One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: *Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? *In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? 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. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. He finished playing and silence took over. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly. This action was repeated by several other children. 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. The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.Ī young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.Ī 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes.
Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. Thus, one of my new resolutions for the upcoming year.
#The experiment 2010 true story free#
Now, they’re great free memories because I stopped – if only for a moment to enjoy.
in New Orleans, a hammered dulcimer artist at a Renaissance Festival in Texas, acoustic flute group from the Andes Mountains in Downtown Frankfurt, a dancer & Spanish guitarist in Miami. Granted, I’m biased to the arts, and can fondly say that some of the most memorable “cultural” experiences I’ve had during my travels have been pausing to find serious “street” talent: sitting on the curb for nearly an hour with a sax player on Bourbon St. Then, I read the full, original article, which is posted at the end, and enjoyed the tales from those they did stop afterward, and interview. I thought it would be interesting to see if any of the thousand random folks would remember the event, and leave their thoughts too. Perhaps they will eventually post a reply here. I’m not sure who wrote this, but I like their point of view, so all credit goes to someone anonymous. I think it worthy to pull off the email, and post on a permanent location so we can perhaps share our own thoughts about our hectic lives and what has become important, and what we’ve lost since youth. It is a rather poignant statement, and gives rise to many questions and fascinating different directions that one could reflect on.
The true story has been passed around the last few holidays. Lo and behold, my wonderful better half sends me this email. Then I was upset that I was upset, and wondered what has become of life that we feel guilty for taking 1 day to stop and just spend time relaxing or enjoying simple pleasures. It was occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in contemplative mood.So I was sitting around upset one recent Sunday that I didn’t really get much accomplished on Saturday. “After dinner, the weather being warm, we went into the garden and drank thea, under the shade of some apple trees…he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. Newton told the apple story to Stukeley, who relayed it as such:
It is the manuscript for what would become a biography of Newton entitled Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Lifewritten by William Stukeley, an archaeologist and one of Newton’s first biographers, and published in 1752. Squirreled away in the archives of London’s Royal Society was a manuscript containing the truth about the apple. The apocryphal story is one of the most famous in the history of science and now you can see for yourself what Newton actually said. “Aha!” he shouts, or perhaps, “Eureka!” In a flash he understands that the very same force that brought the apple crashing toward the ground also keeps the moon falling toward the Earth and the Earth falling toward the sun: gravity. Suddenly – boink! -an apple hits him on the head. A young Isaac Newton is sitting beneath an apple tree contemplating the mysterious universe.
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