How Do You Perceive Beauty?

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 thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed the musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on 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 three year old boy. His mother tagged him along hurriedly but the child stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head to see the musician as he walked. 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 six 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. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

What no onlooker knew was that the musician they chose not to see was none other than famous violinist Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. In the subway that day he had played one of the most intricate pieces ever written for the violin, worth 3.5 million dollars. Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell performed at a sold out theater in Boston at $100 a seat.

This is a true story and test of how we perceive beauty in our world. The experiment involving 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 test guidelines - a common place environment at an inappropriate hour:

Do we perceive beauty when we see it?

Do we stop to appreciate it?

Do we recognize beauty in an unexpected context?

How many things of beauty do you miss in life because you fail to recognize it?