# Interesting Story.



## Starbuck (Jun 15, 2007)

I checked this out and it is true.

This is a true story.


A violinist in the DC 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 theatre
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 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 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 some of the best music ever written, how many other
things are we missing?

I have been known to stop and listen in the subway, so This story makes me wonder. Finch station used to have some really great folks play there.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

At what age do they change Paul? My teens are always suprising me. One minute it's crap next minute I like it.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

Paul;165613i said:


> He a jass player? kkjuw....
> 
> The 15 yr old boy sometime amazes me. The Bangra phase was a little wild. Grinding metal to Mr Young. He picked up a guitar last week which is a good sign. His goal is a Neil song that I don't haven't heard yet. The 13yr old daughter seems to be stuck on the latest craze of cute boy single acts. And that dreaded voice modulation machine .. ugh ... the inventor of that should me shot....


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Starbuck: Thank you for that post. I love stories like that. The true ones are the best, are they not?

It goes to show, this world is just moving too fast. People may not recognize the musician, or the piece of music, but my goodness our of all those people, only the kids really listened. Astounding. Actually, astoundingly sad.


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

Paul said:


> When it's time to settle down, Shet Baker and 50's Miles Davis comes on quietly. When it's time to wind them up, she'll play some Philip Glass. It's really quite cool.


Great post. I'm surprised Philip Glass winds them up. Puts me to sleep.
My (almost) 3-yr-old gets the Rolling Stones, John Lee Hooker, Zeppelin and Freddie King for wind up; calm down is Van Morrison, Billie Holliday, carefully chosen Miles, I might try him on some Erik Mongrain. The Stomp drummers were here last year and he loved it. 
(He doesn't like Robert Fripp or Dinosaur Jr...I guess he's not really into the Big Muff thing...)

I agree with shoretyus on that vocoder thing. Let's get a posse together to find that guy.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

devnulljp said:


> I agree with shoretyus on that vocoder thing. Let's get a posse together to find that guy.


Great minds think alike. Do we get a badge?


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## devnulljp (Mar 18, 2008)

shoretyus said:


> Great minds think alike. Do we get a badge?


[youtube=Option]lj056ao6GE[/youtube]


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## keefsdad (Feb 7, 2006)

Starbuck said:


> I checked this out and it is true.
> 
> This is a true story.
> 
> ...


It sure did. Recently I have heard a guy named Jason Crawford, who plays at Eglington station, who is an absolutely stunning fingerstyle jazz player, using a custom made 8-string instrument that looks like it is worth a fortune.
Check out his Youtube stuff.
And I saw Lenny Breau several times. Jason is the real deal.


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## Rugburn (Jan 14, 2009)

Great,great story. It seems to go hand in hand with a W5 piece I saw last night. "To Hell With Manners" was the title, and was narated by none other than William Shatner. It was filmed in Canada, Mexico, England and the U.S. and chronicles our collective stressful,high tech and somewhat artless times.
It doesn't surprise me that this would happen, though I have to believe that I would stay and watch. Anybody who's played a few gigs knows that the bulk of an audience is pretty fleeting even at appropriate times.Thanks again for the story.

P.S. Lenny Breau is awesome (and not in the way I used to use this word in the 80's)


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