave suggested, there would be an increased number of listeners. However, this won’t affect the author’s conclusion: everyday people miss very important things or chances because they are not presented to them in the right context. This research has an implication to marketing which marketing scholars are using…
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Gayyy
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