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Well when I was asked to do this TEDTalk, I was really chuckled,

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because, you see, my father's name was Ted,

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and much of my life, especially my musical life,

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is really a talk that I'm still having with him,

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or the part of me that he continues to be.

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Now Ted was a New Yorker, an all-around theater guy,

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and he was a self-taught illustrator and musician.

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He didn't read a note,

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and he was profoundly hearing impaired.

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Yet, he was my greatest teacher.

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Because even through the squeaks of his hearing aids,

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his understanding of music was profound.

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And for him, it wasn't so much the way the music goes

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as about what it witnesses and where it can take you.

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And he did a painting of this experience,

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which he called "In the Realm of Music."

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Now Ted entered this realm every day improvising

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in a sort of tin pan alley style like this.

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(Music)

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But he was tough when it came to music.

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He said, "There are only two things that matter in music:

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what and how.

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And the thing about classical music,

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that what and how, it's inexhaustible."

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That was his passion for the music.

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Both my parents really loved it.

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They didn't know all that much about it,

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but they gave me the opportunity to discover it

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together with them.

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And I think inspired by that memory,

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it's been my desire to try and bring it

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to as many other people as I can,

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sort of pass it on through whatever means.

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And how people get this music, how it comes into their lives,

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really fascinates me.

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One day in New York, I was on the street

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and I saw some kids playing baseball between stoops and cars and fire hydrants.

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And a kind of slouchy kid got up to bat,

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and he took a swing and really connected.

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And he watched the ball fly for a second,

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and then he went, "Dah dadaratatatah.

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Brah dada dadadadah."

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And he ran around the bases.

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And I thought, go figure.

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How did this piece of 18th century Austrian aristocratic entertainment

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turn into the victory crow of this New York kid?