Only Children Can Hear It
Via Kottke.org: Pearls Before Breakfast, an article about an experiment designed to determine whether anyone would notice if a famous violinist busked at a busy Metro station in Washington, DC. I cried when I got to the part about children being mesmerized by his performance, while their parents tried to hurry them along through the station. Fascinating, heartbreaking, and definitely worth reading.
Comments (4)
Wow! What a terrific article. I can't believe that so few people stopped. I don't know what I would have done myself. I loved watching the street musicians in Chicago. There was an elderly Asian man who used to play the violin with a girl I assumed was his granddaughter. I would stop and watch them. But I was never in that much of a hurry, I guess. I never want to be in that much of a hurry either.
Kids are just the smartest, aren't they? To appreciate that while their parents rush, rush, rush...
Posted by lori | April 9, 2007 11:46 AM
Posted on April 9, 2007 11:46
ABC's nightly news featured that story. They even had fast-forward video of the station. The children really were the only ones who even looked Joshua Bell's way.
Personally, I always give money to the really good street musicians. I want to encourage them to play where I can hear them! The bad ones, not so much. Them I'd pay to go away! Like the recorder lady at 18th and Walnut. Ugh.
Posted by ratphooey | April 9, 2007 9:15 PM
Posted on April 9, 2007 21:15
loved the article. i think kids know stuff adults don't because they don't just think with their brains.
Posted by leahpeah | April 9, 2007 10:16 PM
Posted on April 9, 2007 22:16
Yup, this was fantastic. I also like that Joshua Bell admitted that it transformed him: Whereas he's used to having the rapt attention of full houses, he was shaken up a bit at playing to a disinterested crowd. I liked how he said "$40 an hour. I could live on that, and I wouldn't have to pay an agent."
The bluesy guitar guy at the 8th St. Station is pretty good. I hope I would have stopped for Bell.
Posted by juliloquy | April 10, 2007 10:14 AM
Posted on April 10, 2007 10:14