Isn't this amazing?

[sadie_genie]

‎"In Washington DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

After about four 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.

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

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

At ten minutes, a three-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid 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 forty-five minutes: The musician played continuously. Only six people stopped and listened for a short while. About twenty gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After one 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 greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

This experiment raised several questions:

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

If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made…
How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?"

[vashti]

To be fair, people stopped at the end.

I think in order to wholly appreciate beautiful music, you need to have a more serene environment. That said, I would have stopped. I love the violin.

[Gypsybell]

I believe I would have stopped, my father was a violinist and I could never walk past the opportunity to hear him in the music. But I would never be in such a place, where people hurry like ants. I just feel sad for them that they don't have the time to stop for miracles under their noses.

[Lipp]

It being good music is highly subjective.
Railway station acoustics suck.
Most classical music afficionados probably don't take the train.
It's better on the piano.
The boss won't take 'listening to music' as an excuse for being late.

[MetalPhoenix]

People don't go to a trainstation to listen to music. They go because they have to go somewhere else.

Also, classical music is wasted on a lot of people. They can name all the current popular artists, but when you mention Vivaldi, Paganini, Bach or Dvorak, they'll look at you and ask if that's some country in eastern Europe

[searock]

People don't go to a trainstation to listen to music. They go because they have to go somewhere else.

Exactly. It's like if they exposed recognizable, original famous paintings on the walls of a metro station for 45 minutes, and expected people to immediately stop going wherever they were going just to gaze in awe at the pictures for more than a couple minutes (as long as some people stopped to listen to the violinist). Unless someone is just taking the metro to go have a walk in the park or something, it's unlikely they will have much time to spare.

This doesn't mean that they don't appreciate art. And children would have stopped even if he had been a really good juggler or a funny clown or whatever, children are more curious than adults because to them, everything is new /captain obvious mode off.

[leoben]

I wouldn't have stopped either, most classical music and opera doesn't connect with anyone anymore. There are some songs I enjoy, like Marriage of Figaro because I saw it in the Shawshank Redemption but lets be honest! Concerts are used as an excuse for high brow people to hang around with other high brow people, and high brow people usually don't take the subway. To try and twist this exercise into some experiment about how people perceive beauty is a little ridiculous.

[bluesummer]

I wouldn't have stopped either, most classical music and opera doesn't connect with anyone anymore..

That's your opinion. Lots of people love classical music and opera. So what connects with people now.....Justin Bieber? That doesn't say much for people's capacity to appreciate true art.

Concerts are used as an excuse for high brow people to hang around with other high brow people, and high brow people usually don't take the subway..

There is so much wrong with this statement I don't know where to begin....and it sounds really bitter too. I grew up playing classical music and came from a totally blue collar family (that took public transit, and went to concerts). I know lots of people that aren't rich that enjoy concerts. Where on earth are you getting this from? You need to get out and meet more people in the world, methinks.

The point I see in this video is that people just don't take time to stop and appreciate anything anymore. They just fly through life preoccupied with themselves, always on the go, never slowing down and enjoying the real beauty in the world around them...the everyday things that are so amazing. They are also probably 'judging' this guy as being some poor busker not worthy of their time. Which is ridiculous, because even if he was the poorest man on earth his talent deserves appreciation and admiration.

[IndiReloaded]

All you need to do is look at the types of videos that are getting millions of hits on youtube to see what the taste of the general masses is. People want novelty and entertainment, not excellence.

If it had been two people fighting, many more people would have stopped to watch.