The Joshua Bell Experience

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin (...) He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station (...) 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 (...) 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 best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

I've only been living in New York for about seven months, but I've noticed that people tend to disconnect themselves from their environment. I've seen people walk past some of the most amazing musicians on train platforms and not even bat an eye. I just wish people would slow down and take time to see and hear all the amazing things happening around them. The video above was a performance I filmed at Columbus station around 2:30 am. Hope you enjoy it. You can read the rest of the article about Joshua Bell here.