[Dimitris]

I dont think I would have stopped either. I am not familiar with Mr. Bell and on my daily commute (especially when I am a bit late thanks to oversleeping) I dont pay attention to anything. If it was over the weekend and I was just strawling around the city I would stop and think "this dude is good. he doesnt look like the average street performer either".

 

[sebascrub]

I agree with stewtheking here...the article seemed to be underlining the arbitrary divide between high and low-brow culture way too much. I know I wouldn't have stopped (ER6is beat fancy violin any day), but even if I wasn't listening to music, I still wouldn't be able to recognize a supposedly transcending piece. Sure, I may have noticed the talent, but maybe. I'm just not well versed in violin performance. Maybe I'm just schlepping it around down here with the rest of the rock schmucks. Right now, the music that is popular is rock, pop and hip-hop. Four centuries ago, it would have been classical.

I was thinking, what if it had been some guitar virtuoso, playing on Hendrix's strat, playing one of his tunes? Would people still have stopped? Or, as someone else mentioned, what if it would have been an excellent turn-tablist? I'm willing to bet that, while they would have garnered more attention because of the style of the music (ostensibly what's "in" right now), people still wouldn't have "crapped their pants", except for a select few who recognized the exact song... like, if fake-Hendrix was playing something off Electric Ladyland, my mind would've been obliterated. Anyways, this is just a case, as others have said, of the medium being the message. You can blame technology, you can blame capitalism, consumerism, acceleration of culture, or any of the usual suspects, but the bottom line is that a subway stop where people are rushed, and subways are inherently ambient technology in that we don't stop to think about what we are using, we just get in, off, and on with our lives (like elevators), people aren't going to take time out of their day in order to stop and listen to a piece of music that is supposedly virtuostic, regardless if it's being played on a violin, guitar, or trash can lids.

If he had been playing somewhere that had warranted people stopping, like a park, a mall, etc, I'm sure more people would have stopped. But of course, for this "experiment", which was only done to prove the diminishing interest of high culture, and by extension, the immense capital culture and intellect of those who supposedly would've stopped, even if their pants were on fire at the moment, to work, they had to place it in an area that they knew people wouldn't stop. Because, in the end, the experiment was done to see who would be moved, not who would, in the end, recognize the exact piece. And for one to be moved emotionally, you can't really be moving physically at the time. This article presupposes that everyone, following in the middle-class ethos of leisure time, would have had the time to stop for a couple of hours. Well, in a subway station, chances are, people are on their way somewhere, not just joyriding. This isn't a drive into the country, it's a commute in and out of the city.

For me, this experiment was a pointless exercise in aesthetic narcissism. Of course people weren't going to recognize Bell. They wanted that. This way, they could still say "omg...look at the state of our society today!" and feel completely right in their assertion that, at least, they are on the path to true nirvana. The less people that recognized him the better.

 

[Febs]

I happen to be reading a book by Leonard Bernstein entitled, "The Infinite Variety of Music," and I came across this passage which seems relevant to the discussion:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bernstein OK: for one thing, we hear too much music. ... I didn't say we listen too much; I said we hear too much. There's a big difference between listening--which is an active experience, participating in the music, riding with it up and down and in and out of its involvements and evolvements--and just hearing, which is completely passive. That's what we've got too much of--the eternal radio and TV set, this cursed Muzak, plaguing us from coast to cost, in jets and trains and depots and restaurants and elevators and barbershops. We get music from all sides, music we can't listen to, only hear. It becomes a national addiction; and music therefore becomes too undifferentiated. We reach a saturation point; our concentration is diminished, our ears are too tired for real listening.

After reading this thread and the associated article yesterday, Bernstein's reference to "trains and depots" naturally caught my attention when I read it last night.

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sebascrub /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was thinking, what if it had been some guitar virtuoso, playing on Hendrix's strat, playing one of his tunes? Would people still have stopped? Or, as someone else mentioned, what if it would have been an excellent turn-tablist? I'm willing to bet that, while they would have garnered more attention because of the style of the music (ostensibly what's "in" right now), people still wouldn't have "crapped their pants", except for a select few who recognized the exact song... like, if fake-Hendrix was playing something off Electric Ladyland, my mind would've been obliterated.

I've never seen a hip hop busker during rush hour, at other times yes, but I have seen rock and blues guitarists who are pretty good. They don't draw a crowd during rush hour here in DC, or I believe, anywhere else. Crowds gather for street performers where people are at their leisure.

 

[hudsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inkmo /img/forum/go_quote.gif yaeh. read this one yesterday. rather long article, but very interesting. We can't totally damn those commuters for not noticing Joshua Bell. I think we have to wonder: were we in the same situation would we have stopped?

I would have stopped, but I stop to appreciate beautiful things on a regular basis.
That's why I love photography.

 

[ericj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cake /img/forum/go_quote.gif It's a sobering story. Every head-fi member should consider carefully whether he/she actually ENJOYS the music they listen to. Pursuit of beauty, or at least the idea of it, is what gets all of us into this hobby. Don't get so caught up in dissecting the details of your music and nitpicking headphone faults that you become more like the person passing by Joshua Bell who noticed the musician but only thought of logistical issues (whether the case should start with money or start empty for a street musician to do the best financially) instead of actually HEARING the music.

I think the fact that my headphone collection - spiralling out of control at the moment - is broadly diverse rather than a search for one particular sound, may speak for itself in this matter, but it's hard to say what my reaction would have been.

I live in a city with very little public transportation. If i want to go to work, i can walk there in three hours, i can take three busses and get there in only an hour and a half, I can hop on my bike and collapse from exhaustion a couple miles short of my goal, or i can jump in my car and clear the distance in 15 minutes, door to door.

Classical isn't really my thing. I appreciate it just fine, but it's not what i seek out.

I'm listening to some old Talking Heads on my Radioshack orthos right now, so I'd like to think that if i were ambulating to work under my own power and came across a short scottish man banging the hell out of a xylophone, I'd call in sick. But who am i to say?

A lot of the problem is context. In a train station, there are a lot of people, but they all have somewhere else to be, and they're generally in a hurry.

How would the same stunt pan out in a public park on a holiday?

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericj /img/forum/go_quote.gif I live in a city with very little public transportation. If i want to go to work, i can walk there in three hours, i can take three busses and get there in only an hour and a half, I can hop on my bike and collapse from exhaustion a couple miles short of my goal, or i can jump in my car and clear the distance in 15 minutes, door to door.

Lucky you

Here in DC, I live 8 miles from work. Unless I leave the house before 6AM, it takes a minimum of an hour to drive. One time it took 3 hours. It's a consistent 1 hour when I take the train.

 

[CD44hi]

I think that if it would have been metrocenter, the probability that people would have stopped is higher. However, they may have picked that stop on purpose: L'Enfant is a wicked stop, as people are literally getting of the tracks, and right into the Federal buildings.

Also, if the lady that recognized him would have stopped earlier, maybe she would have worked as a seed for more curious people? I.e. one guy stops and asks her about the performer, she explains, he realizes the treat he is been given. Another curious person stops, etc. I guess we can only wonder.

I would like to think I would have stopped but, honestly, sometimes I just get of and start concentrating in how to start tackling the day.

 

[daycart1]

I'm not surprised by the whole thing. Most people have no taste.

 

[robm321]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daycart1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not surprised by the whole thing. Most people have no taste.

X 2

 

[Inkmo]

So it turns out I would have stopped and listened, but the chances are small. First I'd have to not be wearing cans so I'd hear him. Next, he'd have to start playing Wieniawski's Variations on an Original Theme right as a I was passing by. This is one of my long time favorites, but I only just learned the name of the composer.

Reading the article, I went to the library to check up on the Chaconne. Grabbed a Joshua Bell CD there, too, and holy flippin' Christ! When I was a kid, I'd tape music off NPR all the time, but I'd never remember to write down the composer, or artist, or name of the piece. So there was a bunch of classical music that I didn't know the names of for years (spent years looking for Souvenir di Florence .. thought it was 'momento de something...). Anyways, I knew that a violin piece I liked was called "variations on an original theme", but it turns out that is not a distinct name. Anyways, it was effectively lost and corroding with the cassette tape it was on. So I pop this CD in, and there it is! I even think it is the same recording; the phrasing is all the same. I feel I know it down to my cells. tape recording was rougher (which I always found pleasing). Maybe from bad equipment and compression from the station... but I always liked it.

Anyways, yes, had I been in the subway and heard Variations... a piece I recognize really well being played, I'd probably have my socks knocked on my ass.

 

[raymondlin]

If i am on my way to work (with no time to spare, or about to catch a train), you could put a full on sex show there and I wouldn't stop. Yes, I would look but i will still keep walking to where i am going. Even if the President make a speech there i would keep on walking, i don't see how ANY music would cause someone to stop at that time of the day to listen.

 

[scompton]

Quote:

Originally Posted by raymondlin /img/forum/go_quote.gif If i am on my way to work (with no time to spare, or about to catch a train), you could put a full on sex show there and I wouldn't stop. Yes, I would look but i will still keep walking to where i am going. Even if the President make a speech there i would keep on walking, i don't see how ANY music would cause someone to stop at that time of the day to listen.

Some of us are lucky enough to not have set schedules. I can and sometimes do stop for buskers, but they have to be very good. Most are mediocre at best.


Inkmo: What CD is it?

 

[raymondlin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by scompton /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some of us are lucky enough to not have set schedules. I can and sometimes do stop for buskers, but they have to be very good. Most are mediocre at best. Inkmo: What CD is it?

If its really good, in the middle of a square, and I have nothing to do that day, may be i will stop. But i've been to a lot of places where there are street performers, the MOST i've done is stop to take a look at whats going on if there is a LARGE crowd surrounding it. Usually its keep on walking, straight pass it for me.

 

[Inkmo]

Scompton: Presenting Joshua Bell (c 1988)