Would you have noticed?

One morning, a casual looking guy pulls out a violin and starts busking to people emerging from a tube station to go to work.

Six classical pieces and 43 minutes later, over 1000 people had passed.

Would you have stopped and listened?

Probably not – who does?

The difference here is that the busker was actually Joshua Bell, a world famous violinist, once a child prodigy, playing on a $3.5m Stradivari, three days after filling Boston’s Symphony Hall for over $100 a seat.

Its a perfect experiment to test the strength of recognition, genuine appreciation and values in a different context, with some conformity pressure thrown in too (if everyone else is passing by… then there’s no reason to stop, right?)

So what happened?

Washington Post writup is here – and well worth reading.