A couple of years ago, the Washington Post conducted an experiment at a busy D.C. metro station during morning rush hour. They asked Joshua Bell, one of the finest classical violinists in the world, to play his violin at the station and see what would happen. Bell was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap, and stood against a wall with his violin case open for donations. (If you would like to read the entire article and see some video footage of this experiment, click here.)
Here’s the upshot: Bell played for nearly 45 minutes, during which nearly 1,100 people rushed by. Only 7 people actually stopped to listen for any length of time, and Bell earned all of $32.17. (Joshua Bell normally sells out concert halls and earns thousands of dollars per performance.)
Of course, the big question is why didn’t people stop and listen to this gifted musician play (and for free, I might add)? The article offers all kinds of ideas. People are too busy to stop and appreciate beauty; they are too insensitive to pay attention to street musicians; they are too culturally unaware to know any better.
There is probably some validity to all of these ideas. I recently read another which really struck a chord with me (no pun intended). We have become such a culture of music consumers, rather than music makers, that we no longer trust ourselves to recognize beautiful music when we hear it. We need someone, some expert, to tell us when we are hearing something worth listening to. Otherwise, we might be branded as unsophisticated or lacking in cultural sensitivity. In other words, we’ve stopped trusting our gut instincts when it comes to music.
If you read the article and watch the footage of the Post’s experiment, there is one demographic group who clearly didn’t have this problem: children. Time after time, children tried to stop and listen to Joshua Bell, but the accompanying adults pulled them away. Perhaps we are born with an intrinsic appreciation of music, but life causes us to ignore or downplay those feelings. Instead of being taught how to recognize beauty in all its forms, we are often taught to criticize others’ efforts in order to prove our own superior knowledge.
Let’s work together to change this now. Don’t be afraid to admit that you listen to certain music just because you like it. I’ll start. I love listening to If I had $1,000,000 and Be My Yoko Ono by the Barenaked Ladies. Why? Because they’re fun! I grew up admiring the music of Barry Manilow and Air Supply. Is their music sometimes overly schmaltzy? Yes, but the songs also have beautiful melodies and speak to the human need for love.
My favorite pop artist of all time is Billy Joel. I’ll never forget the day I was playing The Stranger in my car, and my younger son Nicholas, then 4, said, “That is the coolest song ever.” So, don’t be afraid to pay attention to children’s cues when it comes to music. After all, they know something beautiful when they hear it!
