Jun 15
Something really to think about…Persephone
Joshua Bell played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes
Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.
During that time approx 2000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing.
He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.
6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes: A 3 years old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as 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. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.
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.
1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. 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 Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where 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 people’s priorities. The questions raised: In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
Do we stop to appreciate it?
Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ….
How many other things are we missing?
June 28th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Yeah, I can believe it. Last week I was walking across part of the big pedestrian way behind the Barbican and I heard a guy’s voice saying, “I’m not a beggar, or anything but I just need..” I couldn’t catch what the guy said but I saw he was black and asking another black brother for some money. The man who had been approached strode quickly away not giving the guy anything.
Looking and sounding frustrated the guy approached another black brother, saying, “Hey, big man, I’m in a spot of bother, could you lend me one pound..” the man again walked hurriedly away as if the guy was a leper. Just me and him alone and he did not approach me but I went directly up to him and said – “How much do you need?” He said “One pound,ninety, my girl friend needs the fare home.” I knew the guy was honest, and I couldn’t believe how closed off people were – it wasn’t even a couple of quid.So I gave him the money and he said,”Thanks, I love you.” And I knew I had done the right thing -because once I was stranded at a station without any money and nobody believed me until, eventually a woman lent me the fare – never believing that I would pay her back which I did. So always keep your eyes and ears and heart open.
June 28th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
So easy to forget in the ‘busyness’ of day to day living. Thank you Jehane for your timely reminder, and for your own trusting heart.
July 12th, 2009 at 9:35 am
The title of this piece is called,”Something reallty to think about” and I just wondered who it was that was doing the thinking? The reactions of human beings are not as simple as the piece will have you believe. Perception, taste, priorties, these could be categorized as simple decisions. I feel that there are deeper issues at work here, such as anxiety, fear and the very need to survive. Imagine if you will, that these people gathered in the metro area were a flock of wild animals. If there should suddenly appear a predator, the flock would move as one, creating a sign of cohesive strength. The predator would assemble all his/her hunting skills.The targets would be those animals on the outside of the group, those that are moving slowly, those that are wounded, the sick and feeble and last and not least, mothers with young. Us human beings try to pretend, we have gone far beyond the thoughts and feelings of wild animals but in truth, evolution isn`t that fast. We still deal with the flight or fight syndrome, sometimes on a daily basis, whether the threat is real or imagined. As a hypnotist, I spend a great deal of my time, working with the left and right hand brain functions. The logic of the left will tell you, that no threat exsists, while the right hand brain will tell you that what it feels is as real as the nose on your face. Maybe the right hand brain is just imagining the threat but that is really irrelavent. When logical thinking, is in conflict with the right brain’s fantasy and feelings, nine times out of ten, the fantasy will win.