Joshua Bell's 'Stop and Hear the Music' metro experiment | The Washington Post
Why Hacker News recommends it
Referenced in threads on busking, art perception and context as the standard example of great work going unnoticed.
What it is
Washington Post video of the experiment in which violinist Joshua Bell played incognito at a D.C. metro station. It asks whether commuters would notice a world-class musician in an ordinary setting.
Recommended by 0 HN commenters across 0 different months, 2013 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Cites gjmulhol · 2013-09 · on “The Science Of Snobbery”
Joshua Bell, one of the greatest violinists of our time, as a busker has only 2 people take any notice, and only one person realize how great he is -- and that is because she recognized him, not his playing. [this video]
Cites robertelder · 2016-06 · on “My Experience Busking in San Francisco”
Here is a video of Joshua Bell ( [LINK] ) playing a 3.5 million dollar violin in the subway for 45 minutes and making $32: [this video]
Cites EGreg · 2023-01 · on “Instagram’s co-founders are back with Artifact, a kind of TikTok for text”
Someone else told me also that I’m using the wrong fonts and colors. They said once they saw Comic Sans used in a text bubble they instantly closed the website and didn’t look any further. Tomorrow I am supposed to interview Noam Chomsky again, with David Harvey. I wonder how many people have said “Noam speaks in such a slow and boring way, I tuned out immediately.” Guess what… he is famous so people don’t say that :) I enjoy getting these reactions because later on when we finally turn on the hype I will have a collection of how people react to substance rather than superficial things and hype. [this video]
Cites growt · 2026-05 · on “What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?”
There is a similar experiment where a famous violinist plays in a subway station. Nobody really notices or appreciates him and his music. [this video]