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 thousand of people went through the station, most of
them on their way to work. Three more minutes went by and a middle aged
man noticed a 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, silence took over, no
one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the finest
musicians in the world. He had played the many intricate pieces written
for violin on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before he played in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a
theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station
was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment
about perception, taste and priorities of people.

The outlines was: 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 finest
musicians in the world playing some of the greatest music ever written,
how many other things do we miss out on?




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