This is fairly typical of the conversation we used to have at our Friday lunches:
Lady and Gentlemen….
You
would have to do an MRI scan to know what part of the brain is at a
high functioning level to draw a conclusion in this experiment. Several
extremes are in play here. Beauty is in the eye or should I say the ear
of the beholder. This is a place where a man who falls from the platform.
No one stops to help. What value did the observer place on the man?
Actually Rob and I have some great discussions. I love the opportunity.
Retired or not.
Great to hear from you Lee. Let us know when you are going to visit Ca. and we can all get together and catch up.
Sincerely
Carole, The wife of the Great and Powerful Oz! Oh I mean Rob…..
From: leelu [mailto:lawebber@cwassociates.net]
(redactions)
Subject: RE: Joshua Bell Plays in Subway
First: Carole, has Rob gotten more like this since he retired? Does he need to get out more??
Late
to the thread, I know. The value discussion has some, well, value, but
I don't know if that is "it". I'm inclined to think that it more about
basic human psychology, and the states of mind of the people passing
thru. How aware are they of what is actually going on around them?
Are the focused on where they've been, or where they're going, or what
just happened?? We're fairy accustomed to muzak, so there might be a
tendency to take Bell's playing and treat it as such.
I
remember Nordstrom's at SCP would, from time to time, have a pianist at
a full grand piano, playing lovely music. I was one of the few, if not
the only passer-by to stop.
I
guess one other way to find out would be to get Mr. Bell to play again,
and ask the passers-by why they did or didn't stop. In the case of
Nordstrom's, my answer would be, "I liked the music, and had the time."
Heck, I've even stopped for a player piano...
On May 14, 2013 at 2:45 PM rob wrote:
I'm
still stuck on this discussion a few days ago about the value of
performance art. It caused me to perform a little, as Einstein used to
call it, “thought experiment” to help put the issue in the abstract.
Suppose
you are transported to the planet Oozor where evolution has taken a
very different path. Fortunately for you there is a breathable
atmosphere with a slight smell of Magnolia blossoms brought on by the
thin jasmine-colored film of algae covering the vast bog laying before
you.
As
you investigate closer, you can see hundreds of tiny colorful slug-like
creatures along the shore. Whether they are near-sighted or simply
don’t care about your approach is unclear. As you kneel down and watch,
you observe a few of them blowing colorful bubbles of various shades of
blue and green, and on rare occasion, of purple or red.
For
a few of the pseudopodia blowing bubbles, the other creatures surround
them with bits of sand and moss and appear to watch transfixed as the
bubbles float away. As the bubbles rise to a height of eight or nine
inches the observers begin to squeak in what you can only interpret as
approval. The herd pushes more and more pieces of moss toward the
central creature encouraging a frenzy of bubbles to be formed until
finally the creature can blow no more and collapses from exhaustion on
the mound of moss. The herd disperses.
Other
pseudopodia blow bubbles also, but curiously these mostly going
unwatched and unappreciated by their kinsmen. These solitary creatures
blow their equally delightful bubble without the remuneration of any
gifts at all.
You
begin to wonder why. Fascinated by the admiration surrounding some
bubble blowers and ignominious nature surrounding others, you slowly
begin to realize that the purple bubbles seem to attract great attention
and the green ones do not. The color seems to be the only difference
that you can perceive for the apparent diversity of attitude.
Being
of a curious and thoughtful nature, you speculate why the purple
bubbles have more apparent value than the green ones. Is it because
purple bubbles contain some needed nutrient more than the green ones?
The bubble flow away and are never consumed so that is not likely the
reason.
Still
the purple bubbles are clearly more appreciated than the green ones. Is
it because the purple ones are so much rarer than the green ones? Yes,
that is it! The rarity is the answer and you are quite satisfied with
your discovery, that is until you see a single pseudopodia blowing red
bubbles only inches from many other creatures without being noticed for
its efforts. Obviously rarity, though a possible factor, is not the only
pertinent factor.
Then
is comes to you. This is art. Given no practical reason other than the
bubbles are just appreciated, they are art. If you can blow purple
bubbles, you get attention. If you blow green ones, you don’t.
Personally I prefer the red bubbles and I can save myself a few bits of
moss.
Now don’t ask me why people like bagpipe music. That’s just a completely different planet.
From: ed
To: rob
Subject: Re: Joshua Bell Plays in Subway
Rob, this is why I miss our lunches with you -- you always bring up interesting points...
Value
*is* a subjective quality (as I'm sure Carole will attest to with real
estate prices) and varies with the audience and the demographic that
pays for $100 tickets is certainly not the same as the ones rushing for
the Metro. However, it seems to me that a musician who has a world-wide
reputation must have sufficient credible skills to impress a larger
percentage of the estimated thousands that passed by him without a
second look.
On the other end, which I think is relevant to your
point, a given individual may detest Bell's playing and think another
"ignominious" musician's performance heavenly, so for him the assessment
of value would be different.
I guess the proper scientific
method would call for the same set of people who paid for $100 tickets
to be followed around and see if they would pay attention to another
violinist of Bell's stature in an unconventional setting.
On 5/7/2013 9:13 AM, rob wrote:
Well,
true or not, it raises a plethora of points. The "stop and smell the
roses" point notwithstanding, it is normal that humans filter their
environment. It is dysfunctional to focus on everything.
I'm
uncomfortable with the superficial concept of value. An ignominious
musician's music can be more valuable than a famous musician's. A
child's finger painting can be more valuable than a Picasso.
> Date: Mon, 6 May 2013 22:14:24 -0700
> From: ed
> To: gay, rob, lawebber
> Subject: Joshua Bell Plays in Subway
>
> Got a link to this, wasn't quite sure if this was legit, but snopes
> checked it out:
>
> http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bell.asp
"When is leelu not in trouble?"
Korben Dallas
