NEW DELHI: A video has emerged showing a homeless man playing stunningly flawless classical music on a piano at a train station.
The video, believed to have been taken sometime early May, has now been viewed almost a 100,000 times. The man, identified as 26-year-old Alan Donaldson was told to leave Newcastle Central Station by police officers but refused and sat down at the piano.
Spectators were moved to tears. The Independent quotes Michael Kinnison, who saw Donaldson’s playing saying: “At first a policeman tried to stop him and told the homeless man to leave, but, eventually he let him sit at the piano. People, including the policeman, were stood by laughing to themselves as they watched the homeless man sit at the piano. However their mocking turned to shock as the man burst into a beautiful rendition of Für Elise. He then played a variety of other classical pieces over the next half an hour, each time flawless.”
Watch the video here:
The video reminds us of an ironically different incident. Anyone know of Joshua Bell? Several years ago the virtuoso violinist stood in an entrance to a Washington metro station disguised as a street performer and gave the performance of a lifetime.
No one noticed. Let’s repeat that: NO ONE NOTICED.
The social experiment, however, became famous worldwide. Out of the thousands of people who passed Bell by, only 7 stopped to listen. Tickets to Bell’s concerts sell for hundreds of dollars.
The description accompanying the YouTube video of the experiment reads: “Joshua Bell, one of the best concert violinist in the world played for free, for 45 minutes, on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars at a subway station. Over a thousand people passed by Bell, only seven stopped to listen him play, including a 3-year old boy, and only one person recognized him.”
A comment reads: “Joshua Bell and the Washington Post Subway Experiment [Gene Weingarten: Setting the record straight on the Joshua Bell experiment]
A man stands at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played two Bach pieces, one Massenet, one Schubert, one Ponce, and a Mendelshon, for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds6 and then hurried up 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 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard1and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. 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 6 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 it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a Stradivarius violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Two16 days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment …
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?”
Watch it here: