Take a moment to see the wonder all around.

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand 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 year 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?

Love,
Betty

8/21/2009


Hello Betty...

You are right , I wish I was there to listen. One of my all time favorites is " Strauss," I never
miss the New Years Concert from Vienna, Awesome ! The
music transports you back to a gentler kinder time in
history. Now that I'm retired , Many times Dusty and I sit
on the patio, listening to the beauty of the many birds, I
love watching and photographing the humming birds or see
one of my roses have blooms. It's important to slow down
smell the flowers, listen to the birds and yes the finest
music in the world......I love the photo the deer & the rabbit..

Love Joe & Dusty...

Betty said: 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?

We miss too much and too many things in life Betty.
For example:
My boss had his car stolen which was parked outside his office window in broad daylight, without him even knowing. His desk was right by his window.
Employees were working in the area near his car and everyone missed it being driven away.

We fill our heads with so much these days it's amazing how we manage to survive crossing the street.

This was a post that was sent to the employees of WCI Communities. I copied and pasted here so they are not my words. Fame begats fame and even though some unknown author, published by whoever, may have the genius of the best and written words beyond everyday drivel, they would be treated just as the same nobody down the way.

Having a book signing is an example. Often I have felt like a beggar on the street casting reproachful glances after each person that passed who did not look my way. After all, I do have the big sign! I gave up book signings for that reason. If you are out there with something you would like people to look at, you may as well be invisible. The walking by people are bombarded in every possible way that might catch their attention and their money.

I wonder what went through Josuah Bell's mind on that day.

Love,
Betty

A truly sad state of affairs.

Wow, Betty, are you taxing my brain! I don't have a ready answer and, if I did, it probably wouldn't be the one the psychologists will come up with.

It actually falls in, in a weird way, with the thread I started about false information and social websites. People have egos, which make them feel superior to others -- the so-called BBC list of books that had supposedly not been read by many readers pandered to people's egos. Those who had read half the books on the list could feel good about themselves when, in reality, they had read the same books, and were the same as everyone else. They were the same as everyone else because the list was a list of most-read books not of least-read books. Would anyone have bothered to read through the list if they knew that those books had been read by practically everyone interested in fiction?

Same with the musician. When the performance was free, no one had time to listen. Conversely, if they could be seen at a concert that only the rich could afford to attend, then they could feel superior and important.

We are a sad lot, really, are we not?

Last week in the Mac store, my four-year-old grandson sat down at a table on a big black ball and began to figure out how to play the game on the computer there, a big table with four computers and four little kids on big black balls. Another little boy, maybe five, came and said, "I'll show you how to do it." When he tried, he said, "Oh, my gosh, you've got a lot of neat 'people' in this game." The other two boys came by to see what was going on at my grandson's computer. This interchange went on for about ten minutes with a little girl joining in as we waited for someone to help us. It was amazing. Did the other customers notice this social interchange of four and five-year-olds? Did their parents notice? Did the workers notice?

I did point it out to one of the workers and he smiled and continued on. It was beautiful: five little kids who knew more about what they were doing than I did, just innocent little beings enthralled with the fact that someone figured out kids need short tables, big black balls to sit on, and computer games they can figure out.

Love, Carol

Carol,

I think the store had got it figured.

Kids are so much better at seizing a moment than we are. They do not keep such tight, harried schedules, and they don't shut out the opportunity for a single moment. Smart, they are, smart.

Quote :

The questions raised: in a common place
environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop
to appreciate it?

I remember drives to my grandparents farm that were filled with one scene like this one after another:

http://www.ratherbepainting.com/large-single-view//135415-9-9429/Painting.html

All we have is our perceptions, and those perceptions are all different from each of our individual perspectives.

I had a different perspective, for instance, on the list of books that Shelagh mentioned. I didn't read Phil's post that carefully, I suppose. I saw a list of familiar books, and the instructions to put X's by those you had read, and those you liked, so I did. It wasn't until later, when Shelagh pointed out the comment about the average person having read six of them, that I realized it was part of the post. And someone else started a list of good books that were not on the first list. I added to that list as well. I didn't think much abnout either post. A day or so later, my daughter posted a link on my Facebook page, to a similar list of books, but the gimmick on that list was that you had to have the courage to admit to how many you had read and get labeled a "book nerd." To some people, reading a lot of books, especially old books, is not a thing to brag about. I have to admit to reading them. It's just part of my job.

Perhaps the people who wouldn't read through the book lists might be the same people who could walk past a musician without taking time to listen, or who would call wildflowers weeds, or who would not appreciate the real-life Bambi and Thumper in Betty's current avatar.

Or maybe they just had other things on their minds. Take me; I almost missed a chance to see Julie and Julia tonight, because I was so bummed out over having to have a new alternator put into my car that I almost didn't return a phone call from Lynn's in-laws offering to take me to see the film and have dinner afterwards, to repay me for including them in on our Sunday night family gatherings here at my house. (It's a great film, BTW, inspiring for those of us here who are writers trying to get published in today's market, learning about the problems Julia Child had getting a publisher for her first cookbook, and how Julie Jones, here in the 21st century, got a book and movie deal because so many people enjoyed reading her blog about cooking her way through that same cookbook.)

Different people pick up on different things, I guess.

Ann

A thought-provoking thread. Ir would be interesting to know if the reaction to Joshua Bell would have been different if he would have played again at a time when people weren't on their way to work.
Carol's post brought to mind one of my favorite Robert Service poems. Academics look down on Service and Kipling as not being "serious" poets because they told straight-forward stories that actually rhymed. Kind of goes along with the stories told here. This is the poem:
MAIDS IN MAY
Three maids there were in meadow bright,
The eldest less than seven;
Their eyes were dancing with delight,
And innocent as Heaven.

Wild flowers they wound with tender glee,
Their cheeks with rapture rosy;
All radiant they smiled at me,
When I besought a posy.

So one gave me a columbine,
And one a poppy brought me;
The tiniest, with eyes ashine,
A simple daisy sought me.

And as I went my sober way,
I heard their careless laughter;
Their hearts too happy with today
To care for what comes after.
. . . . .
That's long ago; they're gone, all three,
To walk amid the shadows;
Forgotten is their lyric glee
In still and sunny meadows.

For Columbine loved life too well,
And went adventure faring;
And sank into the pit of hell,
And passed but little caring.

While Poppy was a poor man's wife,
And children had a-plenty;
And went, worn out with toil and strife
When she was five-and-twenty.

And Daisy died while yet a child,
As fragile blossoms perish,
When Winter winds are harsh and wild,
With none to shield and cherish.

Ah, me! How Fate is dark and dour
To little Children of the Poor.

How sad that glee could not last. But it is the way of life. And the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Or this one:




My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.

William Wordsworth

Good thought-provoking post, Betty. Awareness is something lost with many.
how often have you taken a drive through a scenic countryside and someone sitting the car reading a book. Some are so keen on fantasy that they miss out on real life.

I wish to do my life over, not to change anything but to be more aware, notice the smiles, the eye contact, the tears. Sometimes I was so involved in my mind figuring things out I forgot to look around me.

Carol

That was beautiful, Marie.

So many memories come flooding back.

A number of years ago, my daughter-in-law's mother died and her funeral was in a town about two hours from our cabin. We had two young grandchildren from another family with us. They had no "funeral" clothes, so we went shopping, which was probably not necessary, but part of my upbringing.

We drove to the funeral. It was winter time and very, very cold. This woman had been disabled and isolated so there were only family members there, about 15 people including my husband and me and four grandkids, two related, two not.

After the indoor services, everyone got their winter clothing on. I will never forget the little children, about six of them, putting on their leggings, boots, mittens and scarves and then four cars traveling to the cemetery.

The minister found himself surrounded by little children in mittens and boots, and spoke only to them, that their grandmother was not there, but in heaven forever looking down on them. They all stood in awe in the snow covered cemetery.

The children I had brought were not her grandchildren, but that day she was their grandmother, with all the grandmothers and great grandmothers, and great-greats looking down on all of us. (I think and hope that anyway.)

Love, Carol

I'm going to sit on a different bench with this Joshua Bell story. First off, when I want to listen to a violin concert (a rare occurance, as it probably is with most people, "rich" or not), I'll do it when I carve out time for it, not while hurrying to work. Second, a $3.5 million instrument isn't in itself necessarily going to make this street concert better, because concerts are played in acoustically designed halls. How did the pavement and passers-by enhance the acoustics?

When I pass street musicians I may listen for a few seconds, then drop a dollar in the case. It's an uncomfortable listening venue for me. How am I supposed to know it's Joshua Bell there, giving me a rare gift?

This incident proves nothing to me, but I often miss stuff, so no big deal.

The best places for "street" musicians are subways. Those acoustics are fantastic. My husband played harmonica with some street musicians in Paris one time. They gave him the US coins that were thrown in the pot. He made about $3.50 and had a great time.

I think the point is also that many street musicians are excellent, although not famous. I have heard a few that were outstanding.

Carol

Dear Shelagh,
Where is that video you posted a while back that had all the street musician singing. It was great. I will look back through the post and see if I can find it to bring it back up.

Love,
Betty

I think there was also a musician that played at the bottom of an escalator in the London subway that eventually became famous.

Carol

Strange isn't it the way that we put music/art/literature on a high pedestal if it is enjoyed only by the knowledgeable few! The prom season is in full swing (July 17th-September12th) but it isn't until the "Last Day" of the proms that millions of viewers/listeners tune in.

"The Last Night of the Proms, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, is
one of the most popular classical music concerts in the world, watched
and listened to by an audience of many millions around the globe.

It will be broadcast Live on BBC Two and BBC HD (Part 1), Live on BBC One (Part 2) and Live on BBC Radio 3. It will also be available via the BBC iPlayer for the following week."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2009/lastnight/

The last night is a fun night and not in the least bit stuffy. Good, all round entertainment!

I am with LC when it comes to the street preachers.

Hi Betty,

I'll see if I can find it. As I mentioned in the previous post, the proms are fun as well as serious. Here's a video of a group of ukulele players inviting musicians to play in the proms:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pyKqt0BqHs

I found it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

Dear Shelagh,

If I did this right, here is the link.
http://www.nola.com/tv/index.ssf/2009/08/local_street_musicians_in_musi.html