# Culture and the Arts in America



## Barliman Butterbur (Apr 18, 2007)

Can a world-famous violin virtuoso playing a multi-million-dollar Strad make a living busking in a train station? Find out  here!

Barley


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## Annaheru (Apr 18, 2007)

That's sad, truly sad. I've never managed to pass someone playing a violin without stopping for at least a moment (even when they weren't any better than I am-- i.e. low end of the totem pole). There's no way I could have walked away from that.
I've never seen a street player in my area that didn't draw some kind of a crowd. . . maybe things are different here in the semi-country (urban sprawl is rapidly bearing down).

They should do a second run in a town of several thousand and see if they get a different response. 





Wish I could have heard that, though of course I'd never be in a position to hear something like that since I avoid cities as if they still contained the plague. . .


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## Barliman Butterbur (Apr 18, 2007)

Annaheru said:


> Wish I could have heard that. . .



You can: there's an audio clip of the whole thing. Just click on the link in my post and look for the clip — I think it's somewhere at the top of the page.

Barley


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## Maeglin (Apr 18, 2007)

Wow, I can't believe no one even stopped for a second. That is quite sad. I love instrumental music, even when I go to Boston and hear a poor guy playing his flute or some other type of foreign instrument that it looks like was homemade, I stop and listen because more often than not they are very good.


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## Annaheru (Apr 18, 2007)

Barliman Butterbur said:


> You can: there's an audio clip of the whole thing. Just click on the link in my post and look for the clip — I think it's somewhere at the top of the page.
> 
> Barley


 
yeah, I listened to those, but it's not the same-- you have to be present to really catch the emotion/mood (for lack of better descriptors) of the artist esp. with a violin, there are so many intangible, so many nuances that a recording just can't give you. . . it's like the difference between watching someone taste a fine wine and tasting it yourself.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Apr 19, 2007)

Maeglin said:


> Wow, I can't believe no one even stopped for a second. That is quite sad. I love instrumental music, even when I go to Boston and hear a poor guy playing his flute or some other type of foreign instrument that it looks like was homemade, I stop and listen because more often than not they are very good.



I think this was a badly planned experiment. They put him right by the doorway, where people were in a big hurry to get somewhere else, right in the middle of the rush to work. The passersby were intent on getting to work on time and were looking right past him into the station.

Had they placed him somewhere people were more inclined to gather, on a weekend or holiday, I'm sure the results would have been different. Had they planted different musicians in different locales on different days and hours _and compared results,_ then I think they could have come to some conclusions about effective placement.

@Annaheru: Agreed: the place for any good musician, especially a string musician, is in the concert hall with an appreciative audience. But busking in a good locale is fabulous fun!

Barley


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