Impervious to beauty and deadened to depravity

Jewish World Review ^ | May 2, 2007 | Rod Dreher

[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

[Caleb1411]

We have learned to expand our understanding of the normative to include art that exalts things that ought to be repugnant to those who love life. In so doing, we teach ourselves to embrace death, or at least to remain indifferent to its putrid presence. "A human body that cannot react is a corpse," wrote literary critic Russell Kirk. And a human imagination that cannot react against that which would destroy it is nothing more than fever dreams of a zombie.

Do you want to live? Then look at the culture of death, say not this, not anymore — and turn to the good, the beautiful and the true. It's still here, hiding in plain sight.

[Mercat]

I’ve heard a strad and been within touching distance of one, talked to the owner. I really felt like I was in the presence of greatness even though the owner was just a young pup. She was good but not great. It was in the narthex of a church, one of those music ed touring young stars thing. If you’re ever in a meet and great and ask questions thing with young violin, cello players, ask them about their bows. They really get animated. I don’t know much but one of my best friends is a bow luther and has bows shipped to her for repair from all over the world so she told me to ask that question. Sometimes the bows are more valuable than the instrument.

[P-40]

Guess I had better call Mr. Bell and apologize to him for saying I’ve met bums on the metro that can play as good as him. :)

[alisasny]

Seven stopped (some longer than others) to watch the virtuoso on their way to work. Twenty-seven tossed in some money. Some 1,070 people hurried past him. To further astound you, Bell earned $32 dollars, plus some change. Only one person recognized him, and she added a$20 bill.

I would like to think I would have stopped as I am a NYC native and fairly cultured, however I could have been in a rush that day or had a major deadline to meet and the commute was just taking so long. I know for sure my Dad would have stopped before he even saw his face. Musicians have that instinct. My dad is a violinist.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Amen! That was beautiful. Everyone should read this.

[edpc]

The point was not that most people are uncultured clods.

Sure we are. I'll bet someone stopped, lit a lighter, and shouted out a request for Freebird.

[Enchante]

good column, but I challenge whether the case of the great violinist playing in a metro station proves anything — I am someone who often stops to listen to (and donate to) street musicians above ground, if the music is at least decent and the setting is not too unpalatable — but I have never in my life stopped for underground music in a subway station. It’s just too unpleasant an atmosphere, I don’t want to be there, no matter how good the music. The WaPo “experiment” does not really show anything except that sane people don’t like to stop and hang around in subway stations.

[AnAmericanMother]

That's absolutely true.

My daughter's bow cost as much as her violin (admittedly the instrument was a steal because it had been cracked and mended, but still . . . )

[Prokopton]

I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new. Shall I not call God the Beautiful, who daily showeth himself so to me in his gifts? I chide society, I embrace solitude, and yet I am not so ungrateful as not to see the wise, the lovely, and the noble-minded, as from time to time they pass my gate. Who hears me, who understands me, becomes mine, -- a possession for all time.

--Ralph Waldo Emerson--

[AnAmericanMother]

But the ACOUSTICS! It depends on the station, I guess, but a bunch of us one time sang a capella motets in the Peachtree Center MARTA station, and it sounded amazing! Like there were 30 of us instead of just 8 . . .

[fireforeffect]

...we are so caught up in the routine of our lives that we fail to see extraordinary beauty right in front of us.

I think not. As a long distance commuter, you want to move as fast as possible to reach you destination. Going to work or home, distractions are unappreciated. They do not go unnoticed or unappreciated (if worthwhile).

I have ridden the D.C. subway, as a tourist. Having no schedule I might have stopped. But if I had stopped, I would have felt obliged to contribute.

Given that most people in D.C. are either liberals or tourist. The liberals would not stop because they expect such things to be free and, after all, he gets paid by the Government. The tourist is afraid of the bum.

[Enchante]

OK, I’ll come for your next performance there, just tell me when! :^)

[Spktyr]

Perhaps if they still taught music appreciation in schools, people would have paid attention. Instead, the schools are teaching much more important subjects, such as “global warming”, practical socialism 201, and “9/11 Conspiracy”.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

That Emerson quote is beautifully written nonsense.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, the law firm I was working for at the time was full of musicians, mostly singers, and it dissolved in 1993, and we haven't had a performance since then . . .

. . . but you can come to our church, it has better acoustics anyway! The choir is "IN" every Sunday at 11:30 a.m.!

[Enchante]

Thanks, I’m actually about 2000 miles away (Utah), but if I’m ever in the neighborhood..... :^)

[stompk]

or maybe, like me, these people aren’t into classical and wouldn’t know if he was playing it well or not.

now get Eddie Van Halen and his guitar in the subway and see who appreciates it. . .

afterthought: Violin is a very subjective instrument. if you took the worlds top bagpipe player and put him in the subway, he just might end up dead. . .

[wideawake]

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?"

Gene, you're probably missing the fact that people who aren't journalists and who actually work real jobs may not have time to stop and listen because they need to get to work.

You're also probably missing the fact that not everyone likes the same type of music.

You could have Nas himself perform "New York State Of Mind" from Illmatic on the dock at a regatta - and I'll guess that not everyone would stop to listen to one of the best MCs on earth spit some of the tightest rhymes ever written.

[Hostage]

rhema,

alisasny in post #5 puts this story in context.

A DC Metro station is no place to stop and listen to anything.

A park or memorial would attract plenty of listeners.

The author and the planner of this ‘experiment’ are not too bright.

In designing an experiment to draw accurate inferences about answers to hypothetical questions of interest, it is necessary in this case to randomize locations, settings, time of day and day of week. Then and only then can an inference be held as valid.

This article reveals poor journalism and shoddy science.