How good are we at perceiving beauty? That was the focus of a Washington Post social experiment that sought to test people’s ability to identify great art. This involved dressing up world famous violinist Joshua Bell as a common subway performer:
The musician did not play popular tunes whose familiarity alone might have drawn interest. That was not the test. These were masterpieces that have endured for centuries on their brilliance alone, soaring music befitting the grandeur of cathedrals and concert halls.
Almost no one stopped to enjoy a free performance by a virtuoso who can sell out a symphony hall in seconds (give or take). Reading the story is surprisingly emotional. Watching the performance below begs the question, how could people not stop? But then ask yourself, would you have stopped?
For me, one of two explanations make sense in this case. First, literally one in a thousand people like classical music anymore. Or second, people were presented with beauty in an environment where tuning out is the norm. As a veteran Metro warrior I think it’s the latter.
The DC Metro is all about getting from A to B without getting crushed by the masses of people trying to push their way to work. I have made entire commutes without remembering a thing, and, I am ashamed to say, have contemplated shoulder checking women and small children in order to make my Red Line connection.
So it is no surprise to me most people not only didn’t care but couldn’t comprehend beauty in the subway.
What’s the correlation to aging you ask? The beauty of aging, growing, and becoming an elder is obscured in a societal environment that emphasize youth, adulthood, and productivity. As long as that environment remains unchanged few will be able to appreciate the beauty of old age.
Creating a new environment for life-long growth is our mission at Changing Aging.
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I live in Arkansas, we have very little mass transit! It is similar to walking in a nursing home and seeing some of the most beautiful people sitting in the hall and people just walking past, trying to get the work done! I have been stopped in my tracks by a resident singing or laughing, but many continue to walk on to finish their tasks. But their are many who stop and sing with the person, they are the ones, who see true beauty.
I agree with second opinion, people as just plain in a hurry in that venue but I must say that while walking from my hotel to the Denver Eden International conference hotel I was swept away by the piono playing beauty coming from the hands of a young and was late to the evening party. Remember the funky pianos in the middle of the walkways? I asked this young man if he played professionally and he said no, that he had learned as a child and then continues to play by ear. I gave him the rest of my spending money for that trip as a thank you for sharing his talent. Yes, Tom you are always changing aging because it is in your heart, blood, mind and soul.
Yes! The beauty of becoming everything we can be in this one life we have been gifted
Fantastic insight. The question is the action item. How do we make real change happen?
Omg. The WAPO story did a number on me, I literally choked up. I am a one-in-a-thousand person who loves classical music, but the realization that I very likely would have kept walking is extremely painful. I wonder what it will take to get people to wake up to the fact they are walking right past the beauty of aging.
Dr. Bill–none of us can help growing old–it is what it is with life. All we can do is the best we can as elders, correct?