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Wash. Post Article on Violinist in Metro

Cita

Posted : 4/9/2007 8:33:20 PM

Did any of you guys catch this? I thought the article was incredibly moving.

The Washington Post hired a world-famous violinist to play in a DC metro stop, then set up a camera to watch what happened - to see if anyone would recognize that this fellow was more than just your average street musician. Very, very few people stopped, but what to me was even more shocking was that almost nobody even turned their heads to look. The refusal to notice was so deliberate I was stunned.

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

The last video clip brought me to tears. The musician playing his heart out, alone in the emotionless world as the population rushes by, too self-involved to even look in his direction... Perhaps my imagination is a little over-active, but you get the idea.

Xerxes

Posted : 4/9/2007 9:23:26 PM

You're not from this area are you? LOL That's Every Single Day here...

Michelle

Posted : 4/10/2007 7:22:47 AM

ORIGINAL: Cita
Very, very few people stopped, but what to me was even more shocking was that almost nobody even turned their heads to look. The refusal to notice was so deliberate I was stunned. . . .
. The musician playing his heart out, alone in the emotionless world as the population rushes by, too self-involved to even look in his direction...

ORIGINAL: Xerxes
You're not from this area are you? LOL That's Every Single Day here...

That's why we moved out here over the mountain . . .people around here would stop and listen and chat. But then again they still probably wouldn't know who he was!

Xerxes

Posted : 4/10/2007 7:48:38 AM

ORIGINAL: saveastray2day

That's why we moved out here over the mountain . . .people around here would stop and listen and chat. But then again they still probably wouldn't know who he was!

If you're where I think you are, you're close to where I'd like to move! I'd like to move just past the mountains as well!

g33

Posted : 4/10/2007 8:28:44 AM

They did this in Chicago's Union Station a few weeks ago using probably the finest concert violinist in the world! He played enduring masterpieces that would not necessarily have been familiar. No crowd gathered and he made a paltry $32. Some "expert" predicted that probably 50-75 people out of a thousand would have recognized him or at least the music and that he'd have made $150!

Our society is just plain asleep.

rwbeagles

Posted : 4/10/2007 8:42:54 AM

I'd at least have gone up and asked him to play some SKYNRD!!!

dlg81

Posted : 4/10/2007 11:04:51 AM

ORIGINAL: Cita

The last video clip brought me to tears. The musician playing his heart out, alone in the emotionless world as the population rushes by, too self-involved to even look in his direction... Perhaps my imagination is a little over-active, but you get the idea.

People might just be tired. I know that if I were going to work during rush hour on the metro I wouldn't be stopping to listen to a person play violin. I also don't stop or really look when I walk by performers on the street. I'm not sure that makes me self involved or emotionless.

A part of this may just come from living in DC. There are tons of nutty people on the metro or in metro stations. I've been followed more than once by people that I've returned a hello to. I have learned that it is safer to ignore people. This doesn't really happen in Orlando, where I find that people don't follow me when I reply to a hello.

Cita

Posted : 4/10/2007 12:21:49 PM

I don't know, in Spain maybe 50% of the population will at least turn to look if a musician is particularly talented. I probably wouldn't stop either - heck, we're busy people! - but I would at least nod and add a few coins. I see nothing insulting about contributing one's pocket change. In Madrid and Rome I carried extra $.20 coins for that express purpose. [

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