[rephrasing and adding to some comments I made elsewhere:]
Great article. Not only was it an interesting experiment, but the writer did a good job of covering the phenomenon from different angles, and did so pretty respectfully.
I'm curious what my reaction would have been as a commuter. I'd like to think I would've been late for work. :-) It's obvious within seconds that the performer is a professional, just given the technical expertise alone-- the violin is not a forgiving instrument! I do tend to ignore subway musicians, but it's hard not to listen and notice the quality of performance, if it's notable one way or the other.
I might or might not have recognized Bell upon second look; he's a favorite of my mother's and I'm quite familiar with him, but I haven't seen any recent photographs of him.
As an experiment, however, two potential problems occurred to me:
1) The performance space.
From the videos, it's clear that there was no good place to stop and listen to the music, because there was traffic coming from at least three directions. (Check out, in the final video, where the woman who did recognize Bell and stop for ten minutes was standing. Awkward location, isn't it? There's no wall to lean against or even take shelter against passing pedestrians.)
The mention of the shoeshiner typically calling either the Mall or Metro police on performers there seems to suggest that it's not even a legal performance spot (though I don't know what the DC Metro policies are regarding performers). All in all, I wondered if there weren't a better and/or more legal spot that could have been chosen, that might have allowed listeners to congregate. (I don't think that would've happened anyway, but it would've been more fair of an experiment.)
2) Time of day.
During morning rush hour? Despite the heavy traffic, that's the worst possible time of day for a busker. People don't plan any extra time into their morning commutes. They're not going to stop and listen unless they're waiting-and-not-moving anyway (which, as noted above, is not true of the space they put Bell in)-- otherwise, they'll be late.
Now, all that said, the Post experiment is still an interesting experiment and the results might not vary that much even with a better location and time. As you point out, there's a difference between the skill sets of "virtuoso musician" and "excellent busker" in a public setting.
Steve MacDonald (a filker friend of mine) mentioned something similar about musicians-vs.-performers when he talked about playing at RenFaires. Other (possibly technically-better) musicians would complain about the lack of attention and lack of donations. Steve concentrated on performance and audience interaction (and I assure, you, Steve is a very entertaining ham), and consequently didn't have much of a problem getting attention or money.
Bell in the Metro
Great article. Not only was it an interesting experiment, but the writer did a good job of covering the phenomenon from different angles, and did so pretty respectfully.
I'm curious what my reaction would have been as a commuter. I'd like to think I would've been late for work. :-) It's obvious within seconds that the performer is a professional, just given the technical expertise alone-- the violin is not a forgiving instrument! I do tend to ignore subway musicians, but it's hard not to listen and notice the quality of performance, if it's notable one way or the other.
I might or might not have recognized Bell upon second look; he's a favorite of my mother's and I'm quite familiar with him, but I haven't seen any recent photographs of him.
As an experiment, however, two potential problems occurred to me:
1) The performance space.
From the videos, it's clear that there was no good place to stop and listen to the music, because there was traffic coming from at least three directions. (Check out, in the final video, where the woman who did recognize Bell and stop for ten minutes was standing. Awkward location, isn't it? There's no wall to lean against or even take shelter against passing pedestrians.)
The mention of the shoeshiner typically calling either the Mall or Metro police on performers there seems to suggest that it's not even a legal performance spot (though I don't know what the DC Metro policies are regarding performers). All in all, I wondered if there weren't a better and/or more legal spot that could have been chosen, that might have allowed listeners to congregate. (I don't think that would've happened anyway, but it would've been more fair of an experiment.)
2) Time of day.
During morning rush hour? Despite the heavy traffic, that's the worst possible time of day for a busker. People don't plan any extra time into their morning commutes. They're not going to stop and listen unless they're waiting-and-not-moving anyway (which, as noted above, is not true of the space they put Bell in)-- otherwise, they'll be late.
Now, all that said, the Post experiment is still an interesting experiment and the results might not vary that much even with a better location and time. As you point out, there's a difference between the skill sets of "virtuoso musician" and "excellent busker" in a public setting.
Steve MacDonald (a filker friend of mine) mentioned something similar about musicians-vs.-performers when he talked about playing at RenFaires. Other (possibly technically-better) musicians would complain about the lack of attention and lack of donations. Steve concentrated on performance and audience interaction (and I assure, you, Steve is a very entertaining ham), and consequently didn't have much of a problem getting attention or money.