The violinist in the subway, an experiment that proved what we do not know

The Violinist on the Subway was a social experiment carried out to prove that we look without seeing.. It was held for the first time in 2007 and then repeated seven years later. Its protagonist was the famous violinist Joshua Bell and he basically proved that human beings are good at ignoring beauty.

The experiment was organized by the newspaper Washington Post. It started with a question: will beauty be able to capture people’s attention if it is presented in an everyday context and at an inappropriate moment? In other words: how capable are people of recognizing the beautiful outside the scenarios in which we expect it to be located?

The final result showed that we look without seeing and we hear without listening. We probably get too carried away by appearances. and we are also so engrossed that we are not able to discover the diamonds that shine among the leaves.

Joshua Bell, a virtuoso

Joshua Bell is one of the best violinists in the world. He was born in Indiana (United States), in 1967. When he was very young, his parents saw him reproducing the sound of the piano that his mother played, with some rubber bands. He was only 4 years old. His father He bought him a violin and at the age of 7 the boy was already giving his first concert.

The most characteristic thing about Joshua Bell is his love for classical music and his defense of an idea: it should be available to all audiences. Not one of those teachers who thinks it is valid only in certain environments or for a trained public.

Bell has appeared on Sesame Street and has participated in the creation of multiple soundtracks for commercial films. In fact, performed the central theme of the film The red violin and served as a double for the protagonist in several scenes. Thats why he Washington Post He thought that Joshua Bell was the most suitable character for his social experiment.

The experiment

The violinist experiment in the subway consisted of making Joshua Bell play violin at a very popular Washington Metro station, at a high traffic hour. Bell wanted to perform the music with his expensive violin Stradivaruisvalued at more than three million dollars.

The designers of the experiment estimated that between 75 and 100 people were going to stop and listen to it. Also that Bell would get at least $100 during the hour that his performance would last. After all, Three days before he had given a concert in which the public had paid those 100 dollars to listen to him in chairs not very well located..

The appointed day was January 12, 2007, at 7:51 in the morning. Bell appeared dressed in a long-sleeved T-shirt, jeans and a cap. He began by performing a work by Johann Sebastian Bach, then continued his masterful interpretation with Shubert’s Ave Maria and another series of pieces. It soon became evident that we look without seeing and we hear without listening.

We look without seeing and we hear without listening

In total, the violin prodigy played for 47 minutes. In that period, 1,097 people passed by. Much to everyone’s surprise, only six of them stopped to listen to him. In total he earned 32 dollars and 17 cents for his performance.. Joshua Bell later said that the most frustrating thing was finishing his performance and seeing no one applauding.

There was only one woman who recognized him and a man stopped to listen to him for six minutes. He was a 30-year-old young man named John David Mortensen. An official from the state energy department. He later stated that the only classics he knew were the rock classics. However, Bell’s music seemed sublime to him and that’s why he stopped to listen to it.. “I felt peace“, said.

The proof that we look without seeing and hear without listening is that the majority of passers-by were completely indifferent to the spectacle.. It was also heartbreaking for Bell to feel so ignored. Therefore, seven years later he returned to play in the same place, but preceded by great publicity.

This time hundreds of people gathered around him. The objective was to bring young people closer to classical music and Bell gave a small educational concert. He regretted that so many people in the world were unable for many moments to identify the beauty and he wanted to do something on his part to overcome that deficiency.

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