186.2 - The Violinist in the Metro: Art, Context, and the Power of Place
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Hi, everybody. My name is Shawna, and this is the American English Podcast. My goal here is to teach you the English spoken in the United States. Through common expressions, pronunciation tips, and interesting cultural snippets or stories, I hope to keep this fun, useful, and interesting. Let's do it.

Have you ever considered the remarkable things around us? Do you see the unique architecture as you walk down the street, or do you look at the sidewalk as you walk? When you're walking through a park, do you pass a bed of roses and admire their beautiful colors? Do you bend down and smell them, or are you in a rush, swimming in your thoughts?

Every day we are surrounded by various forms of beauty and art. But do we need to be in an art museum to consider art good? Do we need to be in a concert hall to appreciate a world-class musician? Today we'll explore stories of extraordinary artists, Joshua Bell, Banksy, and Ed Sheeran.

who all, at one point, took their talents to the streets, only to find that sometimes, brilliance goes unnoticed. The stories today highlight the importance of context and perception in recognizing art and talent. I hope this episode gets you thinking about the things around you on a daily basis.

and how present you are in the moment. I definitely think this would be a fantastic episode if you have English classes that you regularly take, because there are a lot of opinions that can be shared based on the different stories that I will be sharing. We're going to start with the violinist in the metro, or Joshua Bell's experiment. Have you heard of the term rush hour?

It's the time of the day, usually two times in the day actually, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, when people are in a rush. Why? Because they're on their way to work and to school. So during rush hour, commuters board packed trains, the highways are bustling with cars, you might get stuck in a traffic jam, and

And if you're in a big city like Chicago, New York, or Washington, D.C., you'll usually see people walking with their heads down in the direction they need to go, and they don't want to be distracted. In English, this bustling time, this back and forth to work and back home is called the rat race.

Oh, I'm so tired of the rat race. I just want to go on vacation and relax. Now, the story today takes place in Washington, D.C., our nation's capital, in 2007, and specifically during rush hour. So it was a cold January morning, and as usual during rush hour, the metro station was bustling. There was a lot of movement.

Well-dressed men and women were preoccupied with the day's tasks ahead. Imagine that you were there, in the middle of it. And as you exit the train, you suddenly hear faint sounds of a violin. As you walk with the crowd and get closer to the music, you notice how beautiful it is. Then you see the musician. He's a man wearing casual jeans and a baseball cap.

Naturally, you assume he's a street musician. After all, he's out in public, he's sharing his talents with the world, and he's got an open case where you can throw money. So you assume he's a street musician, and a talented one, of course. The music sounds great. Would you stop to listen? Or would you continue on your way without a second thought? If you said the latter...

In other words, the second option, that you would just continue on your way, you are like most people. On that January morning in 2007, the violinist stationed near the entrance or exit of this metro station, up against a wall, was Joshua Bell, one of the world's most renowned classical musicians. And on that cold morning, he was pretending to be a street musician.

It was a social experiment conducted by the Washington Post to observe if people would recognize beauty in an unexpected context. So to make people believe he was a street musician, Joshua dressed like your average Joe. He looked like a regular person. He wasn't wearing a tuxedo or a classy suit on that day.

He looked like your average Joe. And over the course of 45 minutes, he performed six classical pieces on his $3.5 million Stradivarius violin. The maestro of the National Symphony had made a hypothesis. He imagined that in 45 minutes, 150 people would stop to listen. So quite a few.

After all, Joshua Bell was world-renowned for his extremely high level of skill. He was incredible. According to NPR, at the time, he was booking over 200 international shows per year. So how many people stopped? Was it 150?

Not exactly. Over 1,000 commuters passed by, and only seven individuals stopped to listen for more than a minute. Seven. Only seven. During those 45 minutes, or 43 minutes if you want to be particular, he earned a grand total of $32.17. Only one person recognized him.

a woman who had paid $100 for a ticket to see his show in a nice concert venue a few days earlier. So what do you think about this? The Washington Post concluded that context heavily influences our perception of art and beauty. The article about this experiment by Jean Weingarten

won a Pulitzer Prize. It was titled, Pearls Before Breakfast. I'd like to read one quote from it. Quote, If we can't take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on earth play some of the best music ever written, then how many other things are we missing?

Think about it. Are we that wrapped up in our daily lives and in that much of a rush that we cannot stop for a minute? Yes, something to discuss in your English class. The second story I'd like to discuss, and by the way, these are all going to overlap. We're going to shift from music to visual art and enter the world of Banksy.

So you probably already know who Banksy is. But if you don't, let me jog your memory. Do you remember the image of the young, innocent-looking girl reaching for the red, heart-shaped balloon that's just out of her reach? Do you remember the image of the man in riot gear throwing a bouquet of flowers and not a Molotov cocktail?

If you look them up, I'm sure you'd recognize them. Those were very famous pieces of art done by Banksy and street art. Many believe that Banksy, the world-famous street artist, is a British male. Yet nobody really knows for sure. Banksy's identity is a secret. He or she is anonymous. And that's part of the appeal.

Isn't it intriguing that thought-provoking good art pops up in neighborhoods overnight? But what does Banksy have to do with the Joshua Bell experiment? Well, they're both artists, and they both conducted a similar experiment. In October of 2013, back when I was living in New York City, Banksy made the headlines.

In other words, he or she appeared on the front page of the newspaper. Not an image, of course, just the name. He had organized, and I'm going to say he here because it gets really confusing saying he or she every time. And sometimes I know people prefer to use the pronoun they

But it really does make things complicated between plural and singular, especially for the story. So I'm going to say he. He had organized a small, unmarked stall near New York City's Central Park. And he had a display of original signed canvases. They were for sale, each priced at $60.

Normally, Banksy's art sells for hundreds of thousands of dollars at auctions. But this time, the setting was ordinary. There was a folding table, handwritten signs, and an elderly gentleman was running the booth. He was sitting out front. Of course, because Banksy doesn't want to be in public.

He wants to remain elusive. Elusive means difficult to find or to define. So Banksy wanted to remain elusive. So there was an elderly man waiting patiently for customers. And just to be clear, there was no indication at all that the pieces on the table were valuable.

I was never really a runner. The way I see running is a gift, especially when you have stage four cancer. I'm Anne. I'm running the Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America. I run for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute to give people like me a chance to thrive in life, even with cancer.

Join Bank of America in helping Anne's cause. Give if you can at bfa.com slash support Anne. What would you like the power to do? References to charitable organizations is not an endorsement by Bank of America Corporation. Copyright 2025. Good experiments involve a lot of people, right? And like the crowded metro station that Joshua Bell played at, Central Park is a hub of activity, especially right outside of Central Park.

right on the border, right near the entrances. That's where the stall was situated. Now, most people walked by without giving the art a second glance. The artwork's authenticity, meaning whether it's fake or real, wasn't obvious to anyone walking by. Many people know Banksy and the artwork, but assumed they were copies or fakes. Banksy wanted to challenge Banksy

How we assign value to art based on the setting. So let's talk about sales. At 3.30 p.m., after about four hours of waiting, the first piece of art was sold. A lady walked by and bought two pieces of art after convincing the man to give her a 50% discount. At 4 p.m., a woman from New Zealand bought two pieces

At 5.30, a man from Chicago said he was decorating his new house. Quote, I just need something for the walls. He bought four pieces of art. At 6 p.m., the stall closed, and the grand total of the day was $420. Once again, an original Banksy can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Just imagine these lucky few that took the time to stop. The majority, of course, walked by without looking up. Now, this performance was part of Banksy's Better Out Than In series, where he made spontaneous appearances around New York City, of course, in his art. Now, my question for you is,

How does knowing the identity of an artist affect how much we value their work? Should it? Hmm. And the last question, why do you think people are willing to pay millions for a painting in a gallery but ignore it on the street? Think about those. Discuss them in your English class if you have an English class or maybe even with a friend or family member.

I always find it fun to carry episode ideas into dinner conversations. They spark really interesting conversations with my husband and occasionally with my daughters. So I encourage you to do that too. Let's move to the third story, and this one will be quick.

Just about a week ago, Ed Sheeran, one of the biggest pop stars, decided to perform in disguise in a New York City subway station. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Sort of like Joshua Bell. Except, if you're familiar with Ed Sheeran, you know that he has red hair and a distinctive look.

So to disguise himself, he wore a black wig to cover his hair and oversized sunglasses to cover his eyes and part of his face. So like Joshua Bell, he wore casual clothes to be like an average Joe and a simple black hoodie.

Next to him was Jimmy Fallon, the very famous talk show host, also in a casual outfit and wig. And they performed using no electronic instruments or effects, just pure voice and guitar. The idea was to momentarily go back to the old days.

when Ed Sheeran was younger and before the fame and recognition, when his artwork was on the street for passerby to listen to. It was the same art as now, but of course, without all of the buzz. So it's unclear if people recognized him at first. You can see these videos online. It's kind of fun to watch. But yeah, he started singing music that was not his own.

eventually a crowd formed. And when his identity was revealed, when he pulled off the wig and pulled off the sunglasses, the crowd went wild. And once again, that was in a New York City subway station. And that brings us back to a similar question, right? Does talent feel different when it's separated from fame? It's the same idea as the artwork.

Why do we give some things value and others not? Like, what if someone sings just as good as Ed Sheeran on the street? Will you stop and listen? Lucas, my husband, being a musician, always encourages us to stop and listen and also to contribute some dollars to street musicians because talent is all around us, truly.

Sometimes we just got to open our eyes to see it. So a few weeks ago, I made an episode about wine from the United States. And I mentioned that wine from Napa Valley, California, only became famous after French wine connoisseurs gave their stamp of approval. Do we really need other people to tell us that something is good? Can't we decide by ourselves?

Anyway, I guess that's why marketing exists. Our perception is easily influenced by how something is presented to us. It's something to consider. How much are we influenced? Why do we place value on some things and not others? So let's wrap this up.

What unites these narratives is the powerful influence of context on our perception of art and talent. Joshua Bell's performance, although musically flawless, was mostly ignored because people didn't expect to hear greatness in a metro station.

Likewise, Banksy's artwork was overlooked because it was displayed casually, without a gallery or a spotlight. Ed Sheeran, despite his global recognition, was invisible until his voice gave him away. Context matters. Our brains rely on surroundings and expectations to guide how we respond to experiences.

When those expectations are flipped, for example, a world-class violinist in blue jeans and a baseball cap, or museum-worthy artwork on the sidewalk, or maybe a pop star in a subway station, we tend to overlook the extraordinary. And once again, as Gene Weingarten said in the beginning, how many other things are we missing? Art is everywhere. But

To see it, we need to slow down, look twice, and stay open to surprise. That's it for this episode. If you would like to get the premium content for this episode, which includes the PDF transcript, quiz, flashcards, vocab list, and transcript reader, you'll find the link to Season 4 in the episode notes.

Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the rest of your day. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the American English Podcast. Remember, it's my goal here to not only help you improve your listening comprehension, but to show you how to speak like someone from the States. If you want to receive the full transcript for this episode, or you just want to support this podcast, make sure to sign up to premium content on AmericanEnglishPodcast.com. Thanks and hope to see you soon.

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