Joshua Bell is to violins as Yo-Yo Ma is to cellos, and if you don’t know either.. well, they are the top of the class when it comes to classical musicians. So, earlier this year Joshua Bell teamed up with the Washington Post to see who would stop and listen to him play on a weekday morning in Downtown DC.
The location was L’Enfant Plaza metro center. He played some of the greatest (and hardest to play) classical music ever written for 45 minutes on his 3.5 million dollar Stradivari violin, and nothing really happened. This guy fills concert halls to capacity! Tickets for the cheap seats at one of his concerts cost around $75. Two of his CD’s are sitting at #3 and #4 on classical music top seller lists.
What’s amazing is that with over a thousand people passing by this amazing artist, only seven paused for at least a minute to listen and enjoy the performance. In an email to me on this subject one person wrote, "it says that we so often are in such a hurry with our own things that we don't take time to appreciate the wonder and beauty that is happening all around us."
I totally agree. Life comes and goes pretty fast.. and it seems the older you get the faster time goes by. So, slow down, smell a rose or two, and stop wondering which "Joshua Bell" you missed on the way the way to work this morning.
Read More for video and links.
More videos (including this one) at original Washington Post article: Pearls Before Breakfast
Friday, May 18, 2007
Slow Down
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4 comments:
Hey, nice article. In another setting the folks would have all been sitting in hushed silence. It is nice to be busy, but sometimes we get too busy. I plan to slow down just a bit and be more observant. Maybe I'll see some of the miracles that are happening around me.
Unbelievable :P It's so true that, besides being busy and not looking around us, you can see how fame affects us in a way we don't appreciate an awesome artist if we don't recognise him or he's not playing at a theatre.
On a more personal note, I was just thinking today how much I want to learn to play the violin XD.
W.
It's so true. I this world today we hardly seem to appreciate the beauty all around us. It's really extremely saddening. :(
I saw this on the news when it happened and I was so disappointed that so many people were in too much of a hurry to stop and really listen.
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