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No. The "problem" is that people pay a massive premium to see him perform on stage, thinking they're enjoying art, even though his performance isn't significant

by SilasX 4y ago

No. The "problem" is that people pay a massive premium to see him perform on stage, thinking they're enjoying art, even though his performance isn't significantly different from any of a hundred less famous violinists. Those premiums were them being duped by marketing, not their refined appreciation of art. Of course they're not supposed to recognize him! They're supposed to recognize the much-higher-quality of his musical performance, even in a subway station, since a supposed master of the art is playing this time rather than mere buskers! That's what the naive, mainstream view would hold. But -- oops -- in a surprise to absolutely no one who's heard of The Emperor's New Clothes, and to everyone who completely missed the point of that fable... they didn't, except a few who were working off other cues. Imagine your comment in another context: "the problem is that most people don't have experience in evaluating fashions in clothing, and they wouldn't recognize when their emperor is wearing unusually good raiments". Uh, no. There's a simpler explanation. You just need to give up a cherished worldview to see it. Yes, humans get duped by social proof. It's just not usually this obvious.

rhaway84773 4y ago
That may be true but this “experiment” doesn’t show it. For one thing, if he was busking in NYC he would earn an order of magnitude more money. Because NYC has more people who are attuned to music and use the subway. For another, you’re failing about a performance in a subway. The acoustics aren’t great at all. Finally, a classical performance isn’t ideal to attract subway listeners. You have a couple of seconds to draw their attention because most of them are on their way to catch a train, catch a connection, or reach their destination. So all this says is that the best musicians cannot draw the attention of people by a few seconds of performance.

by SilasX 4y ago

rhaway84773 4y ago

That may be true but this “experiment” doesn’t show it. For one thing, if he was busking in NYC he would earn an order of magnitude more money. Because NYC has more people who are attuned to music and use the subway. For another, you’re failing about a performance in a subway. The acoustics aren’t great at all. Finally, a classical performance isn’t ideal to attract subway listeners. You have a couple of seconds to draw their attention because most of them are on their way to catch a train, catch a connection, or reach their destination. So all this says is that the best musicians cannot draw the attention of people by a few seconds of performance.