As part of its campaign for this years National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, Standard Bank undertook a social experiment testing the hypothesis ‘the closer you are, the more you feel’.

Three volunteers - a music student with “two tone-deaf parents”, an aspiring singer in her twenties and an elderly sales rep who enjoys classical music - were wired to a barrage of monitors, recording EEG, heart rate and blood pressure. Their physical reactions to music were recorded in three different guises:

  • Phase 1: being told about the performance by a knowledgeable insider;
  • Phase 2: viewing a video of the performance; and
  • Phase 3: the live performance itself.


The stimulus used was Standard Bank Young Artist winner Nduduzo Makhathini performing his song Echoes of You.

Unsurprisingly, being merely told about the performance elicited the lowest reading, while the third phase of the experiment, watching a live performance of Nduduzo Makhathini at The Orbit Jazz Club in Joburg, yielded the most radical reaction – increased blood pressure, increased heart rate and unreadable EEG results - because there was too much movement from the participants. But who can sit still through live jazz?

Commented Jenny Pheiffer, head of Group Brand and Sponsorships, Standard bank, “This was a fun social experiment to re-examine what seems really obvious on one level – just how much better is it to experience a performance live and it transpires it is quantifiably better. Just one of the reasons why Standard Bank continues to support major live events, like the forthcoming Standard Bank Jazz Festival in Grahamstown, where we’ll be continuing the social experiment on the ground.”

Watch this space for a fully immersive experience that will take your musical senses on a magical journey through virtual reality.

The video of the experiment can be viewed here.

Tickets to the Standard Bank Jazz Festival, Grahamstown are available from the festival website. Festival programmes and booking kits are available at Exclusive Books branches and from select Standard Bank branches. The full jazz programme is available online via the Standard Bank Arts and Youth Jazz websites.

For more information, visit the Standard Bank Arts website. Alternatively, connect with the festival via Facebook and Twitter.