If you're not listening, you won't hear

This was sent to me today.  While it's ostensibly a social experiment, this story also gets to a key aspect of storytelling, namely that it doesn't matter how great you are, if no one is prepared to listen, no one will hear. 

The thing is...To put it into a marketing context, a great story, any great content, any advertisement, when delivered through the wrong channel and to the wrong audience just DOES NOT work. 

The summary appears below.  But click through to the story to see the video feed.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January 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 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, tickets for Joshua  Bell's performance at a theater in Boston were sold out and the seats averaged $100.

 

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we  perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context? One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing???

Comments

[Adrienne Wallace Hayward]

This has a great and significant meaning for multiple pursuits and things I am involved in right now. Hope it's okay that I take it personally and say thanks David!

[wally]

Dude, what was that about. I kind of skimmed it. I'll check in with you for the Cliff notes. Something about not paying attention? Oh, damn.