0:00:00.917,0:00:03.280 Well when I was asked to do this TEDTalk, I was really chuckled, 0:00:03.280,0:00:07.073 because, you see, my father's name was Ted, 0:00:07.073,0:00:11.087 and much of my life, especially my musical life, 0:00:11.087,0:00:14.208 is really a talk that I'm still having with him, 0:00:14.208,0:00:17.956 or the part of me that he continues to be. 0:00:17.956,0:00:21.560 Now Ted was a New Yorker, an all-around theater guy, 0:00:21.560,0:00:25.875 and he was a self-taught illustrator and musician. 0:00:25.875,0:00:27.410 He didn't read a note, 0:00:27.410,0:00:30.375 and he was profoundly hearing impaired. 0:00:30.375,0:00:33.633 Yet, he was my greatest teacher. 0:00:33.633,0:00:37.070 Because even through the squeaks of his hearing aids, 0:00:37.070,0:00:40.250 his understanding of music was profound. 0:00:40.250,0:00:43.631 And for him, it wasn't so much the way the music goes 0:00:43.631,0:00:47.827 as about what it witnesses and where it can take you. 0:00:47.827,0:00:50.444 And he did a painting of this experience, 0:00:50.444,0:00:53.533 which he called "In the Realm of Music." 0:00:53.533,0:01:00.021 Now Ted entered this realm every day by improvising 0:01:00.021,0:01:02.802 in a sort of Tin Pan Alley style like this. 0:01:02.802,0:01:09.644 (Music) 0:01:09.644,0:01:12.998 But he was tough when it came to music. 0:01:12.998,0:01:15.704 He said, "There are only two things that matter in music: 0:01:15.704,0:01:17.917 what and how. 0:01:17.917,0:01:21.704 And the thing about classical music, 0:01:21.704,0:01:25.032 that what and how, it's inexhaustible." 0:01:25.032,0:01:27.200 That was his passion for the music. 0:01:27.200,0:01:29.057 Both my parents really loved it. 0:01:29.057,0:01:31.315 They didn't know all that much about it, 0:01:31.315,0:01:35.042 but they gave me the opportunity to discover it 0:01:35.042,0:01:36.958 together with them. 0:01:36.958,0:01:40.170 And I think inspired by that memory, 0:01:40.170,0:01:42.173 it's been my desire to try and bring it 0:01:42.173,0:01:43.218 to as many other people as I can, 0:01:43.218,0:01:46.792 sort of pass it on through whatever means. 0:01:46.792,0:01:51.802 And how people get this music, how it comes into their lives, 0:01:51.802,0:01:53.258 really fascinates me. 0:01:53.258,0:01:55.515 One day in New York, I was on the street 0:01:55.515,0:02:00.920 and I saw some kids playing baseball between stoops and cars and fire hydrants. 0:02:00.920,0:02:03.621 And a tough, slouchy kid got up to bat, 0:02:03.621,0:02:06.325 and he took a swing and really connected. 0:02:06.325,0:02:08.027 And he watched the ball fly for a second, 0:02:08.027,0:02:11.431 and then he went, "Dah dadaratatatah. 0:02:11.431,0:02:14.917 Brah dada dadadadah." 0:02:14.917,0:02:16.750 And he ran around the bases. 0:02:16.750,0:02:19.485 And I thought, go figure. 0:02:19.485,0:02:24.566 How did this piece of 18th century Austrian aristocratic entertainment 0:02:24.566,0:02:29.238 turn into the victory crow of this New York kid? 0:02:29.238,0:02:33.640 How was that passed on? How did he get to hear Mozart? 0:02:33.640,0:02:35.561 Well when it comes to classical music, 0:02:35.561,0:02:37.817 there's an awful lot to pass on, 0:02:37.817,0:02:41.554 much more than Mozart, Beethoven or Tchiakovsky. 0:02:41.554,0:02:43.166 Because classical music 0:02:43.166,0:02:46.583 is an unbroken living tradition 0:02:46.583,0:02:49.833 that goes back over 1,000 years. 0:02:49.833,0:02:51.877 And every one of those years 0:02:51.877,0:02:55.375 has had something unique and powerful to say to us 0:02:55.375,0:02:58.600 about what it's like to be alive. 0:02:58.600,0:03:01.159 Now the raw material of it, of course, 0:03:01.159,0:03:02.875 is just the music of everyday life. 0:03:02.875,0:03:05.908 It's all the anthems and dance crazes 0:03:05.908,0:03:07.643 and ballads and marches. 0:03:07.643,0:03:10.333 But what classical music does 0:03:10.333,0:03:15.193 is to distill all of these musics down, 0:03:15.193,0:03:18.879 to condense them to their absolute essence, 0:03:18.879,0:03:22.167 and from that essence create a new language, 0:03:22.167,0:03:27.652 a language that speaks very lovingly and unflinchingly 0:03:27.652,0:03:29.752 about who we really are. 0:03:29.752,0:03:32.596 It's a language that's still evolving. 0:03:32.596,0:03:36.167 Now over the centuries it grew into the big pieces we always think of, 0:03:36.167,0:03:39.167 like concertos and symphonies, 0:03:39.167,0:03:42.498 but even the most ambitious masterpiece 0:03:42.498,0:03:44.917 can have as its central mission 0:03:44.917,0:03:49.417 to bring you back to a fragile and personal moment -- 0:03:49.417,0:03:52.625 like this one from the Beethoven Violin Concerto. 0:03:52.625,0:04:15.011 (Music) 0:04:15.011,0:04:20.995 It's so simple, so evocative. 0:04:20.995,0:04:23.855 So many emotions seem to be inside of it. 0:04:23.855,0:04:25.583 Yet, of course, like all music, 0:04:25.583,0:04:28.042 it's essentially not about anything. 0:04:28.042,0:04:31.825 It's just a design of pitches and silence and time. 0:04:31.825,0:04:35.917 And the pitches, the notes, as you know, are just vibrations. 0:04:35.917,0:04:38.870 They're locations in the spectrum of sound. 0:04:38.870,0:04:42.971 And whether we call them 440 per second, A, 0:04:42.971,0:04:49.689 or 3,729, B flat -- trust me, that's right -- 0:04:49.689,0:04:53.785 they're just phenomena. 0:04:53.785,0:04:57.542 But the way we react to different combinations of these phenomena 0:04:57.542,0:05:01.336 is complex and emotional and not totally understood. 0:05:01.336,0:05:05.167 And the way we react to them has changed radically over the centuries, 0:05:05.167,0:05:07.542 as have our preferences for them. 0:05:07.542,0:05:10.833 So for example, in the 11th century, 0:05:10.833,0:05:14.673 people liked pieces that ended like this. 0:05:14.673,0:05:26.406 (Music) 0:05:26.406,0:05:31.562 And in the 17th century, it was more like this. 0:05:31.562,0:05:37.000 (Music) 0:05:37.000,0:05:40.842 And in the 21st century ... 0:05:40.842,0:05:48.250 (Music) 0:05:48.250,0:05:53.569 Now your 21st century ears are quite happy with this last chord, 0:05:53.569,0:05:57.042 even though a while back it would have puzzled or annoyed you 0:05:57.042,0:05:58.542 or sent some of you running from the room. 0:05:58.542,0:05:59.958 And the reason you like it 0:05:59.958,0:06:02.446 is because you've inherited, whether you knew it or not, 0:06:02.446,0:06:05.000 centuries-worth of changes 0:06:05.000,0:06:08.500 in musical theory, practice and fashion. 0:06:08.500,0:06:13.590 And in classical music we can follow these changes very, very accurately 0:06:13.590,0:06:17.573 because of the music's powerful silent partner, 0:06:17.573,0:06:21.202 the way it's been passed on: notation. 0:06:21.202,0:06:23.167 Now the impulse to notate, 0:06:23.167,0:06:25.958 or, more exactly I should say, encode music 0:06:25.958,0:06:29.016 has been with us for a very long time. 0:06:29.016,0:06:32.917 In 200 B.C., a man named Sekulos 0:06:32.917,0:06:35.867 wrote this song for his departed wife 0:06:35.867,0:06:37.458 and inscribed it on her gravestone 0:06:37.458,0:06:40.083 in the notational system of the Greeks. 0:06:40.083,0:07:07.458 (Music) 0:07:07.458,0:07:09.875 And a thousand years later, 0:07:09.875,0:07:13.885 this impulse to notate took an entirely different form. 0:07:13.885,0:07:15.250 And you can see how this happened 0:07:15.250,0:07:21.833 in these excerpts from the Christmas mass "Puer Natus est nobis," 0:07:21.833,0:07:24.208 "For Us is Born." 0:07:24.208,0:07:28.841 (Music) 0:07:28.841,0:07:31.083 In the 10th century, little squiggles were used 0:07:31.083,0:07:34.125 just to indicate the general shape of the tune. 0:07:34.125,0:07:41.167 And in the 12th century, a line was drawn, like a musical horizon line, 0:07:41.167,0:07:44.745 to better pinpoint the pitch's location. 0:07:44.745,0:07:53.075 And then in the 13th century, more lines and new shapes of notes 0:07:53.090,0:07:56.708 locked in the concept of the tune exactly, 0:07:56.708,0:07:59.375 and that led to the kind of notation we have today. 0:07:59.375,0:08:03.046 Well notation not only passed the music on, 0:08:03.046,0:08:07.727 notating and encoding the music changed its priorities entirely, 0:08:07.727,0:08:09.683 because it enabled the musicians 0:08:09.683,0:08:13.339 to imagine music on a much vaster scale. 0:08:13.339,0:08:16.667 Now inspired moves of improvisation 0:08:16.667,0:08:20.667 could be recorded, saved, considered, prioritized, 0:08:20.667,0:08:23.208 made into intricate designs. 0:08:23.208,0:08:26.448 And from this moment, classical music became 0:08:26.448,0:08:29.042 what it most essentially is, 0:08:29.042,0:08:34.083 a dialogue between the two powerful sides of our nature: 0:08:34.083,0:08:36.458 instinct and intelligence. 0:08:36.458,0:08:39.833 And there began to be a real difference at this point 0:08:39.833,0:08:42.750 between the art of improvisation 0:08:42.750,0:08:44.158 and the art of composition. 0:08:44.158,0:08:48.675 Now an improviser senses and plays the next cool move, 0:08:48.675,0:08:52.292 but a composer is considering all possible moves, 0:08:52.292,0:08:55.611 testing them out, prioritizing them out, 0:08:55.611,0:09:00.083 until he sees how they can form a powerful and coherent design 0:09:00.083,0:09:04.490 of ultimate and enduring coolness. 0:09:04.490,0:09:06.042 Now some of the greatest composers, like Bach, 0:09:06.042,0:09:08.271 were combinations of these two things. 0:09:08.271,0:09:12.556 Bach was like a great improviser with a mind of a chess master. 0:09:12.556,0:09:14.500 Mozart was the same way. 0:09:14.500,0:09:17.746 But every musician strikes a different balance 0:09:17.746,0:09:21.542 between faith and reason, instinct and intelligence. 0:09:21.542,0:09:26.450 And every musical era had different priorities of these things, 0:09:26.450,0:09:30.417 different things to pass on, different 'whats' and 'hows'. 0:09:30.417,0:09:34.985 So in the first eight centuries or so of this tradition 0:09:34.985,0:09:37.833 the big 'what' was to praise God. 0:09:37.833,0:09:40.458 And by the 1400s, music was being written 0:09:40.458,0:09:44.542 that tried to mirror God's mind 0:09:44.542,0:09:48.458 as could be seen in the design of the night sky. 0:09:48.458,0:09:51.750 The 'how' was a style called polyphony, 0:09:51.750,0:09:55.500 music of many independently moving voices 0:09:55.500,0:09:58.208 that suggested the way the planets seemed to move 0:09:58.208,0:10:00.837 in Ptolemy's geocentric universe. 0:10:00.837,0:10:04.623 This was truly the music of the spheres. 0:10:04.623,0:10:33.917 (Music) 0:10:33.917,0:10:39.167 This is the kind of music that Leonardo DaVinci would have known. 0:10:39.167,0:10:42.765 And perhaps its tremendous intellectual perfection and serenity 0:10:42.765,0:10:45.625 meant that something new had to happen -- 0:10:45.625,0:10:49.750 a radical new move, which in 1600 is what did happen. 0:10:49.750,0:10:56.583 (Music) Singer: Ah, bitter blow! 0:10:56.583,0:11:01.375 Ah, wicked, cruel fate! 0:11:01.375,0:11:08.292 Ah, baleful stars! 0:11:08.292,0:11:15.250 Ah, avaricious heaven! 0:11:15.250,0:11:18.958 MTT: This, of course, was the birth of opera, 0:11:18.958,0:11:21.570 and its development put music on a radical new course. 0:11:21.570,0:11:25.910 The what now was not to mirror the mind of God, 0:11:25.925,0:11:28.875 but to follow the emotion turbulence of man. 0:11:28.875,0:11:32.167 And the how was harmony, 0:11:32.167,0:11:35.458 stacking up the pitches to form chords. 0:11:35.458,0:11:37.208 And the chords, it turned out, 0:11:37.208,0:11:41.292 were capable of representing incredible varieties of emotions. 0:11:41.292,0:11:46.091 And the basic chords were the ones we still have with us, 0:11:46.091,0:11:47.352 the triads, 0:11:47.352,0:11:50.611 either the major one, 0:11:50.611,0:11:55.219 which we think is happy, 0:11:55.219,0:11:58.564 or the minor one, 0:11:58.564,0:12:02.500 which we perceive as sad. 0:12:02.500,0:12:05.769 But what's the actual difference between these two chords? 0:12:05.769,0:12:08.006 It's just these two notes in the middle. 0:12:08.006,0:12:10.971 It's either E natural, 0:12:10.971,0:12:15.671 and 659 vibrations per second, 0:12:15.687,0:12:20.375 or E flat, at 622. 0:12:20.375,0:12:26.000 So the big difference between human happiness and sadness? 0:12:26.000,0:12:28.750 37 freakin' vibrations. 0:12:28.750,0:12:32.667 So you can see in a system like this 0:12:32.667,0:12:34.696 there was enormous subtle potential 0:12:34.696,0:12:36.571 of representing human emotions. 0:12:36.571,0:12:40.304 And in fact, as man began to understand more 0:12:40.304,0:12:42.467 his complex and ambivalent nature, 0:12:42.467,0:12:45.125 harmony grew more complex to reflect it. 0:12:45.125,0:12:49.184 Turns out it was capable of expressing emotions 0:12:49.184,0:12:50.917 beyond the ability of words. 0:12:50.917,0:12:54.250 Now with all this possibility, 0:12:54.250,0:12:58.333 classical music really took off. 0:12:58.333,0:13:01.729 It's the time in which the big forms began to arise. 0:13:01.729,0:13:06.333 And the effects of technology began to be felt also, 0:13:06.333,0:13:10.769 because printing put music, the scores, the codebooks of music, 0:13:10.769,0:13:12.779 into the hands of performers everywhere. 0:13:12.779,0:13:15.000 And new and improved instruments 0:13:15.000,0:13:18.292 made the age of the virtuoso possible. 0:13:18.292,0:13:21.542 This is when those big forms arose -- 0:13:21.542,0:13:24.661 the symphonies, the sonatas, the concertos. 0:13:24.661,0:13:28.667 And in these big architectures of time, 0:13:28.667,0:13:34.375 composers like Beethoven could share the insights of a lifetime. 0:13:34.375,0:13:36.835 A piece like Beethoven's Fifth 0:13:36.835,0:13:41.193 basically witnessing how it was possible 0:13:41.193,0:13:46.710 for him to go from sorrow and anger, 0:13:46.710,0:13:50.417 over the course of a half an hour, 0:13:50.417,0:13:54.208 step by exacting step of his route, 0:13:54.208,0:13:58.548 to the moment when he could make it across to joy. 0:13:58.548,0:14:21.042 (Music) 0:14:21.042,0:14:26.083 And it turned out the symphony could be used for more complex issues, 0:14:26.083,0:14:28.710 like gripping ones of culture, 0:14:28.710,0:14:31.458 such as nationalism or quest for freedom 0:14:31.458,0:14:35.329 or the frontiers of sensuality. 0:14:35.329,0:14:39.100 But whatever direction the music took, 0:14:39.100,0:14:41.638 one thing until recently was always the same, 0:14:41.638,0:14:44.667 and that was when the musicians stopped playing, 0:14:44.667,0:14:47.042 the music stopped. 0:14:47.042,0:14:50.405 Now this moment so fascinates me. 0:14:50.405,0:14:52.316 I find it such a profound one. 0:14:52.316,0:14:53.683 What happens when the music stops? 0:14:53.683,0:14:57.125 Where does it go? What's left? 0:14:57.125,0:15:00.413 What sticks with people in the audience at the end of a performance? 0:15:00.413,0:15:02.185 Is it a melody or a rhythm 0:15:02.185,0:15:04.965 or a mood or an attitude? 0:15:04.965,0:15:07.234 And how might that change their lives? 0:15:07.234,0:15:11.167 To me this is the intimate, personal side of music. 0:15:11.167,0:15:15.708 It's the passing on part. It's the 'why' part of it. 0:15:15.708,0:15:18.966 And to me that's the most essential of all. 0:15:18.966,0:15:22.925 Mostly it's been a person-to-person thing, 0:15:22.925,0:15:25.532 a teacher-student, performer-audience thing, 0:15:25.532,0:15:28.309 and then around 1880 came this new technology 0:15:28.309,0:15:31.000 that first mechanically then through analogs then digitally 0:15:31.000,0:15:35.287 created a new and miraculous way of passing things on, 0:15:35.287,0:15:37.075 albeit an impersonal one. 0:15:37.075,0:15:40.792 People could now hear music all the time, 0:15:40.792,0:15:41.667 even though it wasn't necessary 0:15:41.667,0:15:46.208 for them to play an instrument, read music or even go to concerts. 0:15:46.208,0:15:51.512 And technology democratized music by making everything available. 0:15:51.512,0:15:53.273 It spearheaded a cultural revolution 0:15:53.273,0:15:58.133 in which artists like Caruso and Bessie Smith were on the same footing. 0:15:58.133,0:16:02.054 And technology pushed composers to tremendous extremes, 0:16:02.054,0:16:03.754 using computers and synthesizers 0:16:03.754,0:16:06.673 to create works of intellectually impenetrable complexity 0:16:06.673,0:16:11.208 beyond the means of performers and audiences. 0:16:11.208,0:16:13.708 At the same time technology, 0:16:13.708,0:16:17.000 by taking over the role that notation had always played, 0:16:17.000,0:16:21.542 shifted the balance within music between instinct and intelligence 0:16:21.542,0:16:24.833 way over to the instinctive side. 0:16:24.833,0:16:26.723 The culture in which we live now 0:16:26.723,0:16:29.792 is awash with music of improvisation 0:16:29.792,0:16:31.417 that's been sliced, diced, layered 0:16:31.417,0:16:35.167 and, God knows, distributed and sold. 0:16:35.167,0:16:38.454 What's the long-term effect of this on us or on music? 0:16:38.454,0:16:39.461 Nobody knows. 0:16:39.461,0:16:43.183 The question remains: What happens when the music stops? 0:16:43.183,0:16:45.134 What sticks with people? 0:16:45.165,0:16:49.117 Now that we have unlimited access to music, what does stick with us? 0:16:49.117,0:16:51.537 Well let me show you a story of what I mean 0:16:51.537,0:16:53.329 by "really sticking with us." 0:16:53.329,0:16:56.417 I was visiting a cousin of mine in an old age home, 0:16:56.417,0:16:59.752 and I spied a very shaky old man 0:16:59.752,0:17:02.029 making his way across the room on a walker. 0:17:02.029,0:17:04.545 He came over to a piano that was there, 0:17:04.545,0:17:08.875 and he balanced himself and began playing something like this. 0:17:08.875,0:17:13.410 (Music) 0:17:13.410,0:17:22.273 And he said something like, "Me ... boy ... symphony ... Beethoven." 0:17:22.273,0:17:23.825 And I suddenly got it, 0:17:23.825,0:17:26.745 and I said, "Friend, by any chance are you trying to play this?" 0:17:26.745,0:17:31.696 (Music) 0:17:31.696,0:17:34.125 And he said, "Yes, yes. I was a little boy. 0:17:34.125,0:17:38.721 The symphony: Isaac Stern, the concerto, I heard it." 0:17:38.721,0:17:40.404 And I thought, my God, 0:17:40.404,0:17:43.250 how much must this music mean to this man 0:17:43.250,0:17:47.367 that he would get himself out of his bed, across the room 0:17:47.367,0:17:50.667 to recover the memory of this music 0:17:50.667,0:17:53.575 that, after everything else in his life is sloughing away, 0:17:53.575,0:17:55.833 still means so much to him? 0:17:55.833,0:17:59.756 Well, that's why I take every performance so seriously, 0:17:59.756,0:18:01.506 why it matters to me so much. 0:18:01.506,0:18:04.958 I never know who might be there, who might be absorbing it 0:18:04.958,0:18:06.708 and what will happen to it in their life. 0:18:06.708,0:18:11.795 But now I'm excited that there's more chance than ever before possible 0:18:11.795,0:18:13.125 of sharing this music. 0:18:13.125,0:18:14.871 That's what drives my interest in projects 0:18:14.871,0:18:18.250 like the TV series "Keeping Score" with the San Francisco Symphony 0:18:18.250,0:18:20.817 that looks at the backstories of music, 0:18:20.817,0:18:23.994 and working with the young musicians at the New World Symphony 0:18:23.994,0:18:25.588 on projects that explore the potential 0:18:25.588,0:18:29.094 of the new performing arts centers 0:18:29.094,0:18:31.468 for both entertainment and education. 0:18:31.468,0:18:33.435 And of course, the New World Symphony 0:18:33.435,0:18:37.083 led to the YouTube Symphony and projects on the internet 0:18:37.083,0:18:40.087 that reach out to musicians and audiences all over the world. 0:18:40.087,0:18:44.867 And the exciting thing is all this is just a prototype. 0:18:44.867,0:18:47.105 There's just a role here for so many people -- 0:18:47.121,0:18:49.917 teachers, parents, performers -- 0:18:49.917,0:18:52.777 to be explorers together. 0:18:52.777,0:18:55.562 Sure, the big events attract a lot of attention, 0:18:55.562,0:18:59.042 but what really matters is what goes on every single day. 0:18:59.042,0:19:03.512 We need your perspectives, your curiosity, your voices. 0:19:03.512,0:19:06.602 And it excites me now to meet people 0:19:06.602,0:19:09.700 who are hikers, chefs, code writers, taxi drivers, 0:19:09.700,0:19:12.465 people I never would have guessed who loved the music 0:19:12.465,0:19:13.580 and who are passing it on. 0:19:13.580,0:19:17.321 You don't need to worry about knowing anything. 0:19:17.321,0:19:21.083 If you're curious, if you have a capacity for wonder, if you're alive, 0:19:21.083,0:19:24.143 you know all that you need to know. 0:19:24.143,0:19:26.352 You can start anywhere. Ramble a bit. 0:19:26.352,0:19:30.456 Follow traces. Get lost. Be surprised, amused inspired. 0:19:30.456,0:19:35.075 All that 'what', all that 'how' is out there 0:19:35.075,0:19:37.538 waiting for you to discover its 'why', 0:19:37.569,0:19:40.627 to dive in and pass it on. 0:19:40.627,0:19:43.125 Thank you. 0:19:43.125,0:19:50.237 (Applause)