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 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 $32.00 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 $3,500,000 dollars.
Two days before his playing 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 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.
The Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for this story about their experiment
(Copied from a report on the story on http://www.nativevillage.org)
I have heard of this beautiful story before, but it’s still amazing…. taking our time , stop rushing and listen to godly music is most rewarding and taking us to the essence of the moment.
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It’s lovely indeed.
Thank you Cornelia
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Wow , I looked at that me and though do I appreciated ?
Then my heart answers hell Yeah!!
Nice post 👍
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Thank you
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Wow ……what a beautiful story . Such profound message
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Yes, really lovely. And perhaps that’s what we also do. Just hurry away
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I agree 💯
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👍
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No time to smell the proverbial roses sadly😔
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Exactly
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We all are busy for our own world, no one thinks that the music is the great medicine for our stressed mind…… Beautiful written …..a fine message conveyed through this story…….👌👌👌
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Thank you Pravya
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Kurian, thank you so much for sharing this beautiful story. Would love to share one incident. During Christmas in a mall my sister noticed a piano player who was playing beautiful music. But every one was busy in taking selfie with Santa. Later my sister approached the piano player, thanked him for playing soulful music and then for one year he was teaching piano to my sister’s son.
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Thank you Deeksha for your lovely story. Shows a beautiful mind ☺️
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Some wonderful musicians are in train stations here.
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Indeed. Thank you Elizabeth
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