WEBVTT 00:00:13.343 --> 00:00:14.683 Hello everyone. 00:00:14.683 --> 00:00:17.555 As you may or may not have heard, my name is Steffin Johnson 00:00:17.555 --> 00:00:19.539 and I play piano. 00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:22.226 Now, an interesting thing happens 00:00:22.226 --> 00:00:24.761 when I say that to people sometimes. 00:00:24.761 --> 00:00:27.035 They immediately think: Art Tatum, 00:00:27.035 --> 00:00:31.814 or they think Oscar Peterson, or maybe Herbie Hancock. 00:00:31.814 --> 00:00:33.827 And that got me thinking: 00:00:33.827 --> 00:00:35.832 "Does music have a color?" 00:00:35.832 --> 00:00:39.609 Now I want to make sure I get this out there: 00:00:39.609 --> 00:00:41.284 I love the jazz greats! 00:00:41.284 --> 00:00:44.938 And Nat King Cole's performance 00:00:44.938 --> 00:00:47.526 of "Tea for Two" on YouTube will change your life! 00:00:47.526 --> 00:00:50.154 I'm probably responsible for half the views 00:00:50.154 --> 00:00:52.474 on that video myself. (Laughter) 00:00:52.474 --> 00:00:55.810 But I'm much more of a Mozart player, which I owe to my mother. 00:00:55.810 --> 00:00:58.740 She just got me introduced to classical music at a young age. 00:00:58.740 --> 00:01:01.003 So, I have a story for you guys. 00:01:01.003 --> 00:01:03.610 Currently, I study at the Jacobs School of Music 00:01:03.610 --> 00:01:05.789 in Indiana University. 00:01:05.789 --> 00:01:07.415 And on my very first day there, 00:01:07.415 --> 00:01:10.130 I heard someone playing in the recital hall. 00:01:10.130 --> 00:01:13.063 It was amazing! I was like this was probably 00:01:13.063 --> 00:01:16.773 this world famous professor or performer or something. 00:01:16.773 --> 00:01:18.647 So I was like "I'm going to check it out." 00:01:18.647 --> 00:01:22.446 I run over to the window and I peek in, right? 00:01:22.446 --> 00:01:25.111 Ah! It's a student! 00:01:25.111 --> 00:01:27.112 And the dude is a savage! 00:01:27.112 --> 00:01:29.946 He's all over the place! He's got like 13 arms. 00:01:29.946 --> 00:01:32.975 He's like an octopus! He's just like -- 00:01:32.975 --> 00:01:36.027 And my honest thought was that's absolutely not cool at all! 00:01:36.027 --> 00:01:38.063 Actually, I didn't want to hear that -- 00:01:38.063 --> 00:01:39.695 to be my first person that I hear there. 00:01:39.695 --> 00:01:41.390 I'm in way over my head! 00:01:41.390 --> 00:01:44.500 So, now I'm going to fast forward a couple days. 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:46.096 I'm in the practice building. 00:01:46.096 --> 00:01:49.339 What you've got to know about the practice building is it's a circle. 00:01:49.339 --> 00:01:51.308 and there's another circle inside. 00:01:51.308 --> 00:01:53.084 It's like a concrete doughnut. 00:01:53.084 --> 00:01:56.666 There's no windows, no natural light gets in; NOTE Paragraph 00:01:56.666 --> 00:01:59.449 It's like a tomb of music. All right? 00:01:59.449 --> 00:02:03.949 So, I'm in there and I'm practicing this piece -- 00:02:04.642 --> 00:02:08.635 (Piano) 00:02:17.046 --> 00:02:19.367 And I'm getting kind of frustrated! I'd been there for hours. 00:02:19.367 --> 00:02:22.041 It's not working how I want it to work. I need to take a break. 00:02:22.041 --> 00:02:25.499 So, I open the door and standing right there is the guy 00:02:25.499 --> 00:02:27.024 that I saw playing on the first day. 00:02:27.024 --> 00:02:28.680 He's messing around on his phone. 00:02:28.680 --> 00:02:30.081 Now, he's never seen me before 00:02:30.081 --> 00:02:32.710 and he doesn't know that I saw him playing earlier. 00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:37.342 So, we meet eyes and we do the guy thing -- ah, uh, oh, uh. 00:02:37.880 --> 00:02:42.294 So we walk off and I'm coming back. 00:02:42.637 --> 00:02:45.397 Now, you don't actually need to know this part of the story, 00:02:45.397 --> 00:02:47.434 but it's a circle building, there are no distinguishing marks. 00:02:47.434 --> 00:02:49.600 I got lost! It took too long to get back to the room. 00:02:49.600 --> 00:02:51.606 I don't know what the problem was. I finally get back 00:02:51.606 --> 00:02:54.486 and he's still standing out there messing around on his phone. 00:02:54.486 --> 00:02:57.507 So, I'll go back in and I start practicing again. 00:02:57.507 --> 00:03:01.019 (Piano) 00:03:05.497 --> 00:03:07.035 Boom! 00:03:07.035 --> 00:03:09.760 The dude just busts in my door! 00:03:09.760 --> 00:03:12.949 And I'm like, "Hey, man, I think there's some explanation 00:03:12.949 --> 00:03:15.086 that's needed here, you just gave me a mild coronary. 00:03:15.086 --> 00:03:16.888 I need to understand what's happening right now." 00:03:16.888 --> 00:03:20.224 And he says, "I hope you don't take offense to this, 00:03:20.224 --> 00:03:23.657 but you are the first black person I have ever heard 00:03:23.658 --> 00:03:25.110 playing music like that." 00:03:25.110 --> 00:03:28.045 Now, I wasn't offended. He just said how he felt. 00:03:28.045 --> 00:03:30.645 And to be honest, we actually became pretty good friends. 00:03:30.645 --> 00:03:33.824 So. Now, I'm going to take you back in time. 00:03:35.404 --> 00:03:39.318 1905. 00:03:39.318 --> 00:03:42.656 Maurice Ravel is a French Impressionistic composer. 00:03:42.656 --> 00:03:45.609 And actually that piece I was playing is by Maurice Ravel. 00:03:45.609 --> 00:03:48.450 And that kind of washes sound as your traditional 00:03:48.450 --> 00:03:50.263 impressionistic sound, right? 00:03:50.263 --> 00:03:53.508 So, in 1905 he writes a set of pieces called "Miroirs". 00:03:53.508 --> 00:03:55.067 There are five in the set. 00:03:55.067 --> 00:03:57.442 But the fourth one is particularly interesting, 00:03:57.442 --> 00:03:59.967 because it is a Spanish piece. 00:03:59.967 --> 00:04:01.718 This is a stark contrast 00:04:01.718 --> 00:04:04.789 to the calm watery-like sound of Impressionism. 00:04:04.789 --> 00:04:08.731 And it's much more of a clean kind of -- 00:04:08.731 --> 00:04:11.984 He's evoking the Spanish idioms 00:04:11.984 --> 00:04:14.326 of the Flamenco guitar and all this stuff. 00:04:14.326 --> 00:04:16.894 So, without further ado, 00:04:16.894 --> 00:04:19.141 I, Steffin Johnson, hopefully changing your perceptions 00:04:19.141 --> 00:04:21.565 of what the classical musician can look like, 00:04:21.565 --> 00:04:23.107 will play a piece from a composer 00:04:23.107 --> 00:04:25.479 who changed perceptions with his music: 00:04:25.479 --> 00:04:30.091 Maurice Ravel's Alborada del Gracioso. 00:04:40.887 --> 00:04:44.937 (Piano) 00:11:15.535 --> 00:11:20.123 (Cheers) (Aplause)