…was he really any good? This is the sort of philosophic semantic argument that The Washington Post‘s Gene Weingarten thought to ask in today’s paper. Teaming up with the acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, arguably the best and most recognized violinist in the world, they decided to see what would happen if Bell camped out near the L’Enfant Plaza metro station in Washington D.C for an impromptu rush hour show.
Like most street performers, Bell and the Post discovered that despite the phenomenal performance, he was widely ignored. The Post suggests that it was not just the plebeian tastes of uncultured citizens, or people too busy to be hassled to listen (though that was part of it), but rather the context and surroundings that dictate our perception.
“When you play for ticket-holders,” Bell explains, “you are already validated. I have no sense that I need to be accepted. I’m already accepted. Here, there was this thought: What if they don’t like me? What if they resent my presence . . .”
For a man already internationally renowned, he has already won over the audience. Concert goers are your bread and butter supporters, your base. But out of the concert hall, or the rock club, or jazz joint it is much harder for people to see the art.
“Let’s say I took one of our more abstract masterpieces, say an Ellsworth Kelly, and removed it from its frame, marched it down the 52 steps that people walk up to get to the National Gallery, past the giant columns, and brought it into a restaurant. It’s a $5 million painting. And it’s one of those restaurants where there are pieces of original art for sale, by some industrious kids from the Corcoran School, and I hang that Kelly on the wall with a price tag of $150. No one is going to notice it. An art curator might look up and say: ‘Hey, that looks a little like an Ellsworth Kelly. Please pass the salt.'”
Leithauser’s point is that we shouldn’t be too ready to label the Metro passersby unsophisticated boobs. Context matters.
On the street you almost expect the street musician to not be that great, simply peddling their poor rendition of “Satin Doll” for a few bucks and a handful of mixed change and spare lint.
“YES, I SAW THE VIOLINIST,” Jackie Hessian says, “but nothing about him struck me as much of anything.”
You couldn’t tell that by watching her. Hessian was one of those people who gave Bell a long, hard look before walking on. It turns out that she wasn’t noticing the music at all.
“I really didn’t hear that much,” she said. “I was just trying to figure out what he was doing there, how does this work for him, can he make much money, would it be better to start with some money in the case, or for it to be empty, so people feel sorry for you? I was analyzing it financially.”
It is almost ingrained in us to simply ignore them like we sadly do the homeless or for that matter any other person on the sidewalk. We put in our earbuds, talk on the phone and generally do not have much respect for the people around us. But is it even a conscious decision? Is it a defense mechanism that we live in an insulated bubble to protect ourselves from common day disturbances or just that we have a lot on our minds, already too busy with life and work?
In all this is a pretty interesting experiment in human behaviour. Makes me wonder, would I have noticed the greatness of someone like Bell on the street, or simply walked to my destination without much recognition at all. Something tells me I’d just ignore, but I think it will be easier to pause next time and soak it all in. You never know what brilliance you might hear.
UPDATE 4\11: NPR’s All Things Considered talked to Joshua Bell about the experience.