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PODCAST: The Joshua Bell Experiment, part I | posted by MD  World-class musicians aren't supposed to be street performers. But that is just what violinist Joshua Bell was in a recent impromptu performance in a subway stop in the American capital city. The reactions of the commuters were ... interesting, as documented by the Washington Post. For us as working artists, this experiment raised many questions: What exactly is this an experiment in? Is the audience response a sign of widespread cultural decline? Is Joshua Bell no better than the average rock band just starting out? What is a "venue", anyway? Join us as we explore these and more questions in this first podcast of a several part series. We welcome your $.02 in the Comments & Questions section, below. Running time: 21:52 Subscribe via iTunes Or Download MP3 Discussion participants:  Keywords: Joshua Bell, James Joyce, Cultural Decline, Western Canon, Genius, Marshall McLuhan, Street Performer, Medium, Message, Frame, Venue, Stradivarius, Busker, Noise, Bureaucrats, Hippy, Beauty, Classical Music Appreciation, Covers, Pop Music, Beginner Rock Bands, Original Compositions, Transforming Audiences, Attention, Dance, Ballet, Bach, Schubert Labels: Custom and Convention, Podcasts Guidelines for Comments & Questions Comments and questions signed "anonymous" are strongly discouraged; please provide a URL to your blog or website, and at least a name so we can refer to you in subsequent discussion. All comments and questions should be related to the topic or topics raised in this podcast or blog entry. Personal insults of any kind are not permitted and posts containing insults will be deleted. By Jean | 5/16/2007 Fantastic stuff so far guys! (And grrly grrl.) Wish I could have joined in. One thought so far - Dan's comments about medium/message, and Thom's comments re other experiments along this line in literature, made me think of people's overall need for "credentials" in any endeavor. People rarely trust their own judgements about anything, artistic or otherwise, which is why having a "degree" of some kind is usually necessary to prove one's abilities in some area, or performing in a venue with expensive tickets is necessary for people to believe that what they are hearing/seeing, etc, is quality. I recently read an article in one of the art mags about most art collectors buying strictly on the basis of cost (the more expensive it is, the better it must be,) rather than their own judgements of quality, or even their own taste. So I think there is very much that perception in the public - if you're playing on the street, it's because you're just not that good. Also, I suspect people walked ahead without a glance because they didn't want to feel guilty about not throwing in money. Easier to ignore Bell altogether than acknowledge him and then not throw in a dollar or two. Looking forward to part 2! By | 5/17/2007 Idea for part 2: you guys might want to check out the 'Saw Lady', a NYC subway musician, who bloged a response to the WP Bell experiment from her own unique point of view: www.SawLady.com/blog By MD | 5/17/2007 Anon, Thanks for the link to Saw Lady. All of the parts of the Joshua Bell podcast series have been recorded already (since it was one conversation that we are splitting to smaller bit-sized chunks). Matthew By gwen | 5/19/2007 For me, it boils down to basic mindfulness.* It's something that children do (and in fact, they say in the article that every child that tried to stop and listen was rushed along by their parent...) and something that adults lose touch with as they progress through life. Seth Godin, on his blog (http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2007/04/id_ignore_him_t.html) says: "I don't think the answer is to yell louder. Instead, I think we have an opportunity to create beauty and genius and insight and offer it in ways that train people to maybe, just maybe, loosen up those worldviews and begin the trust." I'd like to add, I don't think it's time for us to yell louder, it's time for us to cultivate stillness within ourselves so that we might notice the "little things" that occur around us daily. To elevate Joshua Bell to some status symbol (as in, this was JOSHUA BELL! And you missed a FREE CONCERT) to me, misses the point entirely. The point really seems to be that people fail to be mindful of what's happening around them...on their way to work, at work, at home...and therefore miss out on millions of daily joys. Cultivating mindfulness, through meditation, yoga or some form of body arts may be one way to cultivate mindfulness for all that arises, rather than picking and choosing, labeling and defining. Let go of judgments and a new world opens up to you. Even as a musician, I'll take awareness over judgment any day. -Gwen *the practice whereby a person is intentionally aware of his or her thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally. By Dan | 5/20/2007 Gwen, I agree that turning Bell into a status symbol misses the point, but I'm not so sure that equanimous mindfulness is the answer. To me, it seems that instead of cultivating mindfulness for all that arises, it would be more beneficial to pick and choose the right things, or the important things, and to label and define accurately. In other words, making good judgments (instead of poor ones) and distinguishing between what is important in life and what is not, that is something that we would do well to practice. I have nothing against cultivating the ability to let go of judgments and empty one's cup, but I don't think that that is quite as important as the ability to make good, sound judgments and decisions, at least in this particular case. But even so, I think that non-judgmental mindfulness and the judging, discerning kind of mindfulness that I'm talking about here both have the same goal, which is to perceive clearly. The former accomplishes this through the process of removing obstacles to clear perception, while the latter accomplishes it through refining the accuracy of its judgments. Seems like a classic East/West, Feminine/Masculine dichotomy. So, I suppose that these two approaches to clear perception are somewhat interdependent, but I still hold my opinion that, in this case, making good judgments (about Joshua Bell) is more important than letting go of judgments. dan
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