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 thousands of people went through the station, most of
them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man
noticed there was a 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 and silence took over, no one noticed it. No
one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one passing by on that morning knew it, 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 playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out
at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100. Joshua Bell playing
incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as
part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of
people.


The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate
hour:

Do we perceive beauty?
Do we stop to appreciate it?
Do we recognize 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 best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written,
how many other things are we missing along the way?

awwww that so sad that some people dont stop and listen. I love the sound of music in the streets. We get it alot in Leeds and York but I noticed in Edinburgh no music, they have an annoying space walker though

I tend to stop by and listen quite often.
In my home town they're around fairly frequently, even bought 2 CD's off a group called Pachamerica not too long ago and now one of their songs is one of my favorite songs of all time, Jananau. Definitely a group that are better live than on CD, but still check em out if you have a few spare moments.

wow. thats interesting to know. Thanks for sharing, JonoF..

people appreciate different types of music ... i would say that younger lads and lasses
appreciate their own music... generally older people love classical music ... serene !
i have heard classical music from an electrical harp...and have bought the c.d.

I'll listen to anything atleast once.

I don't think a person can truly appreciate a piece of music, until they have experienced the full spectrum of styles and talents that the world has to offer. There is no need to become bogged down into a single style of music and say "this is what i like, i know i like this so I'm not going to give anything else a chance."