the sound of the bell

[calimac]

I finally had the chance to read the original WPost article about great violinist Joshua Bell busking at a D.C. Metro station and hardly anybody stopping to listen.

It's a really frustrating article, because it portrays the passersby unfairly as philistines.

A lot of them undoubtably were "philistines", if that means people with no interest in music or at least that sort of music.

That's no news. Just because, as the article repeatedly notes, many people will pay top dollar to hear Bell in concert doesn't mean that vast numbers more of them wouldn't, even if they had top dollar to pay.

But the main reason few people stopped is because it was morning rush hour. They had to get to work.

The article mentions this, then it says "Koyaanisqatsi", blah blah blah, our lives are out of balance, blah blah blah, great music is more important than getting to work. Well, sure, in the long run it is - certainly to me - but not right then. Hasen't the Post ever heard of the Maslovian hierarchy? Urgent needs must be satisfied now, even if they're trivial. (There are times when the restroom takes priority over all else in life.) Other things will have to wait. If you're late to work, you're not going to get much slack from explaining that you stopped to listen to a busker. On some other occasion, if you have time, you'll stop.

The article just doesn't get this. The writer actually interviews a philosopher who cites Kant to explain that you really need optimal conditions to appreciate art, and that it's not surprising or damning at all that few people took the time to stop.

And then the article claims to refute this by citing a commuter who did stop. Implication: here's one man who found music more important than his job.

But he didn't. He balanced his priorities to a nicety. He checked the time, found he had three minutes to spare, and stopped and listened for exactly three minutes.

The article also mentions that passing children did try to stop and listen, but were dragged away by their accompanying adults. Implication: children have more appreciation of the importance of music. No: children have less appreciation of the importance of time.

Leonard Slatkin is interviewed. Without being told what happened, he thinks a fair crowd will gather. But Leonard Slatkin is the music director of the National Symphony. If he needs to be somewhere, they'll wait for him.

I've seen crowds gathered around buskers. I've stopped to listen to them myself. (Never for very long, even if they're very good - and some are very good. Kant was right: conditions aren't optimal.) But I stop only if I have time. If not, I just enjoy the few seconds I hear as I pass by. And I leave my music listening to when I do have time.

Comments

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

And in Seattle, I used to know the regular buskers at Pike Place Market by face and repertoire. I don't go downtown so often now, but I still recognize some of them when I do. There's a group of formerly homeless men singing fifties doo-wop who are really amazing, and they're still singing outside after more than fifteen years.