Tip 10: Slow Down and Hear the Music

People in a hurry cannot think, cannot grow,
nor can they decay.
They are preserved in a state of perpetual puerility.
Eric Hoffer

Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007…

A man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about an hour. During that time approximately two thousand people walked through the station, most of them on their way to work. After three minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed down, stopped for a few seconds and then hurried on.

30 seconds later: The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and continued walking.

After 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen, then glanced at his watch and walked away.

After 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along impatiently. The child stopped to look at the violinist again, but was pulled away by his mother. The child walked on reluctantly, turning back to look at the musician with every step. Several other children stopped but every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

After 45 minutes: The musician had played continuously. During that time only six people stopped and listened for a short while. Twenty gave money but continued to walk on. The man had collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour: He finished playing. No one noticed. No one applauded. And the sounds of the station took over.

The violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the world’s greatest musicians. He had played some of the most intricate Bach pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million. Two days beforehand Bell had sold out a concert hall in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. The Washington Post invited Joshua Bell to play incognito in the metro station as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common-place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognise talent in an unexpected context?

If we don’t have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made… how many other things are we missing?

What is this life if, full of care,
we have no time to stand and stare?
W.H. Davies

Hurry, hurry has no blessing.
Swahili Proverb

If there is to be any peace it will come
through being, not having.
Henry Miller