Actually this is rather old news, but it’s an interesting one and just found out about it from a ReTweet from @Alyssa_Milano. So I was compelled to share this here… I don’t know the original author *there’s a link to riemurasia.net on the bottom*, but here’s the copy of the text version in case you find it hard to read the text in the jpeg version…

Washington, DC Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007.

The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. two thousand 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 hat 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-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but 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 their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listen for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million.

Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $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?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…

How many other things are we missing?

SLOW DOWN
You move too fast

Here’s a video of the performance:

(This is a youtube video, size: 6,768KB)

Okay, it’s me again, not the copy-paste text from the jpeg…

If you watched (the videoclip) carefully till the end, you’ll notice that there’s actually a girl who noticed and recognized him. So it’s surely nice to have someone who do appreciate you at the end of the day. Same goes for life…

Further reading:

• Pearls Before Breakfast (the original Washington Post 2007 article)
• Audio of the full performance (warning: streaming audio! Mobile internet users beware of streaming cost!)
• The Thing We Miss (same news republished by The Huffington Post)

Another similar blog post you might want to read that might have a little relation:

• http://sys-talk.com/inspiration/how-much-does-it-worth/