Pearls Before Breakfast (2007)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html

by tshtf • 12 years ago

38 17 12 years ago

washingtonpost.com

sashanna• 12 years ago

I assure Beyoncé would have drawn a crowd.

rurounijones2• 12 years ago

Only because people would recognize her from face or music or voice.

To replicate this you would need to put some make-up / prosthetics on to hide the fact it was her and make her sing something not particularly famous on her own.

I think the result would be the same assuming no one recognized her voice.

hkmurakami2• 12 years ago

I think we might be able to get the. Same effect by transporting her to somewhere else in the world where American popular music isn't as popular.

dredmorbius• 12 years ago

Not necessarily: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmv1VhrtYRo

Rangi42• 12 years ago

I wonder what would happen in a similar experiment where a large sign makes it clear how high-status the violinist is. Would people be persuaded to stop, or are the passers-by in a Metro station naturally going to be too busy and hurried to take in a performance?

seandougall• 12 years ago

I also wonder what would have happened if it were an instrument other than violin. I've long been an orchestral musician myself, and I'm one of a great many people who feel unaccompanied solo violin sounds scratchy and annoying (or thin and lacking in context at best), no matter how skillfully it's played. A really great cellist, however, would grab my attention much more effectively. Or imagine a top-notch bassoonist launching into Rite of Spring out of nowhere. I'd stop to listen.

omegaham• 12 years ago

I agree. My dad loves solo violin, and I personally don't care for the sound. I definitely prefer a cello or someone playing a woodwind.

Alto sax is my personal favorite solo instrument.

utopkara• 12 years ago

Great point. When I was rushing through Grand Central trying to get done with my commute, I hardly paid attention to any action that would otherwise be super interesting to watch/listen to. Now, GC has a huge tourist crowd throughout the day especially this time of the year. If you do this experiment in GC now, I am pretty sure you'd attract a huge tourist crowd, and get the commuters mad too, because you'd be blocking their way.

ColinDabritz• 12 years ago

This was a delightful article, that provided a real window in human behavior and perception. Such fun!

I am reminded of a story that I am unable to locate, about a violinist who composed works and passed them off as more obscure classical music by big names (Mozart, Bach and similar). He liked composing music in the style, but he couldn't get people interested in the pieces. By passing them off as more obscure famous works from the period, people would listen to them, and respond favorably. A very similar problem, from a different perspective.

If anyone recalls the article or names, I would appreciate a link.

gjm11• 12 years ago

Sounds like Fritz Kreisler, though generally the composers he "credited" were one or two notches down from Mozart and (J S) Bach -- Vivaldi, Boccherini, Couperin, W F Bach, Tartini, Pugnani, etc. You can find a list by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Fritz_K... and searching for "falsely".

Apparently, when called on his deception he said "The name changes, the value remains".

tunesmith• 12 years ago

Gene Weingarten is an amazing writer. He won a Pulitzer for this article in 2008. He won one other Pulitzer in 2010, for his (very harrowing) article about parents who forget their children in the back seat of their car.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02...

oneiric• 12 years ago

I don't know much about Pulitzers, but I'm shocked by this. I thought this piece was terrible. Maybe the people who award Pulitzers are into symphonic music.

Specifically I thought the writing had a forced enthusiasm. I think the whole premise is dull and obvious. I really didn't like the philosophical allusions. And I like classical music, DFW essays (long, poetic), and philosophy.

Maybe I'll check out what it was up against...

http://www.pulitzer.org/citation/2008-Feature-Writing

Fellow finalists (seem equally boring): Also nominated as finalists in this category were: Thomas Curwen of the Los Angeles Times for his vivid account of a grizzly bear attack and the recovery of the two victims, and Kevin Vaughan of the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colo., for his sensitive retelling of a school bus and train collision at a rural crossing in 1961 that killed 20 children.

lmm• 12 years ago

You can see this guy at the Met for what, $200? Could I pay you $200 to be an hour late for work? (Maybe I could - the HN crowd of startuppy professionals often doesn't have to be in on time - but not the kind of people who were listening in the article).

I wonder what would've happened if they'd done it in the evening rush hour rather than the morning one.

Pearls Before Breakfast (2007)

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