The Washington Post published this sweet article Monday, April 9th (which I got via Arts and Letters Daily's RSS, an aggregator of great articles across the Web). It's kind of long, but so deliciously poignant. Also there is a transcript of the online chat between the article's author, Gene Weingarten, and the readers.
Would you stop?
Would you stop?
I read the article and thought it was quite thought provoking. I have forwarded it to several friends, one of whom is a talented violinist. I know I would have stopped to listen, if even for a moment-- I almost always do. Unfortunately I don't know if I would have appreciated the uniqueness of that performance, because I have no musical background. I just love to watch performers and appreciate those who perform like that in public.
ReplyDeleteThe experiment was a little unfair. People don't usually hang out in train stations in their spare time. If you're at a train station, you probably are on your way to somewhere. (And if you're like me, you were supposed to be there five minutes ago!) I bet if he'd been playing in a park on a Saturday afternoon instead, more people would have stopped.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, the authors didn't claim it was a rigorous scientific experiment. Instead they wanted to show how all those little things, which make us perpetually late and stressed, turn us into narrow-minded drones acting out our limited algorithms, in which all things vain and unimportant become all-consuming, desirable and even obligatory. Worse yet, they cramp our spare time.
ReplyDeleteThe experiment wasn't to show how many people had time and appreciation for the music played by a world-class violinist, but how many didn't. And a Saturday afternoon in the park wouldn't have changed that.