Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A story of unrecognized talent

This is a story I heard awhile back which I always reflect on.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold, December morning. 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, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

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 and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. 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.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100 each.

From: The Washington Post

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Really a great factual description. It can inspire any sincere person. Your writing skill is also fantastic, keep going.
Thanks for posting such a great & inspirational story.

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Felix Francois said...

wow, this is awesome... :D

Catharsiz said...

That is truly inspiring. But art is a demanding animal to maintain. You must have patrons and the right setting. At some level, it is hardly surprising that no one dropped everything they were doing to listen to someone playing the violin. Personally, I probably wouldn't stop even if I knew who he was. His violin isn't going to go and do my job in the morning.

Katie said...

That a really good little piece of writing I feel inspired :)