A  Violinist in the  Metro

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  minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed  there 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  and silence took over, no one noticed it. 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 his playing in the subway, Joshua  Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the  seats average $200.

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 were: 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 best musicians in  the world playing the best music ever written,  how many other things are we  missing?