(no subject)
Apr. 9th, 2007 06:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xiphiasPeople have been talking about that story in which world-class violinist Joshua Bell plays a world-class Stradivarius playing world-class music for forty-five minutes in a Washington Metro station and most people don't notice.
And I've been thinking about it, and it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers some other folks.
It was mentioned in the transcript of an online chat that the author did that similar things have been done with other artists in various locations around the world, with similar results.
To me, this means one major thing. Busking is a skill-set. Buskers don't just have to play good, or even world-class, music -- they need to do something else as well. What exactly that is, I'm not sure -- I've never really successfully busked. But there IS something else there -- virtuosity isn't enough; you need personal charisma, as well.
In a lot of ways, it's an example of this experiment, with the basketballs. You know this one, right? Watch it, and count how many passes the people make. Every time someone throws and catches the basketball, that is one pass. It can be bounced, or thrown, or whatever -- just count the number of passes.
Then, answer the following question, which is ROT-13: Qvq lbh frr gur tbevyyn?
I think it's the same thing. If you're concentrating on one thing, such as getting to work, or counting basketball passes, you miss other things, like violinists and gorillas. It's just how the brain works.
And the part of the brain which allows you to do that is the prefrontal lobes, which are not fully developed in children, which is why THEY notice the violinist.
And then, one final thought hit me. $32 is actually pretty damn good for a busker for 45 minutes. People actually DO recognize and reward quality.
And I've been thinking about it, and it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers some other folks.
It was mentioned in the transcript of an online chat that the author did that similar things have been done with other artists in various locations around the world, with similar results.
To me, this means one major thing. Busking is a skill-set. Buskers don't just have to play good, or even world-class, music -- they need to do something else as well. What exactly that is, I'm not sure -- I've never really successfully busked. But there IS something else there -- virtuosity isn't enough; you need personal charisma, as well.
In a lot of ways, it's an example of this experiment, with the basketballs. You know this one, right? Watch it, and count how many passes the people make. Every time someone throws and catches the basketball, that is one pass. It can be bounced, or thrown, or whatever -- just count the number of passes.
Then, answer the following question, which is ROT-13: Qvq lbh frr gur tbevyyn?
I think it's the same thing. If you're concentrating on one thing, such as getting to work, or counting basketball passes, you miss other things, like violinists and gorillas. It's just how the brain works.
And the part of the brain which allows you to do that is the prefrontal lobes, which are not fully developed in children, which is why THEY notice the violinist.
And then, one final thought hit me. $32 is actually pretty damn good for a busker for 45 minutes. People actually DO recognize and reward quality.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 04:28 pm (UTC)I like classical music. I like a lot of things. I do *not* like the feeling that someone's trying to blackmail me - and that is how subway musicians feel to me. "Here, I'm giving you this cool stuff... now you should pay me for it."
Sure, they rarely if ever actually badger anyone to pay - there's usually not even a sign requesting donations, just a container into which you could drop money if you felt like it - but I DO believe in giving money for value received. When a good subway player entertains me, I feel an obligation to reward him - and that's an obligation I never asked for, never agreed to. It feels like an imposition. So if anything I tend to feel an obligation NOT to be entertained by the subway player.
Now that I'm analyzing it a bit, I recognize there's an irrationality there somewhere. But that's how I feel about it.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-10 07:24 pm (UTC)So, I use the same rules for whether I give money to buskers. If I like what I hear, and I'm not in a hurry to get somewhere, I will give them some money and maybe stay and listen for a bit if it's convenient. If I don't like what I hear I ignore them.