Interesting Social Experiment

Kilarney

Here is an interesting article about a social experiment conducted by the Washington Post. They placed Joshua Bell, a world-renowned violinist, in a Metro state during rush hour. His played his $3.5 million violin dressed in a nondescript manner with the case open for handouts.

Over 1,000 passed by. How many stopped to listen? You can probably guess.

Kiey

I gotta say that this is a really really interesting article, and a surprisingly good and enjoyable read.

Apreche

Take a minute to stop and listen to the next public musician you come across. Most of them are not musicians at all. The vast majority are homeless guys who somehow own a broken saxophone or whatnot. They toot out random notes that are not in any way musical. Elementary school children play better. However, because people don't pay attention, they don't even notice.

I pass multiple musicians every day in the subway, and one who caught my attention was another violinist. He has this fancy digital violin that is made of clear plastic, and he was playing a pretty cool energetic song. He was selling CDs and was really into it. However, upon seeing him in the subway on subsequent days, I realized he only ever played one tune. Disappointment!

I must say though, that I do pay attention when I hear a street musician. There is always the chance that it will be someone awesome instead of a homeless guy tooting.

Kilarney

In Paris, the Metro holds auditions to obtain a permit to perform in the subway. I won't say that the acts are world class, but I've heard some pretty impressive ones.

HungryJoe

Actually, I think D.C. does too. The link is to an old Washington Post article, so they say that the auditions are upcoming, but I think they've started this as a requirement for being able to play. Most people I've seen at Metro Stations have been fairly good. There's one old guy that plays an ehru that's pretty cool.

When I saw that Washington Post Magazine story (last Sunday), I was pretty disappointed because I would've definitely listened, but I never go to the L'Enfant Plaza stop.

fuurin

That was a very interesting and thought provoking read... I must say that I tend to be one of those who don't pay attention to musicians, partly because I don't know how to deal with them. Since they're throwing their music at me I can't help feeling a bit guilty and that I should repay them somehow. Also, a lot of the time the music really isn't that good, or not to my taste at least... ^^;

If they really wanted people to stay they shouldn't have picked an underground station. Anyone going there obviously is on their way somewhere. Usually making a living comes with a higher priority than listening to a good piece of music for most people, although this should be a wakeup call to not go through life without stopping to smell the flowers. ^^

omegafinal

I saw this in the AC360 podcast as "Shot of the Day", quite sad that NOT EVEN ONE recognized him. Granted it was only a 43 minute experiment.

fuurin

I saw this in the AC360 podcast as "Shot of the Day", quite sad that NOT EVEN ONE recognized him. Granted it was only a 43 minute experiment.

There was one person, it says towards the end of the long article.

As it happens, exactly one person recognized Bell, and she didn't arrive until near the very end. For Stacy Furukawa, a demographer at the Commerce Department, there was no doubt. She doesn't know much about classical music, but she had been in the audience three weeks earlier, at Bell's free concert at the Library of Congress. And here he was, the international virtuoso, sawing away, begging for money. She had no idea what the heck was going on, but whatever it was, she wasn't about to miss it.

Imagine what a treat that must've been! XD