The Three Violinists October 5, 2014--After talking with Stefan and with my best attempt to communicate with George who speaks only Czech, I proceeded to walk. Guilt for being a priveleged human being while others were starving and freezing to death on the streets was still weighing down on me and I didnt feel like going home so I went towards the direction of the main square. Suddenly, by some sort of coincidence, I chanced upon another group of people who were gathered around three teenagers. This time, it was three violins that were singing to the audience. In an age when people almost instinctually take out their phones and cameras whenever they see something extroardinary, I am not completely immune and I joined in the fray. But if only to be apologetic, I think that the performance of these teenagers is worth sharing so that other kids may be inspired to emulate them, especially the kids in my country. For, in the Philippines, rarely do I see young people share their skills through street performances (partly because probably some city ordinance does not allow it). It is usually blind people who would sing and play instruments at the sidewalks. Would it not be good if instead of getting loco over Daniel Padilla or Justin Bieber, more Filipino youth would hone their skills in some art or trade? Anyway, as I stayed to watch these teens play the violin, the sociological imagination crept in again. If this is some curse or an eye-opening thought process, I am not entirely sure but from then on, I held back my enjoyment and questions crept in again. These teens are skilled in playing a classical instrument so most likely, they are studying in a music school and probably part of some orchestra. At the very least, they are middle-class, if not wealthy, because violin is quite expensive—not to mention the amount they have to pay for violin classes. Their audience responded with obvious appreciation because there were a lot of coins thrown in the violin case. So I was thinking, maybe people were willing to give money to them because they were able to bargain for an excellent performance. Maybe the reason why one saxophone player who always plays in the undergrounds of the train station isnt given much credit is because people are not entertained by what he plays. But then again, I never saw George (the homeless recorder player) get that amount of money even if he knows how to play medieval-sounding tunes, nor do the guitarist-singers who strum excellent folk songs in the main square; and not even Josef who can play a wide array of musical genre with his saxophone. If meritocracy is what people are after, then why this dissonance in audience reception? What keeps people from giving George and Josef what they give to those violinists?
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 22:51:07 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015