gee, i'm really enjoying...

[acroyear]

everybody passing around that 2006 recap of the Joshua Bell metro thing on facebook, as if it was just about "beauty" and not an insult to real street performers.  There was a lot more to that story than just people ignoring great music 'cause they were in a hurry...

Comments

[chameleon613.livejournal.com]

Okay, pardon me for being dense, but is it "an insult to real street performers" because Bell is a concert hall performer performing in a Metro and it was made a big deal about as though street performers are less talented, or is there another reason?

I remember the story (the first time around) but I confess I hadn't considered that angle to it, and I'd like to understand.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

the issue is the idea, the stereotype, that you can just hit a spot, throw out a hat (or an open instrument case) and play. there is a lot more to successful street performance than just the talent on the instrument.

there was a similar case where some journalist got out on the streets to be a complete idiot and write an article about how low quality street performers are, intentionally inventing a story in order to perpetuate the stereotype that street performers are all homeless drunks with nothing better to do than pander.

location matters. timing matters. pitch matters. *the material* matters. the attitude matters. you collect by making a connection, and there's more to making the connection than just being the best at a particular genre.

FBMM collects more in a single stop (so long as Rowyn is doing the collecting) than Bell did that day, for all of those reasons.

The follow-ons going around today try to paint it as people not stopping to see the beauty around them. fine. people don't. we know that. the same could be said for a painting, a sunset, the monuments throughout DC (I never drive by Iwo Jima without saying 'thank you'), the area after a good snowfall...

The follow-on really reveals that to the average person, there's nothing special about Joshua Bell. And yes, to the ignorant average person thinking only about their day job and how late they are to get there, there isn't. and pointing that out isn't going to change that.

nor was the original article going to change the false stereotype impressions people have of street musicians and performers as homeless schmucks better left ignored. rather, it perpetuated that image by showing how people react to someone providing no real show at all.