No Speed Bumps

Recognising Value

This post is somewhat related to the one I just put up on F R Leavis and Raymond Williams, touching as it does on isses of the social construction of value by elites and what constitutes the approved canon of, here, music.

You may well know this event.

This man ...

... played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes on his violin at a Metro Station in Washington, DC, at  on a cold January morning in 2007. 

Over this time, about 2,000 people went through the station, most on their way to work.

At 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

Round 4 minutes later, the violinist received his first dollar.  A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes, a young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

After 10 minutes, a 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The child stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes, the musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.  The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour, he finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell ...

... one of the finest violinists today. He played music most certainly in the canon of approved works by any Western European elites. On a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

Two days before, he had sold out concert in Boston with the seats averaging $100 - in which he played the very same music.

This subway concert was organised by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.
 
It raised several questions:

[1] In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

[2] If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

[3] Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

As a piece of personal self-indulgence, I remember my mother practising Bruch's violin concerto in our padded music room - odd, of course, as all you heard were the soloist's parts - my mother rocking with ferocious and scary intensity in the silences.

The indulgence is posting Bell playing the second movement of this concerto ...

... hope you are not too repelled by this archetypal Romantic work - for me it's like Proust's madeleine in 'À la recherche du temps perdu'.