That’s the question the Washington Post asked recently.
As a kind of social experiment, they recruited the world’s top violinist, Joshua Bell, and his Stradivarius, to play a 45 minute performance as a street artist in a Metro station in Washington, DC. The results:
In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run — for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look.
The article goes on to mention that there was one person who recognized the artist, and she watched the spectacle for several minutes before putting $20 into the kitty (not included in the total).
Appreciation for good classical performance is somewhat lacking among Americans it seems.
1 response so far ↓
1 Michelle // 9 Apr 2007 at 2:52 pm
There is a great response to the Joshua Bell article by a NYC subway musician in her blog: http://www.SawLady.com/blog
She interprets the situation differently from the Washington Post reporters… I thought you might find it interesting.