Interesting read *old* - Page 2

Iirc byrnesam shared this?

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 top musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written,with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.



Not true, I recall one person recognizing him at the end.

Yea I've heard this story a very long time ago. Very interesting. I used to play the violin seriously myself so I MIGHT turn around and look at him for a second but I doubt i'd sit there and listen for a long time ;(. But who knows...hearing leet stuff like that live is pretty amazing.

wtf does =/= even mean?

why no u use != ?

Of course people in a subway have places to go...... why would they stop, what idiocy. Try it in a park.

talking about violinist...





<3

i don't have anything insightful to say about the article but i feel like replying since the Chaconne is my favorite piece of music ever and i played it at a competition a couple years ago. if anyone wants to listen to the entire piece without the fast-forward shit i'd highly recommend: (all videos seem to be split into 2 parts for some reason)

Grumiaux (my personal favorite)




Heifetz (because everything he plays is pretty much perfect including this)




for semi-recent recordings (which might be more palatable to some ears b/c of recording quality), i'd recommend -
Hahn




& Perlman




are both excellent. i don't know if anyone is going to watch any of these but i hope they do Also Nathan Milstein and Yehudi Menuhin have what are considered to be classic recordings of the Chaconne, I don't like them as much as these though. There's quite a contrast between the different interpretations.

it's not very surprising. the city is a loud place, filled with sounds, ads, and crazy people. most people put up filters and also have places to go.

Also some people don't resonate well with that kind of music, had a friend once who'd play classical music, he was a pianist, and he'd teach me a few things, but I was just being good friend, not my kind of music. So I'd go past just as easily, but if it was Wobbly and eri in a ring about to have a kickboxing match, I would have stopped, or a catshow or something like that!!

^^

It's also "annoying" to meet street musicians since it's implied you have to give money if you stop and listen, I bet that puts up extra filters. And in cities people are trying to "take" your money nonstop.

Just a couple of points to make. I actually think the video was VERY VERY encouraging for music fans.

- Why no one is pointing out that the guy can make hourly wage of $42.6/hour?? That is about 80-90k/year?? That is some REALLY good wages for a person who plays music for 8hours/day 5 days a week and two week vacation every year! Again, that is some REALLY REALLY great standard of living for a musician. The fact that a great music player and pull this off and does what he loves and have a really nice life I think its win on so many ways.

- I am myself a classical music fan and I like to have this kind of music around. But lets keep it real for sec, I have to admit that this type of music is a dying trend. I don't like that but thats the way it is. If you expect that people today recognize Chopin or Korsakov you are delusional. Now considering that one person not only recognize the music she recognize this player as well. Many ppl enjoyed the music and many many stopped by and listened.


I think this experience actually was a big win for music fans [specially classical music fans].

On February 07 2012 21:47 capaneo wrote: - Why no one is pointing out that the guy can make hourly wage of $42.6/hour?? That is about 80-90k/year?? That is some REALLY good wages for a person who plays music for 8hours/day 5 days a week and two week vacation every year! Again, that is some REALLY REALLY great standard of living for a musician. The fact that a great music player and pull this off and does what he loves and have a really nice life I think its win on so many ways.

well, violin soloists who are good enough to tour internationally, in full-time demand, get paid very well. to put it in perspective, i know several years ago Perlman was charging $75k per engagement (by "engagement" i mean he goes to x city for 3-4 days and plays 2 or 3 or 4 different concerts with that orchestra, and gets $75k total). Hahn was charging $50k, i'm not sure about Bell but it was probably about the same as Hahn. 100 concerts/year = $$$. probably only like 15-20ish people in the world who fall in this category though and most of them aren't as famous as the above 3 and don't make as much, but still make a lot (i'm not sure what the least of them would make but i remember hearing like $10-15k per engagement, not sure if that's accurate or not though).

the next "level down" i suppose would be playing violin in a major symphony, which starts at 6 figures per year even if you're the "last" violin in the 2nd section or whatever (assuming this figure hasn't changed from a few years ago, although with the financial trouble they seem to be facing i guess it's possible it has). and once you're in, you're in for life, you never have to re-audition to keep your spot. unfortunately symphonies have been going bankrupt left and right over the past few years in the US, and it's brutally difficult to get in (any time a seat opens up for a major symphony there's several hundred auditions for it from a bunch of musicians who have all been practicing 5 hrs/day since they were like 3).

This one time, when I was in Scotland, this big fat dude and his fat wife/or sister was standing in the middle of some stone buildings in a square blowing them sackpipes, all the buildings in the cities over there are made of really solid stone, all the same height, so gave this really powerful echo, so loud just stick, then I ran over and put some money in an open suitcase, but had to leg it afterwards, too loud lol.

On February 07 2012 21:47 capaneo wrote: Just a couple of points to make. I actually think the video was VERY VERY encouraging for music fans. - Why no one is pointing out that the guy can make hourly wage of $42.6/hour?? That is about 80-90k/year?? That is some REALLY good wages for a person who plays music for 8hours/day 5 days a week and two week vacation every year! Again, that is some REALLY REALLY great standard of living for a musician. The fact that a great music player and pull this off and does what he loves and have a really nice life I think its win on so many ways. - I am myself a classical music fan and I like to have this kind of music around. But lets keep it real for sec, I have to admit that this type of music is a dying trend. I don't like that but thats the way it is. If you expect that people today recognize Chopin or Korsakov you are delusional. Now considering that one person not only recognize the music she recognize this player as well. Many ppl enjoyed the music and many many stopped by and listened. I think this experience actually was a big win for music fans [specially classical music fans].

well wouldn't there be a lot of variance on a day to day basis?

i could be wrong but it seems like if he always played in the same location, eventually the same people that would tip him would stop and sometimes there just wouldn't be a lot of people tip on certain days. maybe if he moved to different locations and had a different routine of where to play throughout the week or something

Thanks for posting, bigredhoss. And capaneo, I'm sorry but that is such nonsense. The guy made a ridiculous amount of money, remember that he's one of the best violinist in the world? "big win for classical music fans"? Because the guy made $40? It's not. Yes, it pays well sometimes, no matter your talent, because there are a lot of generous people or people who'd just feel guilty not donating to some homeless guy playing music when they pass by, but that's not encouraging. And it's not like every musician can do it, there aren't tons of spaces for it, remember that you need a certain distance from another performer so that the two pieces don't overlap. Plus, when over 95-99% of the people ignore what you consider to be the most beautiful thing in the world, and what took you so long to practice, do you think you're going to enjoy yourself doing it for the money alone and put in 8 hours a day every day of the year? Be realistic. It's a bit like if a poet had people give him money every time he wrote a poem but most wouldn't bother reading it: he would hate his life and he'd much rather have people around with no money but who can appreciate his art.

Also, according to wiki, this is the real data: 1,097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him. For his nearly 45-minute performance, Bell collected $32.17 from 27 passersby (excluding $20 from the passerby who recognized him).

stoping to listen is retarded when you are late to work or might be late to work
if you think listening to him worth losing your job you should go live somewhere else than in a city
+ classical music is good for the ear... listening to classic in ur car or watching someone play it.... its the same

+ its a question of taste... i hate how violons sounds, make my ears bleed

On February 07 2012 13:11 Loco wrote: Show nested quote + On February 07 2012 13:04 c4rnage wrote: I remember the story but was kinda different, people started arguing about it was not FB or 9gag to talk about those things instead of watching the video and enjoy it. It's about as enjoyable to watch as watching animal cruelty. It's a tragic video to watch for a music lover.

You think its cruel having to witness people with taste diffrent from your own?

On February 07 2012 21:47 capaneo wrote: - I am myself a classical music fan and I like to have this kind of music around. But lets keep it real for sec, I have to admit that this type of music is a dying trend. I don't like that but thats the way it is.

Capaneo pulled the good old "i'm in the minority and it makes me cool" trick.

I can't even comprehend what Engage wrote, he must've been drunk.

On February 08 2012 08:46 SakiSaki wrote: Show nested quote + On February 07 2012 13:11 Loco wrote:   On February 07 2012 13:04 c4rnage wrote: I remember the story but was kinda different, people started arguing about it was not FB or 9gag to talk about those things instead of watching the video and enjoy it. It's about as enjoyable to watch as watching animal cruelty. It's a tragic video to watch for a music lover. You think its cruel having to witness people with taste diffrent from your own?

You think it is funny to play inception?

I think that if you are what Loco describes as music lover you are able to take notice of someone playing an instument at a very high level. If you can not then you don't fall under the category of music lover.

Really enjoyed the article, here's the link http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

update: fixed quote thing

im just frnech canadian cariadon
;P

cariadon no Im not in minority. im not even a "fan" to be honest. But i do enjoy this type of music more than average American.

@loco and all the non-belivers . I see your point. But dude this is midday during working hours and everyone has to goto work. Newyork downtown metro station is not exactly an art forum. Lets think about it this way. Keep in mind this is classical music and not U2 and classical music is a dying trend, how would you hope that the ideal situation would be? Again the dude made a VERY VERY healthy sum of money. Got one actual recognition. and people did stop for some min to listen to him.

I havent ever played on the road or been to the metro station in NY but do you guys think that if he was just an average musician he would make the same amount of money?

What Im saying if someone is an unknown musician and loves his music. in USA he can quit his job. grab his instrument. goto NY subway station and makes a REALLY decent money and on top he will get recognition of his talent at least once every hour. All the luck aside the worth case with that money he can live comfortably and improve and audition and then get into real stages like a symphony or something.

If that is not a win I dont know what is.