The Mysterious Subway Violinist and Human Perception

15. January 2009 by John Schinnerer.

A man sat on a chair, his back against the tiled wall at the L’Enfant Plaza Station of the subway line in Washington D.C. He pulled out a violin and began playing classical music. On a brisk January morning, the man played beautifully for close to an hour. As it was rush hour, nearly 1100 people passed by him during his performance.

A few minutes into the “concert”, a middle aged man noticed the man playing the violin. He slowed down a step, stopped to listen for a few seconds, then continued on his way.Another couple of minutes passed before the violinist was given his first tip – a dollar bill – from a pleasant-looking woman who kindly tossed the bill into the man’s hat but did not stop to listen. After awhile, a gentleman in his early twenties stopped to listen to the violin player. Fifteen seconds passed before the young man looked at his beeping iPhone and hurried off to work.

The one who got most caught up in the live music was a toddler who clearly enjoyed the beautiful notes emanating from the instrument. The young boy’s mother, however, had to get an appointment and tugged at his sleeve. The 3-year-old took two steps towards his mother to appease her then stopped again. He was moved by the music. Seconds passed, his mother grabbed him underneath the armpit and yanked him along. His feet moved with his mothers’ but his eyes remained fixed on the violinist. This scenario played out repeatedly with other children who were mesmerized by the man’s beautiful playing. Their parents, without exception, had no time to indulge the whims of the children, hurrying them along to their various destinations.

Note: This is a true story of a social experiment.

Over the course of a 45-minute performance, 27 individuals combined to contribute $32.17 for the man’s efforts. A mere 7 out of 1,097 people (or 0.6 percent) paused to enjoy the man’s music.  When his performance was done, he quietly put away his violin, folded up his chair and left without ceremony. The music was replaced with silence. No one applauded. No one even noticed his absence. Three days prior to the subway concert, the violinist, Joshua Bell, had played to a packed house at Boston’s Symphony Hall. The average ticket price to the concert was $100. Bell is widely regarded as one of the best musicians in the world. In 2007, Bell won the Avery Fisher Prize for outstanding achievement in classical music and annually plays over 200 concerts worldwide. He was enlisted by Washington Post writer, Gene Weingarten to spend 45 minutes playing Bach. Bell used his own violin during the concert, a Stradivarius violin made in 1713, for which he reportedly purchased for $3.5 million.

The real story is the social experiment concocted by Weingarten and carried out by Bell. The experiment speaks to the power that context has over our attention, perceptions, tastes and priorities. Simply because it took place in front of a subway station, less than 1% of 1,100 people stopped to listen to a free concert given by a world-class musician, playing some of the most beautiful music ever written, on an instrument that is a work of art in its own right.

Some Rather Important Questions:

If we are unable to recognize beauty when it is right in front of us, what other beautiful things are we missing?

What opportunities are we missing to savor the enjoyment of everyday brilliance?
 

What underlying expectations do we have that keep us from recognizing talent in unusual places?

To what are you paying attention?  

And finally, what are you NOT seeing or hearing (or perceiving) that might bring you joy?

About the Author

Dr. John Schinnerer is in private practice helping individuals learn happiness by mitigating destructive emotions and fostering constructive emotions. His practice is located in the Danville San Ramon Medical Center at 913 San Ramon Valley Blvd., #280, Danville, California 94526. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. Dr. Schinnerer has been an executive and positive psychologist for over 10 years. Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that coaches clients to their potential using the latest in positive psychology, mindfulness and attentional control. Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Dr. Schinnerer is President of Infinet Assessment, a psychological testing company to help firms select the best applicants. Dr. Schinnerer’s areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development, to sports psychology. Dr. Schinnerer wrote the award-winning, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which is available at Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com and AuthorHouse.com.  

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