Harvey on Joshua
Musicians (and me too) love to exchange Bad Gig Stories. Of all the questionably worthwhile experiences my musical partner Lou and I have, the worst are those in which the audience is violently interested in having us leave.
But outside of such family gatherings (haha), we are most miserable when we are ignored. I've been thinking about this ever since I read a swell piece on the subject in Harvey Reid's lastest newsletter. Harvey is a tremendous musician, a marvel on many an instrument, a wonderful songwriter and singer and great all around performer. Not only that, he is one of those members of the folk subculture who, like Joel Mabus, Steve Gillette, Peggy Seeger, and others, is a deep thinker and superb writer on many a subject related to the business and art of acoustic music.
In Harvey's publication, in a piece called "Joshua Fit the Battle..." (available online; see Webliography below), he discusses a stimulating article from the April 8, 2007, Washington Post. Written by Gene Weingarten and called "Pearls Before Breakfast," the newspaper article can still be read online (as of December '07) (see Webliography). Weingarten talked world famous violinist Joshua Bell into performing for an hour in a subway station, playing some of the world's best violin compositions on one of the world's best violins, to see what would happen. Bell left his violin case open for tips. The result: 1,097 people walked by, only 7 stopped for more than a minute, and Bell ended up with $32 in his case. The fairly long Post article, in which passersby are stopped and interviewed, and in which Joshua Bell comments, is well worth tracking down.
As apparently happened to Harvey Reid, I can't stop myself from thinking about this situation. I email my sisters Susannah and Mary, both involved in the arts and both of whom I have quoted here before, and suggest they look up and read the Post piece.
Susannah writes back: "That story about the violinist is...is...reassuring?? depressing?? confounding??? funny?? sad??? odd????? All of the above..."
Mary says: "Well, now. There's an article to send the head crashing through a million subjects and reactions. First of all, let's have Joshua over for dinner; he sounds like a sporting lad..."
Wrestling with that same feeling of being overwhelmed with considerations, here are a few maybes I dream up:
- Maybe music is so prevalent -- in elevators, box stores, airplanes, airports, tv shows, tv commercials, subways -- that it is automatically tuned out.
- Maybe earphones and iPods have made the actual source of music inconsequential. If you can hear it better on your mp3 player, why stand on cement in rushing crowds and strain to hear some bloke in bad acoustics?
- Maybe a musician on street asking for money is too much like a panhandler; ethically confusing so best to ignore.
- Maybe, as the song from Gypsy says, "You Gotta Have a Gimmick." Joshua should have rented a monkey...
And of course after a few pages of similar indecisive mental meanderings, I google for "Pearls before Breakfast" (in quotes) and get 21,700 hits. Trolling through these, it becomes apparent the article is generating volumes of reactions on all sides. People note that morning rush hour is an unfair time to conduct the experiment. Others claim this is dramatic evidence no one "stops to smell the daisies" anymore. Many folks blame the thousand people who walked by, in one way or another, for being ignorant of art; some blame the kind of music being played. I find quite a discussion about whether this indicates that beauty exists by itself, independent of an audience, or whether it only exists "in the eye of the beholder." A number of people say they will no longer walk by street musicians in the same way.
But one of the most fascinating appraisals to me, and in contrast with many, is from the enchanting web site of Natalia Paruz, who calls herself "The Saw Lady" (see Webliography). The Saw Lady is a dedicated busker who has played the musical saw on subway platforms in New York for years but who also has appeared on A Prairie Home Companion, has played with Philharmonic orchestras and with PDQ Bach's Peter Schickele, and so forth. She makes the point that, "...Joshua Bell is a great violinist but he doesn't know how to busk." I hadn't really thought of this. "As a busker one needs to interact with those around, break walls of personal space, and lure people into a collective and spontaneous group experience on the street..." She continues: "A busker is someone who can turn any place into a stage. Obviously, Joshua Bell needs an actual stage." Of course! I mean, many of the other opinions I find are true too, to some extent. But here I am a full time 30 year musician, awash in a pile of business cards, mailing lists, emailing lists, PA equipment, promo pictures, web sites, CDs, posters, press clippings, testimonials, setlists, patter notebooks, radio interviews, podcasts, advertising budgets, and on into the warehouse of non-musical devices necessary to make a meager living -- why did I assume Joshua Bell (though I know I'm no Joshua Bell, of course) should be able to just go stand in a subway, play his music, and make a go of it? Odd. The best plumber in the world can't make a living just standing on the street corner soldering pipes.
But in any event, though there are infinite facets to the conversation, as a musician I enthusiastically glom onto the sentiment with which Harvey ends his wise article: "I will always remember Joshua's brave experiment, and though I won't ever claim to understand what happened, there is great comfort in knowing that a lot of us have shared experiences." And how.
A huge thank you to Harvey Reid for inspiring this Whither Zither and to everyone else mentioned in it, especially Natalia Paruz. Quotes used by permission from Harvey and Natalia.
Webliography:
Harvey Reid: Joshua Fit the Battle...
www.woodpecker.com/news/news07/newsletter_07p2.htmlGene Weingarten: Pearls Before Breakfast (the Washington Post):
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.htmlNatalia Paruz: Is Joshua Bell a Good Busker?
sawlady.com/blog/?m=200704
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