Carnegie Hall

Every musician dreams of playing at Carnegie Hall, the most prestigious venue in the world for both classical and popular music. As we walked by this beautiful place in New York City, my mom and I got tickets to see Joshua Bell. At the time I didn't know exactly who he was but I did know that he played the violin. I had never seen a professional violinist before and it was very exciting! At this time I had just started violin and absolutely loved it. We talked to this other girl and her mom which is where I learned what a "violin hickey" is. If you practice for hours and hours every day you get this dark spot right under your left jaw bone from your violin rubbing against your skin. It's a sign of a great violinist. I thoroughly enjoyed this concert and was fascinated how much he moved and was so lost in the music. Although I feel like I could never be that into it, I can still admire it from someone else.

Recently, I read this story...

On the morning of January 12 2007, Joshua Bell donned his Washington National’s baseball cap and grabbed his violin, and headed out to the Metro subway station L’Enfant Plaza in Washington DC. It is a pretty busy station, and he had hoped to play for a large crowd.  He opened his case and laid it as his feet, putting a few dollar bills in as “seed money”. A few thousand people must have passed by him in the 45 minutes that he played.

 

Only a few lingered to hear him perform 6 different pieces originally composed by Bach, including “Chaconne”, one of the composers’ most difficult works of art. The piece is written for a solo violin, and running time is 14 minutes.

 

Bell had played for over three minutes before a man paused and listened. If only for a second, however, as he quickly disappeared into the back into the rush, and on with his day. 30 seconds later, a woman threw a dollar into the case and moved on.  After a few more minutes someone actually stopped and listened for a few minutes. A crowd never gathered, and when he was done, he had a total of just over $32 for his work.  There was no applause, no one noticed when he stopped, aside from the few dollars, there was no recognition for the performance.

 

It is the kind of think that happens every day, all over the country and world. So why is this story unique? Before I answer that, think about this:

 

 

Would you have stopped and listened? Or would you have moved on with your day, you life, and your priorities? Do you recognize beauty and talent in an environment that is outside your expectations? Are you willing to stop and see the amazing things that are going on just outside your skin every day?

 

 

Joshua Bell played those 6 pieces at the subway station for a crowd that was smaller than the one that he had played two days earlier. At a sold out hall in Boston, people handed over more than $100 per ticket to watch the master violinist play. He played the pieces on his violin that is known as the “Gibson ex Huberman” (all Stradivari violin’s have names), and is valued at over 3.5 million dollars.

Some consider Joshua to be the finest musician in the world; his work is described as “doing nothing less than telling human beings why they bother to live”

 

I don’t know if I would have stayed and listened, and that is too bad.  If I walked past the finest musician in the world and didn’t stop to listen, what else am I missing every single day?

I think it's a valid point that we often don't pay attention to the things going on around us. We get so caught up in what we have to do, where we're going, and especially with all the technology we have around us, we forget to look outside ourselves. 

There is so much we can do to help others or enjoy the world that we live in if we just take some time to open our eyes and look. It can be so refreshing to take a step back and enjoy the simple things of life. We need to take advantage of once in a lifetime opportunities and notice such wonderful things like the greatest musician in the world playing in a subway station.