The Washington Post, in a social experiment, convinced world famous violinist, Joshua Bell, to play in a subway station in Washington D.C. He is used to selling out massive arenas and plays with a $3.5 million Stradivarius violin.
Yet out of the 1,097 that walked past while he played some of the most difficult and beautiful pieces ever written, only seven people stopped briefly to listen.
There is an article about it in the Washington Post for May 4, 2007.
What does this tell us about our culture? We are self-centered and caught up in our own world. Getting to work on time is more important than art and life.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not looking down on the people that did not stop. I think our culture has trained us to ignore anything that might slow down production, and to view a street performer as a slacker. Frankly, I don’t know if I would have stopped had I something “important” to do. I think that is why the article interests me so much. Who knows what great things I have missed in my life by simply not paying attention.
Right now I am counting down the days until my graduation, waiting to get out of here. But in doing so, I may be ignoring or disregarding beautiful and important people and things in my life.
My favorite part of the article says:
“The poet Billy Collins once laughingly observed that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother’s heart is in iambic meter. Then, Collins said, life slowly starts to choke the poetry out of us. It may be true with music too.”
I hope this never happens to me.
3 comments:
i looved that you linked this to your life, its so true that by waiting for so much, you might be missing out on good things going on. that was what i tried to talk to you about when saying to enjoy your time with your friends up there, as its the last time youll even see some of them. so much good is going to happen soon but it doesnt mean you cant enjoy whats happening now.
and i dont think its all that weird no one stopped to listen. usually everyone in a subway station is heading to work or trying to catch another one or somehow running around on a schedule, and i dont know too many bosses that would be okay with their employees being late because they stopped to listen to music.
Max,
be present...
I am reading Einstein, His life and universe, by Walter Isaacson - in reading it I am meeting him, and he is meeting me... In Baghdad, Iraq - where I am until August, it's easy to succumb to a certain level of mediocrity - mediocrity kills the soul slowly - the arts are more valuable than knowledge and knowledge begets more art... read the book when you get a chance. Thank you for your comments on my poetry, stopping for a brief moment, and leaving a few thoughts that inspire. Congratulations on graduating - the world awaits you!
If you stop by DC after August look me up...
Rick Anderson
"mediocrity kills the soul slowly - the arts are more valuable than knowledge and knowledge begets more art."
I could not agree more.
thank you.
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