Joshua Bell in the metro

A few months ago, the Washington Post featured an article about Joshua Bell playing his violin (which happens to be a Stradivarius) in a Washington metro station. Contrary to their expectations, nobody stopped by to listen.

The article tries to find reasons for why this happened, digging into theories by a number of famous philosophers. While those are undoubtedly not far from the truth, let me dig up another theory:

Joshua Bell may be one of the best musicians in the world; that doesn't mean he's one of the best street musicians in the world.

You see, if you play your Stradivarius in a concert hall, you don't have to do much to get people's attention. If your name is Joshua Bell and you play in the New York Opera House, people pay good money to get a seat months in advance, they circle the date on their calendar, and they look forward to it for weeks. When the big day arrives, they dress up, they drive up to the opera house, they queue for the privilege of being allowed to show their tickets and being allowed in, they take their seats, and they wait in excitement and anticipation until the big moment arrives.

If your name is Joshua Bell and you play your Stradivarius in a concert hall, people will clap their hands you before you've even started. You'd better make it be good, or they'll demand their money back.

If, however, you play on the street, then that's a completely different matter.

You don't get to have people circle the date of your street concert months in advance. You have exactly one second to let them know you're playing. You don't get to have an audience that will clap their hands the very moment they see you turn the corner; instead, you'll see an audience that would rather you did not stand in the middle of the way like that, so that they would not have to look out for you. In short, you don't get their attention on a silver platter; instead, you have to earn it.

As someone who's done street music in the past, I can tell you that earning someone's attention isn't something you will do by playing the most difficult music that can be found. You should remember that you've got just a few seconds to catch someone's attention; from the moment they vaguely hear someone's playing, until that time when they're getting annoyed at the volume your, no doubt wonderful, instrument is making. If you want people to stop and listen, you need to do it in that very short timeframe.

A wild and fast virtuoso piece, while sure to get you a great reaction by an audience in an opera house, is only a very noisy thing if you just get a few seconds of it—even if those few seconds are by the best violin player alive.

The best way to get someone's attention is to give them something they recognize.

The article notes the reactions from a few passers-by. It did not surprise me that of the three or four people who actually stopped and listened, one recognized the violinist as Joshua Bell, and the other had been a violinist himself in a previous life.

Both had something they recognized, which made both stop for a few moments to check what they were seeing. That's what gave them more time to appreciate how truly beatifull this music was, and that's why they waited.

The real way to get people to stop, to get a crowd around you, and to have them to listen to you, is not to play what gets you the best results in an Opera House or other concert hall. Instead, you should play something that will catch people's attention. A brilliant piece that is unknown will not do that. A funny variation on "Oh When The Saints" will, because people recognize the music.

That's not to say that street musicians should only play stuff like "Oh When The Saints". Getting money from playing on the street has more to it than just the music you're playing; just as important is the place where you're playing, and the time when you're doing it:

• If you're playing in a busy hallway, then people will just hurry along. Stopping gets them angry other people walking in their back, so that doesn't happen. If, on the other hand, you play on a large market square or some such, then people are much more likely to stand and listen—people walk in all directions there at the same time, so you have to look out anyway.
• If you're playing in a closed metro station, you'd better not use an instrument that's too loud. If you do, that will make people move away from you, rather than towards you, because they'll notice they can not talk on their cell phones or some such. If they have to pass by where you're playing to get to where they're going, they'll increase their speed so that they're faster past you. Both options give you less time to catch their attention.
• If you're playing on a monday morning during rush hour, you're not going to be getting a load of success. Everyone is going to work, and you're just something in the background, not much more interesting than the guy who's changing the billboard. If, OTOH, you're playing in a busy shopping mall on a sunny saturday afternoon, you'll get a large crowd anyhow.

A good street musician knows these things, and applies them even without knowing. He'll instinctively know whether it's a good day to do street music, and he'll rather go to a bar and have a hot drink if it's not.

So why didn't Joshua Bell get a crowd around him? Easy: he isn't a very good street musician.