April 7, 2007
Beauty in the Metro
They have a saying in Paris that describes the fast pace of life in that city: Métro, boulot, dodo, meaning that life consists only of an endless repetition of subway rides, work, and sleep. Life in Washington is harried, too, but sometimes you need to stop as you dash through the L'Enfant Plaza station at rush hour on a Friday in January. Who is playing the famous Chaconne from Bach's D minor partita so well in the Metro? Take a long look at that violinist in the T-shirt, jeans, and Washington Nationals cap. Yes, it's Friday, and we're all tired at that point in the week, but if you do not pay attention, you may not realize that you are walking right by a free performance by Joshua Bell, one of the most famous violinists on the world stage today.
A couple years ago, Post journalist Gene Weingarten heard a particularly good performance by a keyboard player in the Metro and watched as crowds of people walked by without stopping. Even those who showed their appreciation by dropping a few coins did so on the run. As Weingarten told me in a phone interview earlier this week, this was not really about people's musical tastes and even less about the much-feared Death of Classical Music, a myth which New Yorker critic Alex Ross has been trying to debunk. This experiment is really about the priorities of modern life. Are people in a position to appreciate the beautiful things that happen randomly in life? Are we really so busy to stop when confronted with a musical performance of unquestionable beauty? What if Yo-Yo Ma were just to set up with his cello in the Metro?
In an article published online today and on newsstands in tomorrow's Post Magazine, Gene Weingarten answers these questions. International superstar Joshua Bell, one of the least buttoned-down musicians performing at such a high level, was willing to take part in the experiment. He did indeed play his 1713 Stradivarius violin (the "Gibson ex-Huberman") for about 45 minutes in the L'Enfant Plaza Metro station this past January 12. The publication date of the article coincides nicely with the recent announcement that he has been awarded the Avery Fisher Prize, in recognition of the career achievements of an American classical musician.
While Bell played, a hidden camera recorded the crowds of people walking by, mostly oblivious. (You can watch clips from the video online.) Some people occasionally put money in Bell's violin case, as he played the gorgeous Bach Chaconne (actually twice, the first and last piece), as well as other pieces by Bach for unaccompanied violin and the famous Gounod Ave Maria. No one stopped until the very end, when one young woman stood taking it all in, with the crowd rushing by her. She then chatted with Bell, saying that she caught his concert at the Library of Congress the month before, an event that DCist recommended in the Classical Music Agenda but could not attend.
Whoever you are, woman who stopped to listen to Bach and recognized Joshua Bell, you are my hero. Alright, DCist readers, did anyone happen to walk by Joshua Bell on January 12? More importantly, why did you not tip us off?
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Well he may not have made much because if you've ever seen him play live, and the way he plays in this video - he sways a little like a crazy person. I'd have been scared of him.
Well he may not have made much because if you've ever seen him play live, and the way he plays in this video - he sways a little like a crazy person. I'd have been scared of him.
I'm generally running late for work.
Click on the link and look at the videos...
It's a shame that the majority people can't appreciate a true master of classical music. And you can't blame costs...there are free concerts every day at the Kennedy Center and plenty at the Library of Congress, aside from the concerts put on by the various colleges and universities in the area.
Being from New York initially, I'm used to seeing crowds of people around performers on the street and in the subway (Penn Station especially). This reaction was totally unexpected.
I don't want to be a dick, but I wonder if you actually read the whole article or just skimmed the first and last few paragraphs. It really is a great piece, and I would encourage you to revisit it with a little more care. First, and least important, it was Schubert's Ave Maria, not Gounod's. Second, it wasn't just the one woman at the end who stopped. There were several other commuters who paused for a bit to listen, and several employees who paid attention. Each represented a unique angle in the story.
Classical music has gone by the wayside, but not as fast as Opera. The situation I have with classical is that the beat is entirely screwed up, instead of the beat or rhythm going counter to the melody as it does in rock and hip hop the beat goes with the melody. It took me about 5 years to figure that out, in my mind the music is simplistic because the rhythm is simplistic. I'm not looking for a complex melody and I'm DEFINITELY not looking for the long drawn-out tones of a string instrument played with a bow. Fiddles suck, they sound boring. Yo-Yo Ma couldn't save a PBS pledge drive if he tried. I've heard plenty of his stuff and it's no good. What killed classical music is that the public decided that James Brown's beats starting on the one were more important musically. Look at Jazz today for how people viewed classical music with reverence when I was a kid. There's a guy down the street from my parents who has about 5-10,000 cds of classical music and one of those $100k stereo systems. Not long ago he told my mother that he discovered Duke Ellington and finally understood what people were talking about and he's reportedly turnign into a jazz hound. Because classical music in the traditional sense, has been treading water for 100 years without a work comparable to Mozart's. As a style of music, that's loser behavior.
The saddest/most poignant piece in the article was that with the exception of one group of people, there was no consistency with who stopped, who didn't etc...what was consistant, according to the article is that every child who walked by wanted to stop and listen and they were all hustled off by a parent....
Wow DCer, clearly you have never been to a Generation O event at the Washington National Opera, or to a sold-out performance of the National Symphony lately. Did you even listen to the clips that the Post had online embedded in the Joshua Bell article? Even if you didn't know or like classical music, as one of the people interviewed for the article, you would be able to recognize Bell's amazing talent and be moved by the music.
Jazz, Blues, Rock and Roll and all the music inventions of the 20th century would not have been possible if classical music had not existed. And to say that there have been no recent break-throughs in classical music is just a farce. Prokofiev, Copland, Bernstein and others have paved the way for young composers everywhere.
Broaden your horizons, DCer.
The article was a good one, and definitely an interesting experiment. However, I doubt that the response is indicative of anything much beyond the rush hour attitude of folks on their way to work in the fastest manner possible. L'Enfant is mostly an office station, without a lot of tourist traffic, and people on their way to work are not going to just stop and listen, regardless of whether they hear quality music. And the ability to distinguish genius from just plain "good" musical talent depends on being well-versed in classical music and a good ear for intonation, which is not something the average citizen possesses. I think this response is mostly due to the simple, habitual behavior of rush hour movements, and the workforce mentality of needing to get to work as quickly as physically possible.
Thanks for all the comments. Factchecker, you are right that I had not read the article when I wrote this post, as it had not been published yet.
No one walked through the L'Enfant Plaza station that day?
I walked through the station that day. But I'm fairly certain it was after he had finished playing.
That said, whenever someone is playing violin (as they do every so often in that station) or singing or whatever, I tend to stand on the escalator & enjoy the music on the ride up while I read my paper. The acoustics there are excellent & it's a treat. By the time I reach the top, however, I'm walking & not stopping to watch someone play (because I'm usually about to be late).
I'm surprised and disappointed that the author of the article didn't consider or mention that not stopping doesn't necessarily mean not enjoying - or that people may have been listening & enjoying before they were within view of the camera. That vestibule at the top of the Metro is a busy place- not one to stand around in. Basing an article on what was happening within 20 feet of Bell may not be an accurate depiction of people's enjoyment or obliviousness.
Here's a link to the full 45 minutes of audio for Bell's "performance" at L'Enfant. This was shared in the Post's chat today with Gene:
http :// preview.tinyurl.com/ys9jde
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Joshua who? Didn't get shot like 50 times or something?
Classical music rules. I read the entire article and felt like crying. I don't listen to it much, but when you hear good music, damn people, just stop what you're doing even for just one breath. I wish I could have been there to witness it. And listen to Bach's Chaconne-- if it doesn't make you cry or feel something, there's something seriously wrong with you.
I wish he'd come back for an encore during lunch or better yet, AFTER work! And choose someplace other than L'Enfant Plaza--the station is crowded and generally tourist-free. Give the tourists a break and play at the Smithsonian station! Frustrated that I missed him, but loved the experiment. As a letter to the Post editor notd, it proved that government employees are punctual and focused on their work.