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Re: Do We Perceive Beauty in an Unexpected Context
Interesting thread -- wish I had time to read it all in detail, but
I've got art to do-:)
In response to the subject line (as opposed to the story) I offer
this link to a photo essay entitled "Ugly Beauty" (after a tune by
Thelonious Monk)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22231918@N06/sets/72157627050182543
In response to the story, I offer a number of thoughts:
1. Not everybody has developed a taste for Bach.
2. When I visit New York, I frequently encounter buskers in the
(much louder than the metro) NY subways. The sonic context is of
great importance here. Delicate sounds can be so overwhelmed by the
ambient noise as to be annoying. A cheap amp can turn most anything
to crap.African Drums (which I would enjoy in another context) sound
very unpleasant in a hyper-reverberant space like Times Square.
Boring pop song covers are simply annoying. Occasionally I encounter
a jazz soloist of some merit or a soloist on an intriguing ethnic
instrument and I listen with pleasure until my train comes and toss a
buck in the hat.
Rick, I'm (pun intended) waiting for you to drop the promised other shoe.
At 10:17 PM -0800 2/19/12, Rick Walker wrote:
We've had so many thought provoking discussions here at Loopers Delight
(one
of the nicest runs in this site's history) lately, about philosophy.
Tonight. in an introspective mood, I saw two things posted to Facebook:
I'll repost one here and one in the next email because they concern
diffrerent topics.
I found one depressing and one inspiring but they both inspired meditation.
Firstly:
A man sat at a metro stationin 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 1,100 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, and 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 most
talented musicians in the world. He had just played one of the most
intricate pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million
dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a
theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro
station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a 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?
--
"I rang a silent bell ..." -- Robert Hunter
"... cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it" -- Bob Dylan
My photography can be viewed at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22231918@N06/collections/72157603627170351/
My videos can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/Tobenfeld