Last Friday was the 20th anniversary of the first broadcast on ClassicFM. To celebrate, a group of musicians did a flashmob performance of Zadok the Priest (the first piece played on ClassicFM, and the best intro of any music track, any genre, ever) in the middle of a supermarket.
What's extraordinary, of course, isn't the performance itself (thought that's pretty good) but where it takes place: in the middle of everyday life, when people aren't expecting it.
I particularly like the bit where a woman phones a friend and then holds up her mobile so that she can listen too (a still of this is used as the title picture of the video).
I also like the fact that the musicians end up performing in the Fruit and Veg section, beneath a large sign reading "Bananas". Yeah, bananas! But also beautiful. And it's a reminder to all of us concerned with writing and producing learning materials that even if much of what we produce is bound to be humdrum and mundane (there are just so many things a course has to get through, just like supermarket shopping) we should always remember to include moments of surprise and beauty too.
