Um Violinista no Metro!

[Alex Soares]

"A Violinist in the Metro

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best 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 his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?"


Desculpem não traduzir, mas para quem percebe Inglês, é uma historia bastante interessante de ler...

[enes]

é a pura da loucura !!!

lembram-se do Abrunhosa que fez o mesmo ?

[Arshaman]

Muito interessante.

boa partilha

Tiago

[nmpms77]

Já conhecia a história mas , é sempre interessante este tipo de partilha.
Já fui a Londres diversas vezes e curto muito o pessoal que toca no metro, grande parte deles são muito melhores que muitos "artistas" que andam aí na nossa praça.
Ali trabalha-se na corda bamba quem canta , canta e que toca ,toca mesmo, não há cá playback para ninguém.

[DanyDrummer]

Viva Pessoal,

Por acaso não conhecia a história,mas gostei muito...muito porreira.

Excelente partilha..

Abraço

[Madeira]

Grande verdade... Cada vez menos sabemos o que andamos a perder...

enes, esse video do Abrunhosa é que não conhecia... Ele fez isso de iniciativa própria, ou isso terá sido por acaso alguma jogada mais ou menos programada...?

[DumDumDa!]

Boa história...
A verdade é que muitas vezes tem a ver com o espaço e com o próprio momento.

Uma vez eu estava em Ljubjiana, e estava um tipo na rua, a tocar blues sozinho com uma guitarra eléctrica e um pequeno Amp. O tipo tocava mesmo mesmo muito!! Eu comecei a ouvir aquilo um bocado ao longe e fui procurar o tipo, depois sentei-me lá num banco e fiquei a ouvir durante uns bons 20 minutos! Deixei-lhe uns trocos e vim embora satisfeito da vida!

Mas depois pensei, "Se fosse no porto... faria a mesma coisa?" Provavelmente não, por muito que custa a admitir. O mais provavel era estar a caminho de algum lado e não poder ficar ali a ouvir (ainda para mais no metro).