Social Experiment - Violinist

[ginge191]

I'm intruged Ginge.

In regard to the violinist...

I'm not sure what it's trying to prove. It can't be a quantitative study in class boundaries in terms of musical preference, as both the concert audience and the passers-by are uncontrolled study groups. It does not prove that classical violin is the preserve of the upper-class, as we do not know what the concert audience consisted of.

It cannot be a quantitative study in class boundaries in financial terms as if you are passionate about classical violin, and can afford it then you will pay the $100 to watch the concert. If you walk past someone busking and aren't bothered then you wont put money in his hat.
Ripps point also rings true, irrespective of the person playing the music, if I'm in a rush, I'm not going to stop. Besides, the acoustics would be sh*t in an environment like that...

So explain to me what this is trying to say?

just on your first point, theres a number of studies gone into class and class preferences; one piece for example from korea describes how tastes differ between middle and upper classes, using the piano and violin as examples.
as for the audience itself, there's no way of gauging their 'class', but as mentioned, the taste of violin and classical music is undoubtedly a taste of the upper classes, again, thats another debate all together, one of which i disagree with.

In terms as a formative soical study, the fact it was a type of covert study, there is faults round every corner, it could be a stunt for all we know. the experiment was taken out by washington DC press; not renound for its social studies.

Im not saying this experiment is a valid, reliable or even a representative experiment but the issues as i mentioned previously are interesting to consider at least. How a proffessional violinist can perform publically and not be reocgnised, as apposed to an alternative musicin proffesional, such as adele, would be instantly recognised. The idea of common tastes and appreciation is all this study proves.

As for the 'rush' idea, those in a shopping mall often are not in a rush, most are around for retail therapy, thereapy which takes hours at a time. I dont know anyone who watches for hours when someone performs UNLESS it is in the interest of public discourse - for example, beat boxing or street dancing; youtube videos will show this.

ed, thanks for the input