From the article 'Pearls before Breakfast' by Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post, this remarkable video is in a way sad and a reminder that more needs to be done to help music especially classical music become more accessible and less elitist.
If I have any criticism of this event, stunt call it what you will it is that it tells me nothing I did knot know already i.e. most people don't care if you are playing some of the best music ever written, played by one of the best violinists out there on a instrument worth $3.5 million dollars.
Most people do not know and have never known who J.S. Bach was that's because they are never shown and will most likely not be shown either. I was lucky when I was a child to be given lessons in the violin when 8 years old, This I did until I was about 30 when I sadly had to give up. Most people will never get that chance to do something so wonderful as play a musical instrument.
So, it is not surprising that most people who are ignorant of what it is and who it is will continue to walk by in their humdrum, busy lives completely oblivious to what they are hearing - they are just not educated and caring enough to stop and listen much less care enough to part with some loose change.
If it had been Britney Spears and with all due respect to Joshua Bell, most people know who she is, there would have been a riot at the station and that says it all. We must get music back into our schools and have it on the main agenda for teaching, not an option but something that all students are exposed to from an early age.
It is no surprise that the children all wanted to stop and listen and were hurried along by their busy and embarrassed parents. The US, along with other countries needs to follow he example of El Sistema in Venezuela and start to educate young people in the beauty and discipline that music offers.
If Joshua Bell had played at a station in Venezuela, I suspect that there would have been a crowd quite quickly and although they may not have given as much money, what they would have given would have been their love, respect and admiration.
Here is a link to the complete performance Joshua Bell gave at the DC Metro Station: Joshua Bell at DC Metro Station
The Portal of Healing.
