0:00:00.491,0:00:01.836
Adam Ockelford: I promise there won't be too much

0:00:01.836,0:00:04.248
of me talking, and a lot of Derek playing,

0:00:04.248,0:00:06.692
but I thought it would just be nice to recap

0:00:06.692,0:00:10.628
on how Derek got to where he is today.

0:00:10.628,0:00:13.119
It's amazing now, because he's so much bigger than me,

0:00:13.119,0:00:14.737
but when Derek was born,

0:00:14.737,0:00:17.376
he could have fitted on the palm of your hand.

0:00:17.376,0:00:20.340
He was born three and a half months premature,

0:00:20.340,0:00:25.556
and really it was a fantastic fight for him to survive.

0:00:25.556,0:00:26.776
He had to have a lot of oxygen,

0:00:26.776,0:00:28.776
and that affected your eyes, Derek,

0:00:28.776,0:00:30.604
and also the way you understand language

0:00:30.604,0:00:33.575
and the way you understand the world.

0:00:33.575,0:00:35.642
But that was the end of the bad news,

0:00:35.657,0:00:38.648
because when Derek came home from the hospital,

0:00:38.648,0:00:41.830
his family decided to employ the redoubtable nanny

0:00:41.830,0:00:44.201
who was going to look after you, Derek,

0:00:44.201,0:00:46.849
really for the rest of your childhood.

0:00:46.849,0:00:49.425
And Nanny's great insight, really,

0:00:49.425,0:00:52.110
was to think, here's a child who can't see.

0:00:52.110,0:00:55.031
Music must be the thing for Derek.

0:00:55.031,0:00:59.298
And sure enough, she sang, or as Derek called it, warbled,

0:00:59.298,0:01:02.843
to him for his first few years of life.

0:01:02.843,0:01:06.894
And I think it was that excitement with hearing her voice

0:01:06.894,0:01:09.878
hour after hour every day that made him think

0:01:09.878,0:01:12.896
maybe, you know, in his brain something was stirring,

0:01:12.896,0:01:15.905
some sort of musical gift.

0:01:15.905,0:01:18.178
Here's a little picture of Derek going up now,

0:01:18.178,0:01:21.852
when you were with your nanny.

0:01:21.852,0:01:25.371
Now Nanny's great other insight was to think,

0:01:25.371,0:01:28.706
perhaps we should get Derek something to play,

0:01:28.706,0:01:32.342
and sure enough, she dragged this little keyboard

0:01:32.342,0:01:34.923
out of the loft, never thinking really

0:01:34.938,0:01:37.281
that anything much would come of it.

0:01:37.281,0:01:40.269
But Derek, your tiny hand must have gone out to that thing

0:01:40.269,0:01:41.890
and actually bashed it,

0:01:41.890,0:01:44.679
bashed it so hard they thought it was going to break.

0:01:44.679,0:01:48.671
But out of all the bashing, after a few months,

0:01:48.671,0:01:51.840
emerged the most fantastic music,

0:01:51.840,0:01:55.206
and I think there was just a miracle moment, really, Derek,

0:01:55.206,0:01:59.721
when you realized that all the sounds you hear in the world

0:01:59.721,0:02:03.321
out there is something that you can copy on the keyboard.

0:02:03.321,0:02:05.834
That was the great eureka moment.

0:02:05.834,0:02:08.404
Now, not being able to see meant, of course,

0:02:08.404,0:02:09.595
that you taught yourself.

0:02:09.595,0:02:10.919
Derek Paravicini: I taught myself to play.

0:02:10.919,0:02:12.216
AO: You did teach yourself to play,

0:02:12.216,0:02:14.747
and as a consequence,

0:02:14.747,0:02:15.798
playing the piano for you, Derek,

0:02:15.798,0:02:18.275
was a lot of knuckles and karate chops,

0:02:18.275,0:02:20.731
and even a bit of nose going on in there.

0:02:20.731,0:02:24.059
And now, here's what Nanny did also do

0:02:24.059,0:02:27.381
was to press the record button on one of those little

0:02:27.381,0:02:29.939
early tape recorders that they had,

0:02:29.939,0:02:32.042
and this is a wonderful tape, now, of Derek playing

0:02:32.042,0:02:33.454
when you were four years old.

0:02:33.454,0:02:36.152
DP: "Molly Malone (Cockles and Mussels)."

0:02:36.152,0:02:37.214
AO: It wasn't actually "Cockles and Mussels."

0:02:37.214,0:02:39.364
This one is "English Country Garden."

0:02:39.364,0:02:41.629
DP: "English Country Garden."

0:02:41.629,0:02:49.888
(Music: "English Country Garden")

0:03:18.521,0:03:20.319
AO: There you are.

0:03:20.319,0:03:27.477
(Applause)

0:03:27.477,0:03:29.383
I think that's just fantastic.

0:03:29.383,0:03:31.113
You know, there's this little child who can't see,

0:03:31.113,0:03:33.320
can't really understand much about the world,

0:03:33.320,0:03:36.026
has no one in the family who plays an instrument,

0:03:36.026,0:03:38.327
and yet he taught himself to play that.

0:03:38.327,0:03:39.559
And as you can see from the picture,

0:03:39.559,0:03:41.918
there was quite a lot of body action going on

0:03:41.918,0:03:43.719
while you were playing, Derek.

0:03:43.719,0:03:48.289
Now, along -- Derek and I met when he was four and a half years old,

0:03:48.289,0:03:52.107
and at first, Derek, I thought you were mad, to be honest,

0:03:52.107,0:03:53.921
because when you played the piano,

0:03:53.921,0:03:56.838
you seemed to want to play every single note on the keyboard,

0:03:56.838,0:03:58.246
and also you had this little habit

0:03:58.246,0:04:00.429
of hitting me out of the way.

0:04:00.429,0:04:02.235
So as soon as I tried to get near the piano,

0:04:02.235,0:04:04.383
I was firmly shoved off.

0:04:04.383,0:04:07.067
And having said to your dad, Nic,

0:04:07.067,0:04:09.562
that I would try to teach you, I was then slightly confused

0:04:09.562,0:04:11.149
as to how I might go about that

0:04:11.149,0:04:13.550
if I wasn't allowed near the piano.

0:04:13.550,0:04:15.727
But after a while, I thought, well, the only way

0:04:15.727,0:04:19.828
is to just pick you up, shove Derek over to the other side of the room,

0:04:19.828,0:04:22.972
and in the 10 seconds that I got before Derek came back,

0:04:22.972,0:04:25.149
I could just play something very quickly

0:04:25.149,0:04:27.141
for him to learn.

0:04:27.141,0:04:28.543
And in the end, Derek, I think you agreed

0:04:28.543,0:04:32.523
that we could actually have some fun playing the piano together.

0:04:32.523,0:04:35.348
As you can see, there's me in my early,

0:04:35.348,0:04:37.587
pre-marriage days with a brown beard,

0:04:37.587,0:04:41.233
and little Derek concentrating there.

0:04:41.233,0:04:43.777
I just realized this is going to be recorded, isn't it? Right. Okay.

0:04:43.777,0:04:45.079
(Laughter)

0:04:45.079,0:04:49.300
Now then, by the age of 10, Derek really

0:04:49.300,0:04:51.352
had taken the world by storm.

0:04:51.352,0:04:54.370
This is a photo of you, Derek, playing at the Barbican

0:04:54.370,0:04:56.081
with the Royal Philharmonic Pops.

0:04:56.081,0:05:00.650
Basically it was just an exciting journey, really.

0:05:00.650,0:05:02.791
And in those days, Derek, you didn't speak very much,

0:05:02.791,0:05:05.102
and so there was always a moment of tension

0:05:05.102,0:05:08.063
as to whether you'd actually understood what it was we were going to play

0:05:08.063,0:05:10.574
and whether you'd play the right piece in the right key,

0:05:10.574,0:05:12.033
and all that kind of thing.

0:05:12.033,0:05:14.858
But the orchestra were wowed as well,

0:05:14.858,0:05:18.715
and the press of the world were fascinated by your ability

0:05:18.715,0:05:22.052
to play these fantastic pieces.

0:05:22.052,0:05:25.114
Now the question is, how do you do it, Derek?

0:05:25.114,0:05:27.685
And hopefully we can show the audience now

0:05:27.685,0:05:30.737
how it is you do what you do.

0:05:30.737,0:05:32.570
I think that one of the first things that happened

0:05:32.570,0:05:33.847
when you were very little, Derek,

0:05:33.847,0:05:36.183
was that by the time you were two,

0:05:36.183,0:05:41.162
your musical ear had already outstripped that of most adults.

0:05:41.162,0:05:43.960
And so whenever you heard any note at all --

0:05:43.960,0:05:45.864
if I just play a random note --

0:05:45.864,0:05:48.277
(Piano notes) --

0:05:48.292,0:05:50.183
you knew instantly what it was,

0:05:50.183,0:05:54.421
and you'd got the ability as well to find that note on the piano.

0:05:54.421,0:05:56.009
Now that's called perfect pitch,

0:05:56.009,0:05:59.246
and some people have perfect pitch for a few white notes

0:05:59.246,0:06:00.396
in the middle of the piano.

0:06:00.396,0:06:06.424
(Piano notes)

0:06:06.424,0:06:09.850
You can see how -- you get a sense of playing with Derek.

0:06:09.850,0:06:13.398
(Applause)

0:06:13.398,0:06:16.424
But Derek, your ear is so much more than that.

0:06:16.424,0:06:17.851
If I just put the microphone down for a bit,

0:06:17.851,0:06:20.571
I'm going to play a cluster of notes.

0:06:20.571,0:06:22.887
Those of you who can see will know how many notes,

0:06:22.887,0:06:23.896
but Derek, of course, can't.

0:06:23.896,0:06:26.798
Not only can you say how many notes,

0:06:26.798,0:06:32.222
it's being able to play them all at the same time. Here we are.

0:06:32.222,0:06:39.300
(Chords)

0:06:42.103,0:06:44.921
Well, forget the terminology, Derek. Fantastic.

0:06:44.921,0:06:49.866
And it's that ability, that ability to hear simultaneous sounds,

0:06:49.866,0:06:52.188
not only just single sounds, but when a whole orchestra is playing,

0:06:52.188,0:06:54.096
Derek, you can hear every note,

0:06:54.096,0:06:57.352
and instantly, through all those hours and hours of practice,

0:06:57.352,0:06:59.310
reproduce those on the keyboard,

0:06:59.310,0:07:03.577
that makes you, I think, is the basis of all your ability.

0:07:03.577,0:07:06.180
Now then.

0:07:06.180,0:07:09.748
It's no use having that kind of raw ability

0:07:09.748,0:07:11.509
without the technique,

0:07:11.509,0:07:13.431
and luckily, Derek, you decided that,

0:07:13.431,0:07:16.053
once we did start learning, you'd let me help you

0:07:16.053,0:07:17.692
learn all the scale fingerings.

0:07:17.692,0:07:20.639
So for example using your thumb under with C major.

0:07:20.639,0:07:25.752
(Piano notes)

0:07:25.752,0:07:29.766
Etc.

0:07:32.161,0:07:35.521
And in the end, you got so quick,

0:07:35.521,0:07:37.395
that things like "Flight of the Bumblebee"

0:07:37.395,0:07:38.625
were no problem, were they?

0:07:38.625,0:07:39.903
DP: No.

0:07:39.903,0:07:42.532
AO: Right. So here, by the age of 11,

0:07:42.532,0:07:44.504
Derek was playing things like this.

0:07:44.504,0:07:47.586
DP: This.

0:07:47.586,0:08:01.259
(Music: "Flight of the Bumblebee")

0:08:55.792,0:08:57.358
(Applause)

0:08:57.358,0:08:59.834
AO: Derek, let's have a bow.

0:09:11.408,0:09:15.480
Well done.

0:09:15.480,0:09:19.403
Now the truly amazing thing was, with all those scales, Derek,

0:09:19.403,0:09:21.638
you could not only play "Flight of the Bumblebee"

0:09:21.638,0:09:24.304
in the usual key, but any note I play,

0:09:24.304,0:09:26.297
Derek can play it on.

0:09:26.297,0:09:28.765
So if I just choose a note at random, like that one.

0:09:28.765,0:09:30.580
(Piano notes)

0:09:30.580,0:09:32.184
Can you play "Flight of the Bumblebee" on that note?

0:09:32.184,0:09:34.488
DP: "Flight of the Bumblebee" on that note.

0:09:34.488,0:09:38.853
(Music: "Flight of the Bumblebee")

0:09:40.178,0:09:44.251
AO: Or another one? How about in G minor?

0:09:44.251,0:09:46.522
DP: G minor.

0:09:46.522,0:09:51.833
(Music: "Flight of the Bumblebee")

0:09:51.833,0:09:54.117
AO: Fantastic. Well done, Derek.

0:09:54.117,0:09:57.899
So you see, in your brain, Derek, is this amazing musical computer

0:09:57.899,0:10:01.598
that can instantly recalibrate, recalculate,

0:10:01.598,0:10:03.770
all the pieces in the world that are out there.

0:10:03.770,0:10:06.197
Most pianists would have a heart attack if you said,

0:10:06.197,0:10:08.014
"Sorry, do you mind playing 'Flight of the Bumblebee'

0:10:08.014,0:10:11.244
in B minor instead of A minor?" as we went on.

0:10:11.244,0:10:14.665
In fact, the first time, Derek, you played that with an orchestra,

0:10:14.665,0:10:16.754
you'd learned the version that you'd learned,

0:10:16.754,0:10:18.983
and then the orchestra, in fact, did have a different version,

0:10:18.983,0:10:21.461
so while we were waiting in the two hours

0:10:21.461,0:10:23.463
before the rehearsal and the concert,

0:10:23.463,0:10:25.703
Derek listened to the different version and learned it quickly

0:10:25.703,0:10:28.180
and then was able to play it with the orchestra.

0:10:28.180,0:10:29.640
Fantastic chap.

0:10:29.640,0:10:33.099
The other wonderful thing about you is memory.

0:10:33.099,0:10:36.935
DP: Memory.[br]AO: Your memory is truly amazing, and every concert we do,

0:10:36.935,0:10:39.765
we ask the audience to participate, of course,

0:10:39.765,0:10:43.529
by suggesting a piece Derek might like to play.

0:10:43.529,0:10:45.051
And people say, "Well, that's terribly brave

0:10:45.051,0:10:47.276
because what happens if Derek doesn't know it?"

0:10:47.276,0:10:48.288
And I say, "No, it's not brave at all,

0:10:48.288,0:10:50.940
because if you ask for something that Derek doesn't know,

0:10:50.940,0:10:52.541
you're invited to come and sing it first,

0:10:52.541,0:10:55.027
and then he'll pick it up." (Laughter)

0:10:55.027,0:10:59.742
So just be thoughtful before you suggest something too outlandish.

0:10:59.742,0:11:03.459
But seriously, would anyone like to choose a piece?

0:11:03.459,0:11:07.392
DP: Choose a piece. Choose, choose, would you like to choose?[br]AO: Because it's quite dark. You'll just have to shout out.

0:11:07.392,0:11:10.213
Would you like to hear me play?

0:11:10.213,0:11:11.427
(Audience: "Theme of Paganini.")

0:11:11.427,0:11:14.389
AO: Paganini.[br]DP: "The Theme of Paganini."

0:11:14.389,0:11:16.227
(Laughter)

0:11:16.227,0:11:38.138
(Music: "Theme of Paganini")

0:12:51.178,0:13:02.409
(Applause)

0:13:02.409,0:13:08.223
AO: Well done.

0:13:08.223,0:13:10.897
Derek's going to L.A. soon,

0:13:10.897,0:13:14.119
and it's a milestone, because it means that Derek and I

0:13:14.119,0:13:17.490
will have spent over 100 hours on long-haul flights together,

0:13:17.490,0:13:20.117
which is quite interesting, isn't it Derek?

0:13:20.117,0:13:23.468
DP: Very interesting, Adam, yes. Long-haul flights. Yes.

0:13:23.468,0:13:25.930
AO: You may think 13 hours is a long time to keep talking,

0:13:25.930,0:13:28.448
but Derek does it effortlessly. Now then.

0:13:28.448,0:13:30.560
(Laughter)

0:13:30.560,0:13:32.434
But in America, they've coined this term,

0:13:32.434,0:13:34.044
"the human iPod" for Derek,

0:13:34.044,0:13:36.400
which I think is just missing the point, really,

0:13:36.400,0:13:39.477
because Derek, you're so much more than an iPod.

0:13:39.477,0:13:42.264
You're a fantastic, creative musician,

0:13:42.264,0:13:45.215
and I think that was nowhere clearer to see, really,

0:13:45.215,0:13:47.412
than when we went to Slovenia,

0:13:47.412,0:13:52.809
and someone -- in a longer concert we tend to get people joining in,

0:13:52.809,0:13:56.463
and this person, very, very nervously came onto the stage.

0:13:56.463,0:13:58.998
DP: He played "Chopsticks."[br]AO: And played "Chopsticks."

0:13:58.998,0:14:00.489
DP: "Chopsticks."

0:14:00.489,0:14:03.853
AO: A bit like this.[br]DP: Like this. Yes.

0:14:03.853,0:14:04.791
(Piano notes)

0:14:04.791,0:14:06.471
AO: I should really get Derek's manager to come and play it.

0:14:06.471,0:14:07.695
He's sitting there.

0:14:07.695,0:14:10.973
DP: Somebody played "Chopsticks" like this.[br]AO: Just teasing, right? Here we go.

0:14:10.973,0:14:12.229
(Music: "Chopsticks")

0:14:12.229,0:14:14.491
DP: Let Derek play it.

0:14:14.491,0:14:16.064
AO: What did you do with it, Derek?

0:14:16.064,0:14:17.805
DP: I got to improvise with it, Adam.

0:14:17.805,0:14:21.372
AO: This is Derek the musician.

0:14:21.372,0:14:29.484
(Music: "Chopsticks" improvisation)

0:15:17.783,0:15:19.860
(Applause)

0:15:19.860,0:15:23.636
(Music) (Clapping)

0:15:23.636,0:15:25.777
Keep up with Derek.

0:15:25.777,0:15:33.274
(Music)

0:16:20.017,0:16:26.589
(Applause)

0:16:43.131,0:16:44.579
The TED people will kill me,

0:16:44.579,0:16:46.635
but perhaps there's time for one encore.

0:16:46.635,0:16:50.460
DP: For one encore.[br]AO: One encore, yes.

0:16:50.460,0:16:52.515
So this is one of Derek's heroes.

0:16:52.515,0:16:54.687
It's the great Art Tatum --[br]DP: Art Tatum.

0:16:54.687,0:16:56.713
AO: -- who also was a pianist who couldn't see,

0:16:56.713,0:16:57.870
and also, I think, like Derek,

0:16:57.870,0:16:59.379
thought that all the world was a piano,

0:16:59.379,0:17:01.339
so whenever Art Tatum plays something,

0:17:01.339,0:17:03.974
it sounds like there's three pianos in the room.

0:17:03.974,0:17:09.798
And here is Derek's take on Art Tatum's take on "Tiger Rag."

0:17:09.798,0:17:13.534
DP: "Tiger Rag."

0:17:13.534,0:17:32.702
(Music: "Tiger Rag")

0:19:03.869,0:19:07.869
(Applause)