Posted on 05/02/2007 10:52:54 AM PDT by rhema
The Washington Post recently carried out an unusual experiment. It hired Joshua Bell, one of the world's most famous classical musicians, to dress like a common street busker and play his Stradivarius in a D.C. metro station during rush hour. The anonymous Mr. Bell played Bach, he played Schubert, he played some of the most beautiful music ever to emerge from the minds of mortals.
And virtually nobody stopped to notice.
The point was not that most people are uncultured clods. The point, rather, is that we are so caught up in the routine of our lives that we fail to see extraordinary beauty right in front of us. Something's wrong with us.
As Post reporter Gene Weingarten wrote, "If we can't take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that — then what else are we missing?"
If we don't see the beauty that we should, we don't see the ugliness either. For much of my career I was a film critic, and saw just about every movie that came out. Every now and then, I'd take my wife to screenings with me, and I'd observe her flinching at intensely violent or explicitly erotic images onscreen. Though I shared her conservative moral sense, or so I thought, I pitied her oversensitivity.
And then I changed jobs. I went from seeing 30 or so movies a month to seeing maybe three. It was as if I'd been a heavy smoker who'd gone cold turkey and was shocked to experience my sense of taste returning. Without meaning to, I began to watch
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
We read about this in the local newspaper on Sunday. The people have JOBS that they have to get to ON TIME.
I’m a stay-at-home mom, and I couldn’t stop to listen to a violinist when I’m out, unless he were playing at the library or the Wal-mart. We have to get to gymnastics, Scouts, Sunday School, Scouts, blahblahblah ON TIME, or somebody will call the police to report the abandoned child!
Most of Van Halen’s best solos sound like Baroque keyboard music. People know a lot more about serious music then they think.
But plenty of emotive overgeneralizing, with the essential point of "I'm better than the average schmo with a train to catch!"
That's Rod Dreher for you.
I agree.
Although, the advice is not bad: Slow down and look around sometimes.
Had I been one of the commuters, I would've thought "nice tune", and kept moving.
I’m friends with another FReeper who’s acquainted with Mr. Dreher, and she says that he’s a really nice person in real life. It’s unfortunate that he comes over as such an elitist putz in his writing.
There doubtless some who would not consider beautiful the music wafting over them and into their souls. Such may have ears (and souls) trained in rap and salted with dissonance.
When I read the story, (and I would recommend anybody interested to dig up the Washington Post story, it was in the Sunday Magazine a few weeks ago), it made me sad. If I had known about this test, I would have taken off from work and taken the metro to the station, just to listen to him play.
Oh well. I DO stop when I here people of talent playing, and I don’t care if I know they are good or not. But if you are running late for work, you just aren’t going to stop to listen to someone play music.
I don’t think the study showed we don’t recognize beauty, it just showed that we don’t have time for it.
It would have been interesting to see what happened if they ran the test for another 45 minutes, but with a small display announcing who he was. My bet is a lot of people would still have gone by because they had no time to listen.
The location he was in was actually a pretty good place to be — there are some really nice parts in the Washington Metro. Still, I do think more people would stop if it was outside, just because outside is a more pleasant environment.
When I read the piece my first thought was a bad one.
I bet every male would have stopped if the had stuck a pole there and put a stripper on it.
I can say that I have passed just such a display on the street and kept walking.
The urge to not miss the 6:30 is a very powerful one.
"Why did you wind up having to take the 7:15, honey? We went ahead and had dinner without you."
"Ummm, it's a pretty funny story really, you see . . . "
I wish I had been on one of those metro trains.... it has been far too long since I’ve heard a violin playing, let alone by the hands of a master playing the works of the masters. I cannot say for certain, but I cannot believe I would have walked by without notice.
Thanks for the great article. I forwarded it to my son who is a videographer.
Thought this was about RAP music..
Sad...
I have a job as well, and kids... but even I find time to stop, if only for a minute or two when I find something beautiful. Yea, I’ve been late for a phone call or meeting, or soccer practice.... I’ve been occassionally yelled at for being late because of it.... but so what?
I also don’t use a cell phone other than emergencies, and enjoy being alone with my thoughts... I think many today have no clue how to be comfortable in their own skin. How can they, when they never spend one second truly alone or in silence?
At a networking luncheon I was at last month, they were talking about this. They contacted several of the individuals asking why or why not (stopping). The results were rather interesting, but one thing that they did show (there were cameras on Mr. Bell) was that nearly every child tried to stop and listen/watch Mr. Bell as he played.
I think it interesting that the children saw something different but the majority of the adults didn’t.
The original story on the experiment is a pretty interesting read too.
Or kids don't really care if they're on time or late to their destination.
The graphic sex and extreme violence that I'd manage to aestheticism away earlier, I no longer could deal with. I told my wife I must be turning into a prude. "No," she said, "you're becoming normal again."
and turn to the good, the beautiful and the true. It's still here, hiding in plain sight.
Thank you rhema, I enjoyed this article. It somehow 'touched home' with me. Too much of anything makes us more and more immune to the 'opposite'.
Those of us who are comfortable forget the discomfort of others. Those who are angry all the time forget how to be nice. Those who delve in porn become immune and want more and worse things.
Some consider the internet 'not the real world' and deal differently with people than they would in 'real life'. I think we have all seen some of that recently.
Sorry, lol, just some of my thoughts.
Being late to pick up my kids simply isn’t an option for me. Not if they set up the Sistine Chapel on 485.
I don't believe Emerson wrote anything that I would consider nonsense.
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