A Violinist in the Metro Subway

I read upon this article from another blog :

It was a cold January morning in Washington DC Metro Station . He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2000 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 years 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.



He is Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He plays with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. It was just two days ago, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average cost was $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 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?

We are always in a rush to live our lives. We rush in the morning to get to our workplace. We rush to finish our job. We rush to get home. Some may rush to pick up their kids after work and spend some time with their kids in the evening. We rush to go to sleep so that we have sufficient rest to get ready for tomorrow.

We are living in the fast lane. A day from 9-5 follow by another day of 9-5. We rush to get things done in the weekend. And we are back to 9-5, again. Have you ever stop for a moment on the road and noticed something beautiful ? Hardly, rarely, or ever ?

A senior once told me, slow down sometimes and smell the flowers. Perhaps i should. Perhaps we all should.

But can we really withdraw ourselves, even for a minute, from the daily mad rush in our lives ?

Would you happen to draw a blank in your mind, when you try to think of the wonderful and beautiful things that happened in your life for the past week ?

For more details of this incognito, interviews and reviews of passers-by, you may visit this particular article shown on Washington Post.

And you can watch this footage on YouTube.