In an extremely interesting article in the Washington Post, an experiment was set up to see if commuters in a D.C. subway station would stop and listen to a musical performer. However, this was not any musician; the beggar leaning against the wall with his violin case open in front of him was violinist Joshua Bell, an internationally acclaimed virtuoso who had just recently filled Boston’s Symphony Hall. The situation was set up to see if commuters would take time out of their busy schedules to listen to one of the best violinists in the world, playing a $3.5 million dollar violin. A hidden camera was set up to record the reaction the commuters would have to a musician that was clearly superior to the normal quality of street performer.

There were concerns by the responsible parties that this event might cause something of a commotion in the Metro station. If only a few people had recognized the world-renowned star, they would stop and begin staring, inevitably causing a cascade that would create a larger and larger crowd.

“In preparing for this event, editors at The Post Magazine discussed how to deal with likely outcomes. The most widely held assumption was that there could well be a problem with crowd control: In a demographic as sophisticated as Washington, the thinking went, several people would surely recognize Bell. Nervous ‘what-if’ scenarios abounded. As people gathered, what if others stopped just to see what the attraction was? Word would spread through the crowd. Cameras would flash. More people flock to the scene; rush-hour pedestrian traffic backs up; tempers flare; the National Guard is called; tear gas, rubber bullets, etc.”

In fact, the opposite ended up occurring: out of the more than 1,000 people that passed during the 45 minute performance, only 1 person recognized Bell. Unfortunately, the commuter arrived at the very end, however her presence in front of Bell attracted more people to come over and watch the final minutes. While the reason that more people did not stop and watch the musician is not clear, it might have something to do with the fact that there was not enough of a signal to the other commuters that something extraordinary was going on before their very eyes. Each individual, even if he had a signal that this performer was a unique talent, did not have the necessary signals around him from the other commuters to corroborate his feeling, thus preventing a cascading effect.

Videos from the performance are posted, along with the full article at the Washington Post’s website.