Can we have more flash Mobs like this one.

[rigney]

On occasion we have a dream and wonder what it was about? Then, when we are actually lucky enough to see one, the temptation is to ask why?

[Phi for All]

Awesome.

 

Definitely one of those stories you tell over and over, spreading The Joy far beyond those who were actually there.

[Severian]

That isn't a flash mob. It was clearly organised. Just because people don't all come at once doesn't make it a flash mob.

 

Seems a bit pointless to me. Don't they have anything better to do?

[imatfaal]

That isn't a flash mob. It was clearly organised. Just because people don't all come at once doesn't make it a flash mob.

 

Seems a bit pointless to me. Don't they have anything better to do?

 

I struggle to think of anything better to do than to play Beethoven to a delighted and enchanted crowd.

 

+1 for the find Rigney

[Severian]

I struggle to think of anything better to do than to play Beethoven to a delighted and enchanted crowd.

 

+1 for the find Rigney

 

Playing Beethoven is fair enough, but why the mockery of pretending that it is somehow spontaneous?

[Phi for All]

Playing Beethoven is fair enough, but why the mockery of pretending that it is somehow spontaneous?

I think "mockery" is just your perspective. It's like a Cirque du Soleil performance where they pull someone out of the audience who later turns out to be part of the troop. A mild deception, not a mockery.

 

In this case, the music was chosen perfectly for it's layered effect. The audience may have thought it was spontaneous after 3 or 4 musicians joined the song, coincidence after 5 or 6, and after that they were probably just wondering how many more people were going to show up. When the chorus joined in from the crowd for the final movement, I don't think anyone cared that it wasn't spontaneous. The regular folks came to the square for one reason or another, and ended up in the middle of an unexpected performance of one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

[Ringer]

Playing Beethoven is fair enough, but why the mockery of pretending that it is somehow spontaneous?

 

I see it as the same reason people do magic. They know it's not real and the audience knows it's not real, but it's still fun to do and watch.

[CharonY]

I like the performance and I see it like a kind of nice inversion of Haydn's symphony No. 45.

[imatfaal]

I like the performance and I see it like a kind of nice inversion of Haydn's symphony No. 45.

 

They should have taken a few moments breather and then started on the "farewell"

[StringJunky]

I see it as a planned but unannounced performance which was a nice surprise for the people around.

[ewmon]

Positively wonderful!

 

What I want to know is, the little girl who gave the donation that started the whole thing ... was she part of it, or was she not ... and, if not, I wonder what it did to her! I last see her at 4:57 standing next to the conductor, but then she's gone 10 seconds later.

[CaptainPanic]

I don't care that they put the wrong label on it. It's brilliant.

 

It's a fantastic way to make people realize just how brilliant some classical music is. This kind of music stirs me emotionally a lot more than most pop music... we're being bombarded by junk, while this is out there too.

 

btw, most flash mobs are quite organized with participants jumping in at the right moment, and not randomly.

[Phi for All]

I don't care that they put the wrong label on it. It's brilliant.

 

btw, most flash mobs are quite organized with participants jumping in at the right moment, and not randomly.

So, is the reason it's not considered a true flash mob because the act they performed wasn't pointless? Then I agree with the title, I want more like this.

[rigney]

I think "mockery" is just your perspective. It's like a Cirque du Soleil performance where they pull someone out of the audience who later turns out to be part of the troop. A mild deception, not a mockery.

 

In this case, the music was chosen perfectly for it's layered effect. The audience may have thought it was spontaneous after 3 or 4 musicians joined the song, coincidence after 5 or 6, and after that they were probably just wondering how many more people were going to show up. When the chorus joined in from the crowd for the final movement, I don't think anyone cared that it wasn't spontaneous. The regular folks came to the square for one reason or another, and ended up in the middle of an unexpected performance of one of the greatest pieces of music ever written.

I thought the little girl or boy who shinnied up the lamp post had the best seat in the house. Edited August 4, 2012 by rigney

[Norbert]

Wow, if only that were possible.

 

We aren't there intellectually as a species, and I fear we will never get there.