Pearls Before Breakfast:A true story to think about
The street musician was standing in the subway station "Children's Plaza" in Washington DC. He began playing the violin. It was a cold morning, last January. He played for forty-five minutes.
To begin, he played the 2nd Partita of Bach, then Schubert's Ave Maria, Manual Pounce's Massenet and again Bach. At around 8 o'clock in the morning, some thousand people had crossed this corridor, mostly on the way to work.
After three minutes, a mature man noticed the musician playing. He slowed down his step, stopped a few seconds then continued walking while gaining speed. A minute later, the violonist received his first dollar, while standing right in front of a woman who threw some money in his small jar. Some minutes latter, a lady leaned on the wall to the outside to listen, but she looked at her watch and began to walk. It was clearly late.
The one person that called most of the violinist's attention was a small boy that had to be about three years old. His mother pulled him, in a hurry, but the child stopped to look at the violinist. Finally his mother shook him and grabbed him so that the child continued on his way. Nevertheless, while walking, he kept turning his head towards the musician.
This scene repeated itself several times with other children. And the parents, without exception forced them to move on. During the forty five minutes of the musician playing, only seven people really stopped themselves to listen at a time.
A group of about twenty gave to him money while continuing on their way. He collected 32 dollars. When he had finished playing, no one noticed it. No one applauded.
Only a person recognized him in more than one thousand people. No one knew that this violonist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians on earth. He played in this lobby some of the most difficult music scores ever written with a Stradivarius of 1713 worth 3.5 millions dollars.
Two days before playing in the subway station, he played for a fund raising event for the Boston Theater which was packed with prices being close to the 100 dollars a seat.
This is a true history. Joshua Bell playing incognito in a subway station. This was organized by the Washington Post in the framework of an investigation on the perception, tastes and priorities in people's actions.
The questions remain:
In a common environment, at an inappropriate hour, can we perceive beauty?
Do we stop ourselves to appreciate it?
Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions of this experience could be: if we do not take the time to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the most beautiful scores, ever composed, then how much more else are we missing?
Look at the video at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
注:典出Pearl before swine,把珍珠扔到猪面前,相当于“明珠暗投”,在此更相当于“对牛弹琴”。
- Re: 转抄 Pearls Before Breakfast:A true story to think aboutposted on 03/04/2009
这个好。要是路过,我肯定驻足聆听。
特别喜欢小提琴,马尾和钢丝弦摩擦的声音。
再,小孩都是天使。 - Re: 转抄 Pearls Before Breakfast:A true story to think aboutposted on 03/04/2009
An old story, which has been recycled many times.
- Re: 转抄 Pearls Before Breakfast:A true story to think aboutposted on 03/04/2009
Someone just won't miss a single chance to show what a smart ass he is. - Re: 转抄 Pearls Before Breakfast:A true story to think aboutposted on 03/04/2009
jianjiao wrote:
Someone just won't miss a single chance to show what a smart ass he is.
这有什么smart的?有耳就能听,可以不花钱,可以不穿高级服装,站一边听吧。
别把听音乐看得那么高,听不懂音,总能听个声响吧。又不是拉小提琴。 - posted on 03/05/2009
工作在市中心,常见街头艺人表演。喜欢西洋乐器表演多过杂耍。有的演奏真可谓动人心弦,常常令我感动不已。即便有人水平不佳,但演奏者却自得其乐,一副快活的样子。曾有一个吹小号的,每天早上8-9点在办公楼下吹奏,断断续续的,一点进步都没有,但很昂扬,几乎令我的同事作呕。另一位演奏吉他演奏者,他的吉他很特别,是双把的,也就是说十二根弦。他总是在下班的时间演奏,令人极其放松,常常使我驻足忘返。我曾经买了两三张街头艺人的CD。
说到给钱,曾经读过一位苏格兰作家的自传体小说,他第一次离家闯荡时,曾在街头演奏小提琴(三十年代)。他的结论是给钱者多为妇女及儿童,越是穷人,越给钱。最小器的是那些衣冠楚楚,道貌岸然的绅士们。
- posted on 03/05/2009
支持一把smart asses:-)
街头艺术家
旅意随笔之三
廖康
我喜欢意大利各大城市的另一个原因是他们的街头艺术家:唱歌的、奏曲的、跳舞的、演杂耍的、画装饰画的、不一而足。倒不是他们的水平有多高,一般说来,他们跟中国那些沿街卖艺的也差不多。我主要是喜欢那自由、热闹的气氛,没有政府人员来管束,不象美国和中国,连这些挣小钱的民间艺术家也不放过。尤其是美国,这么富足,里根总统却正儿八经地声称要征收餐馆服务员小费的国税。真丢尽了泱泱大国的脸!意大利为这些街头艺术家提供生存空间,也促进了旅游业,丰富了健康的夜生活。而且,还为现代波西米亚人(Busker)——即有天才并甘愿为艺术献身,却没有机会在正式舞台上一展才华的青年人——造就了表现自己的机会。
佛罗伦萨有很多狭窄的街道,不能走车,但又比威尼斯的街道宽得多,而且两旁的建筑高得多,为街头艺术家提供了音响绝佳的歌坛。我就是被那优质的音响和娜塔丽娅•鲁普珊斯卡娅(Natalia Lopushanskaya)动听的歌声吸引过去的。她正在唱卡西尼的《圣母颂》(G. Caccini’s Ave, Maria)。这首歌不象古诺和舒伯特的《圣母颂》那么有名,那么经常演唱,但我觉得更好听,而且更难唱好。娜塔丽娅那一声“啊——”就把我攫住了。别小看这平直的“啊”,它可是歌唱家的试金石。耍花腔时高高低低,变化多端,只要唱得出来,一般听众很难判别谁唱得优劣。可这几乎没有高低和强弱变化的“啊”,任何外行都能听出谁的气用得不匀,音量控制得不稳。稍微用点心听她唱,虽然这声“啊”是平直的,但决非单调枯燥。其中的细腻、深沉的感情,我无法用文字来形容。
我被歌声牵过去,就走不开了。好在我的两个儿子也喜欢听她唱,我们听了一首又一首,有比才的《哈巴涅拉》、葛式温的《夏日时光》、舒伯特的《小夜曲》、唐尼采蒂的《偷洒一滴泪》,还有民歌《重返索兰托》、《莫斯科郊外的晚上》。我以前从未听谁把这支俄文歌曲唱得如此动情。跟她一聊,才知道她本是基辅柴可夫斯基音乐学院毕业的学生,获得过乌克兰最佳歌手大奖。
然而,艺术的道路太窄,能登上顶峰的只是极少数幸运者。一些和她同样有才能而又献身艺术者便走上了街头艺术这条路。她的男友拉手风琴伴奏,和她在欧洲各大城市流浪。每到一处,他们便选定一恰当场所演唱。无论听众多少,也只唱半天,另外半天用来游览城市,参观美术馆和博物馆。他们所需不多,也不受人控制,自己还出了两张CD,听众喜欢他们的演唱,就给点钱,甚至买张唱片。不给钱,认真地欣赏一阵,他们也很满足。“存在即是被感知。”他们深感自身的价值每天都得到实现,而且他们每天都在享受别人度假时才能享受到的一切,觉得很幸福。
的确,他们堪称是为艺术而艺术。一般街头艺术家每演完一段,便伸出手来向观众要钱。但他们的手风琴盒就在地上放着,你愿意给就给,不给也无所谓。娜塔丽娅演唱得十分投入,面部表情、手势和身心都随歌声和乐曲波动。显然,她比任何人都更欣赏这些歌曲,主要是为演唱而演唱。男友安纳托尼•葛利舒克(Anatoliy Grischuk)只是默默地拉琴伴奏,毫不与她争锋。但我后来在他们的唱片上听到一段手风琴独奏,那乐曲所需的超难技巧完全融入了他欢快的情绪和随心所欲的发挥之中。我明白了,娜塔丽娅为什么会和他一道流浪街头、奔走天涯。
随后几天,我们在车里反复播放他们那两张唱片,却没有产生审美疲劳。美,原来是可以这样无穷无尽地循环,并在欣赏中,在想象里,不断再生。
2006年9月8日
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