The Price of Genius: That Busker is Playing a $3 Million Violin.
On a January morning in 2007, a musician set up to play his violin at the top of the escalators by the L’Enfant Plaza transit station in Washington, DC. It was the middle of rush hour, and as he prepared, commuters walked briskly by on their way to work. Buskers are a common sight in big cities and this man, dressed in a ball cap, t-shirt, and jeans, looked quite average. But this man was far from ordinary. The musician was internationally acclaimed virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell who was about to play six soaring classical pieces on a multi-million-dollar 18th-century violin. A few days earlier, Bell was playing to a packed house at Boston’s Symphony Hall, where seats go for an average of $100. Today, his audience of hurried commuters would hear his musical genius for free, … or at least the price of some money tossed into his open violin case.
Bell’s impromptu performance outside the transit station (recorded by a hidden camera) was an experiment by The Washington Post newspaper. Columnist Gene Weingarten wrote about the performance and its purpose:
“[it was intended] as an experiment in context, perception and priorities — as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?”
Would people listen? Would they appreciate the depth, splendour and brilliance of the sound from Bell’s masterful play of timeless classical pieces from Bach, Massenet, and Schubert?
The Washington Post posed this question to Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra. Slatkin estimated that,
“… out of 1,000 people [who pass by], my guess is there might be 35 or 40 who will recognize the quality for what it is. Maybe 75 to 100 will stop and spend some time listening.”
Slatkin also estimated Bell would make about $150 in donations for his performance.
Bell conducted his transit station performance with the flare, enthusiasm and volume warranted of a concert hall. During the first three minutes, sixty-three people passed by until one man glanced back. Within another minute, a lady tossed in a dollar as she continued walking. At the six-minute mark, someone finally stood and listened. But, during the powerful 45-minute performance, only seven people stopped to listen. However, 27 people gave money, usually as they walked by. In all, 1097 people encountered Bell, but his total take for the show was only $32.17, with some passersby flipping mere pennies and quarters into his case.
And, Mr. Slatkin, your prediction of 75–100 people actively listening never happened.
Weingarten, in his piece for The Washington Post, rhetorically asks, “if a great musician plays great music but no one hears . . . Was he really any good?”
Weingarten recalls Bell chuckling at himself afterwards,
“It was a strange feeling, that people were actually, ah . . . ignoring me. At a music hall, I’ll get upset if someone coughs or if someone’s cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change.”
Bell was even nervous. This pre-show uneasiness came from a man who had played in the finest concert halls in the world. Why would a masterfully talented violin player be concerned about playing at a transit station? Bell explains:
“It wasn’t exactly stage fright, but there were butterflies. I was stressing a little. When you play for ticket-holders you are already validated. I have no sense that I need to be accepted. I’m already accepted. Here, there was this thought: What if they don’t like me? What if they resent my presence …”
Some of the most awkward moments for Bell were when he finished playing a piece. The rushing people who weren’t paying attention also didn’t know he had stopped playing. There were no nods, applause, or any other indication of appreciation.
There were some bright spots, though. A few minutes into the start, a mother and her three-year-old son quickly walk by Bell. The woman, Sheron Parker, recalls that her boy Evan wanted to stay and listen, but Parker was pressed for time and had to get Evan to his teacher and herself to work. In the video, you can see Evan craning his head to continue watching Bell, even as he is whisked away by his mother. When the experimenters told Parker the enormity of the stature of who was playing, she proudly exclaimed, “Evan is very smart!”
And there was Stacy Furukawa. Although Ms. Furukawa arrived towards the end of the performance, she instantly recognized Bell. Furukawa had seen Bell play in concert three weeks earlier and could not believe that this internationally acclaimed violinist was busking for handouts outside a transit station. Knowing this was Joshua Bell, Furukawa stood just ten feet from the violinist and stayed until the end, not wanting to miss a single bow stroke. In the end, she introduced herself to the virtuoso and contributed twenty dollars to Bell’s haul.
The experimenters didn’t count Furukawa’s twenty, as she had recognized the star. But overall, the busking experience didn’t turn out to be so bad. Bell laughs, “That’s 40 bucks an hour. I could make an okay living doing this, and I wouldn’t have to pay an agent.”
Insight and Application
Many have referred to this experiment as another example of how busy modern life has gotten. How harried and rushed we have become that we miss opportunities to appreciate the beauty in front of us. But the truth may be more straightforward. Yes, the commuters were rushed and in the middle of hundreds of thoughts as they walked past Bell. But they can be excused for that. The real problem may be Bell’s lack of a proper frame for his transit station concert.
Mark Leithauser, a senior curator with the National Gallery, demonstrated this to Weingarten with a fictional example. What would happen if someone took a multi-million-dollar painting, removed its opulent frame, applied a $150 price tag, and then displayed it in a restaurant alongside art school student paintings? Any restaurant patron, let alone art experts, who saw it, could be excused for dismissing its authenticity and simply referring to it as good art.
Without an ornate frame around the painting and its display in a renowned art museum, the same multimillion-dollar art hanging amongst student paintings in a restaurant would not command the initial awe and attention as it does hanging at the National Gallery. It was precisely the same with our virtuoso. Without the benefit of a distinguished concert hall, paid tickets, hushed audiences, and accompanying symphony, Bell could not command the initial attention he is automatically granted on the concert hall home field. And that’s why Joshua Bell, someone who can demand $1,000 per minute in a concert hall, ended up making $32.17 for a forty-five-minute transit station performance.
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This is a story in the new book I’m writing, Leadership Parables, which will feature leadership lessons in highly memorable short story form. But I need your help. If you remember an anecdote that influenced the way you think about business and leadership, tell me about it. If your suggestion is selected, you will receive a copy of the book and credit as a contributor. If you would like to know when the book is released, please add your name here. And, if you have an idea to share, please contact me at kurian@strategypeak.com.
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