Ciaconna

An article came out in the Washington Post describing an experiment in which they got world famous violinist Joshua Bell to play as a street musician in the subway of Washington D.C. He played for 43 minutes as over a thousand people passed by trying to get to work during rush hour. The instrument was a $3.5 million Stradivarius; the pieces were some of the most amazing classical pieces ever composed. The article mentions the Bach "chaconne" from Partita No 2 in D Minor. This is a really spellbinding, thrilling piece; it's beautiful. For some reason, the piece struck me most about this whole situation; though I may not have recognized Josh Bell and I certainly wouldn't have believed the violin was a Strad, this 14-minute piece is the stuff of masters.

The results were shocking (to me). Only one person recognized him. Only a few people stopped to listen. He made about $32 in time he played. This really raised a lot of questions for me. What is art? Do you have to be trained to listen to classical music to appreciate it? Perhaps, but every child who passed by wanted to stop and listen. The article mentions poet laureate Billy Collins (who I heard speak when I was an undergrad) who comments that all babies are born with a knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother's heart is in iambic pentameter. But, somehow, we lose it. This music is gorgeous, and people are simply rushing to work. How much does context play into this whole situation? How much passes us by because we are too focused on where we need to be and what we need to do? Why are some things aesthetically pleasing while other things are less so?

Perhaps this is all unrelated to medicine, but as we move into our brain, mind, and behavior block, I begin to think of these questions more and more.

Link: Washington Post - "Pearls Before Breakfast"