If Joshua Bell plays in a Metro station....

[iomhaigh]

...and no one stops to listen, does this mean....

I don't even know what it means, except that I am saddened by our world and simultaneously happy to have an article to use in class for the rest of my life.  A little piece of my hope for humanity has just wilted. 

Joshua Bell played in the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station in DC, for free, with apparently few people stopping to listen or even noticing.  The video footage is not as dire as the article makes it seem to be, but still!  The kids listen -- the kids are drawn in -- but few others.   

Article and video footage and a link to the whole "concert" experiment:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?nav=hcmodule

(There's a link on the top of the page that will let you listen to the whole thing.  Gorgeous.)

Thoughts?

[prytania3]

He should have played the Times Square Station. They have no appreciation in the District.

[sirkdn]

He should have played the Times Square Station. They have no appreciation in the District.

Times Square is too noisy (and usually seems to be taken over by that obnoxious Peter James Paul - or whatever - who plays loud Jerry Jeff Walker).... The 4,5,6 in GCT is a better place - a little quieter and lots of people traffic....  the Shuttle platform in GCT is also a good station - very quiet, but people sometimes seem too rushed to stop - the Ebony Hillbillies have been playing there recently - they are quite good (if you like bluegrass).

[somewhat off topic - sorry]

[expmu]

I heard about this yesterday - it seems like a loaded social experiment to me based on a couple of debatable assumptions.  I wonder if the people who set up the experiment expected this outcome.

1)  That the frame around art doesn't matter.  Bell normally plays in fancy concert halls to people who have dressed up for the event, purchased tickets, etc.  Removing this frame surely detracts from the experience for much of the audience.  Does art from any media have an inherent value that is separable from the social practice of its consumption?

2)  That Western classical music, particularly as it is performed by well-known virtuosi, is always interesting and noteworthy.  There is an assumption that people should have payed attention to the event, and were unattentive or uncultured for ignoring it.  This sort of music is piped into department and grocery stores every day - it's not exactly surprising that it might seem ambient.  It's also assumed that Bell is a national celebrity, which he really isn't - probably famous to classical music fans but virtually unknown outside of that circuit.

Does anyone really pay attention to their surroundings in subway stations anyway?

[zarathustra]

*wah*  I fight this kind of apathy and lack of understanding everyday.

I do agree with Pry...that's an extremely jaded (non)reaction.  

[zarathustra]

I heard about this yesterday - it seems like a loaded social experiment to me based on a couple of debatable assumptions.  I wonder if the people who set up the experiment expected this outcome.

1)  That the frame around art doesn't matter.  Bell normally plays in fancy concert halls to people who have dressed up for the event, purchased tickets, etc.  Removing this frame surely detracts from the experience for much of the audience.  Does art from any media have an inherent value that is separable from the social practice of its consumption?

2)  That Western classical music, particularly as it is performed by well-known virtuosi, is always interesting and noteworthy.  There is an assumption that people should have payed attention to the event, and were unattentive or uncultured for ignoring it.  This sort of music is piped into department and grocery stores every day - it's not exactly surprising that it might seem ambient.  It's also assumed that Bell is a national celebrity, which he really isn't - probably famous to classical music fans but virtually unknown outside of that circuit.

Does anyone really pay attention to their surroundings in subway stations anyway?

I think that musicians would like to think that live music would garner more attention than piped in music and also, that people would recognize the quality of a musician like Bell, even if he was tucked away in a subway.

It does take a certain preparation to appreciate that kind and level of performance, hence the concert halls, attire, etc.  I feel odd if I give a concert in regular street clothes, like I'm not really "on" if I don't have my concert clothes on.  But then, jazz bands, New Orleans street bands, sound awesome in subways, IMHO.  So the frame can matter a lot.

[iomhaigh]

Oh yes, the frame matters -- a lot.  Why else do it? 

I'm not suggesting that people should have recognized Josh Bell, and I don't think that the experimenters had any delusions about that or any sense people were "uncultured" for not stopping -- they explain their expectations or lack thereof pretty clearly in the article. (I hope we've all watched enough Leno to know that people can't recognize the president & first lady, much less a classical musician.) 

But, I've been in enough subway stations where people do stop, and I know that you have to sign up to play in some of the T stations in Boston... I'm just shocked at how few people did stop in DC based on my experiences in other cities, and I'm intrigued by the commentary about the kids.  Perhaps it is a city-wide commuter culture that they've picked up on?  (In Boston, at least when I lived there, it was common to have people playing and common to stop because of a lot of the players were really good music school students. European cities that I've been to also have a same city-wide custom of artists in the streets.) 

I'm just beginning to realize that I'm one of the odd ones who actually stops and listens to subway musicians, watches jugglers and other people doing performance art in parks, and generally is capable of being distracted from my commute by anything around me.  I'm also constantly trying to get my students to do impromptu theatre in the streets just to see what happens and so that they can then process that event. 

[betty_p]

This experiment reminded me of books you see with the author listed as Famous Author Writing As Unknown Pseudonym (Stephen King comes to mind). I always wonder if the authors tried un-framing or un-branding themselves to see if their books would still be read, and they weren't, so to sell books, the authors outed themselves. (I know, it happens sometimes when writers are writing outside of the genres in which they've become famous.)

By the way, the author of the article and designer of the "experiment" was Gene Weingarten, who used to be Dave Barry's editor at the Miami Herald.

[voxprincipalis]

As a musician, I would probably not have stopped long myself. And yes, I know who Joshua Bell is and think he's a fantastic musician. But what art music does for me cannot be done in a noisy subway station. That doesn't have anything to do with the "prestige" factor of the frame, BTW -- I'm happy to listen to performers in rehearsal when they're in their scungy jeans and sweatshirts in a cluttered studio somewhere. What the frame does allow me to do, though, is to remove other distractions so I can devote both my ear and my brain to processing what's going on.

Scolding people for passing up a seven-course gourmet dinner when they are in commuter frenzy and only have the mental energy for a hot dog is not really fair. (And most of them prefer their hot dogs anyway.)

FYI, you have to audition to be a subway musician in NYC. It's actually a competitive gig.

VP

[artsearch]

I would think the cutie-pie factor would have gotten some passers-by to stop (not taking anything away from Bell's fine talents, of course). Betcha Mark Foley would stop.

[ttinca]

I don't know who Joshua Bell is.

Should I? 

[pink_lady]

I don't know who Joshua Bell is.

Should I? 

Yes.
He's one of the most talented violinists alive
(in my mind, Yo Yo Ma: cello :: Joshua Bell: violin).

He played the soundtrack to "The Red Violin" and has a ton of other recordings--has even appeared on Leno and Letterman.
Oh, and he's not bad to look at either, especially when playing the violin.

[ttinca]

Thanks, pink_lady.

I just watched a video of him.  Dandy. 

I guess I missed him because I'm more of a fiddle fan ...

[helpful]

I would think the cutie-pie factor would have gotten some passers-by to stop (not taking anything away from Bell's fine talents, of course). Betcha Mark Foley would stop.

Who is Mark Foley?

[zarathustra]

I would think the cutie-pie factor would have gotten some passers-by to stop (not taking anything away from Bell's fine talents, of course). Betcha Mark Foley would stop.

Who is Mark Foley?

The congressman who had to resign b/c he sent pervy emails to Senate pages.