An amazing article!!!

[marina]

it's from last year, but it's truly amazing.....
and thank you - all of you here on the board - for not passing my music by.
love,
marina :)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

[marina]

here is a "recap" of sorts :) someone sent it to me as an email forward.


A Violinist in the Metro From The Effective Club

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces 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 seconds 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 case 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 st opped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and 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 violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two 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 orga nized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

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?

[LoganBruin]

I saw this on TV last year, and just the other day our buddy Jimi Yamagishi brought it up. My point is that if this had happened in a park, or say at the Santa Monica promenade or Citywalk, it would be different. There's a girl who plays the viola in the Hollywood/Vine subway station whom I talked to once, but most of the time I just wanna get home!

[Tiffany]

Very interesting article. It's true and unfortunate that these days people are in so much of a hurry that they don't even take the time to remember what is truely important in life. As the old saying goes, we all need to take time out to "stop and smell the roses". I would like to think that I would have stopped to listen for a bit. Maybe some of those folks are habitually late for work and that day they were trying to make a better impression? Although I do believe there are different types of people. Some use the left side of their brain and some the right. Some don't have a single bone in their body with an appreciation for things like art, culture, amazing music. These things can be very moving and life changing if you let them. To me, that is what is important. Oh yeah, and paying taxes...lol!

[ToddM]

Here is a story from the sports world I felt was very heartwarming. Especially in these times where all we here about are steroids, shootings, and domestic abuse cases. It comes from the world of high school basketball. I hope it warms your heart as it did mine:
Team's gesture supports grieving opponent

ESPN.com news services

Updated: February 18, 2009, 2:49 PM ET

* Comment
* / Email
* / Print

Mike And Mike: Johntell Franklin

Two missed free throws, ordinarily the cause of a coach's headache, became the symbol of sportsmanship in a Milwaukee boys' basketball game earlier this month.

Milwaukee Madison senior Johntell Franklin, who lost his mother, Carlitha, to cancer on Saturday, Feb. 7, decided he wanted to play in that night's game against DeKalb (Ill.) High School after previously indicating he would sit out.

He arrived at the gym in the second quarter, but Franklin's name was not in the scorebook because his coach, Aaron Womack Jr., didn't expect him to be there.

Rules dictated Womack would have to be assessed a technical, but he was prepared to put Franklin in the game anyway. DeKalb coach Dave Rohlman and his players knew of the situation, and told the referees they did not want the call.

As a principal, school, school district staff, and community you should all feel immense pride for the remarkable job that the coaching staff is doing in not only coaching these young men, but teaching them how to be leaders.

--Milwaukee Madison boys basketball coach Aaron Womack Jr.

The referees had no choice. But Rohlman did.

"I gathered my kids and said, 'Who wants to take these free throws?'" Rohlman said, recounting the game to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Darius McNeal put up his hand. I said, 'You realize you're going to miss, right?' He nodded his head."

McNeal, a senior point guard, went to the line. The Milwaukee Madison players stayed by their bench, waiting for the free throws. Instead of seeing the ball go through the net, they saw the ball on the court, rolling over the end line.

"I turned around and saw the ref pick up the ball and hand it back to the player," Womack said in the Journal Sentinel. "And then [McNeal] did the same thing again."

Said Rohlman: "Darius set up for a regular free throw, but he only shot it two or three feet in front of him. It bounced once or twice and just rolled past the basket."

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," McNeal told the newspaper. "It was the right thing to do."

Womack, overwhelmed by DeKalb's gesture, wrote a letter to the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, which had first reported the story.

"As a principal, school, school district staff, and community you should all feel immense pride for the remarkable job that the coaching staff is doing in not only coaching these young men, but teaching them how to be leaders," Womack wrote.

DeKalb had traveled more than two hours for the game, and waited another two as Womack rushed from the hospital, where he had been with Franklin, to the school to gather his team.

"We were sympathetic to the circumstances and the events," Rohlman said in the Journal Sentinel. "We even told Coach Womack that it'd be OK to call off the game, but he said we had driven 2½ hours to get here and the kids wanted to play. So we said, 'Spend some time with your team and come out when you're ready.'"

The two schools had met twice previously, and this one ended with a Madison victory, but as in the other games, they also shared a pizza dinner, "four kids to a pizza, two Madison kids and two DeKalb kids," Womack told the Journal Sentinel.

"That letter became a big deal in DeKalb," Rohlman said in the paper. "We got lots of positive calls and e-mails because of it. Even though we lost the game, it was a true life lesson, and it's not one our kids are going to forget anytime soon."

Womack, in his letter to the DeKalb Daily Chronicle, added this at the end: "I'd like to recognize Darius who stepped up to miss the shot on purpose. He could have been selfish and cared only for his own stats [I hope Coach Rohlman doesn't make him run for missing the free throws].

[TheMilla]

wow that's nice! :)

[ulfdog]

Great story, it’s too bad that the media doesn’t think more stories like this are worth while. They will tell you these stories don’t really sell and unfortunately the ones about steroids, shootings, and domestic abuse cases do. :(

[TheMilla]

yeah. so true, so true :(

[Tiffany]

Good news story Todd:)....There are still many decent, caring, & selfless people in the world!

But, don't forget about that octuplets lady....can't get enough of that. Now that's important news!! lol....NOT;).

[ulfdog]

Milla,

It looks to me like we have been censored.
I think we’re both in the doghouse. :(

[TheMilla]

what do u mean, ulf? what'd i do now?

[ulfdog]

Sorry Milla, I thought that I had seen that you had responded to my comment on the wonderful young lady in LA who has given birth to octuplets, before it was removed.

I guess it’s just me in the doghouse :(

[TheMilla]

oh i'm sorry, ulf!
i'm just a nice little innocent angel :rolleyes:

[Stormy]

lol :D:D:D

[Tiffany]

Uh-oh, I'm confused. I hope I'm not in the dog house as well;). I meant no harm by my comment about that wonderful young lady in Southern Calif with 14 kids. I just don't think it qualifies to be the top news story for an entire month when there's a great big world full of news to be reported on. Oh well, that's American news media for ya!!

[ulfdog]

Your okay Tiffany, it seen that I'm the only one who ends up in the doghouse. :(

Sometimes I wish I could just be a nice little innocent angel ;)