So the washington post had Josh Bell, I violinist who makes $1,000 a minute and plays an strat worth $3,500,000.00 participate in an experiment.
He was playing the Library of Congress in DC and they put him (with cameras watching) at the street level entrance /exit to the subway. He played some of the most technically difficult songs to play.
Then they waited to see who would stop and listen. Who would recognize beauty and stop and who would keep walking.
He played for 43 minutes. Guess how many stopped? Guess how much money they put into his case? Read the story. Watch the video. Tell me your response. Then I'll tell you mine.
Link
Wow. I am not sure how that makes me feel. Part of me wants to say,"You idiots!", but then I think how breakneck my day can get and how possible it would be for me, a musician of all people, to pass on by. I know I would because I have. I was in Nashville of all places a couple of years ago at the NYWC put on by YS, and there were street musicians all over the place. I can't say that I stopped and listened to more than 1 or 2. We did catch some local acts in the bars, and even an ice cream shop near the convention center, but that was at our convenience. It really makes me wonder how much beauty God would have me see that I miss because I am too engrossed with the task at hand. I have kicked myself,(figuratively of course), on more than one occasion for seeing an absolutely gorgeous sunset here just outside of Oklahoma City on my way home, and not stopping for the 10 minutes or so it would take to just soak it up. Beauty is all around us, if we will allow ourselves to be inconvenienced.
ReplyDeletewhoa!
ReplyDeleteSomething that I need to do. Sit down and take in the stuff around me. If so many people can walk past something so amazingly beautiful, how many things do I miss that are so much less, yet beautiful in their own right? There's a large amount of thought fodder here. Thanks for linking this Mark.
Only in America could people be looked down upon when they walk by a street musician, though a gifted artist on their way to work (as many I am sure were) to earl a living. Especially when they point out the guy earns $1,000 a minute and paid 3+ million for his instrument.
ReplyDeleteHow much more out of touch with reality can a person be?
The music may be hundreds of years old but that does not mean that is automatically demands respect or even be liked & enjoyed.