Subtitles section Play video
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(Music)
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(Music ends)
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(Applause)
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Thank you!
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(Applause continues)
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Thank you very much.
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Like the speaker before me -- I am a TED virgin, I guess.
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I'm also the first time here, and ...
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(Laughter)
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I don't know what to say!
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(Applause)
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I'm really happy that Mr. Anderson invited me.
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I'm really grateful that I get a chance to play for everyone.
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And the song that I just played was by Josef Hofmann.
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It's called "Kaleidoscope."
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And Hofmann is a Polish pianist and composer of the late 19th century,
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and he's widely considered one of the greatest pianists of all time.
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I have another piece that I'd like to play for you.
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It's called "Abegg Variations," by Robert Schumann,
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a German 19th-century composer.
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The name "Abegg" is actually A-B-E-G-G,
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and that's the main theme in the melody.
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(Plays the notes A, B, E, G and G)
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That comes from the last name of one of Schumann's female friends.
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(Laughter)
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But he wrote that for his wife.
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(Laughter)
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So actually, if you listen carefully,
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there are supposed to be five variations on this Abegg theme.
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It's written around 1834,
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so even though it's old, I hope you'll like it.
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(Music)
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(Music ends)
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(Applause)
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Now comes the part that I hate.
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Well, because Mr. Anderson told me
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that this session is called "Sync and Flow,"
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I was wondering, "What do I know that these geniuses don't?"
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(Laughter)
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So, I'll talk about musical composition,
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even though I don't know where to start.
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How do I compose?
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I think Yamaha does a really good job of teaching us how to compose.
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What I do first is, I make a lot of little musical ideas
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you can just improvise here at the piano --
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and I choose one of those to become my main theme, my main melody,
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like the Abegg that you just heard.
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And once I choose my main theme, I have to decide:
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Out of all the styles in music, what kind of style do I want?
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And this year, I composed a Romantic style.
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So for inspiration, I listened to Liszt and Tchaikovsky
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and all the great Romantic composers.
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Next, I make the structure of the entire piece with my teachers.
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They help me plan out the whole piece.
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And then the hard part is filling it in with musical ideas,
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because then you have to think.
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(Laughter)
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And then, when the piece takes somewhat of a solified form --
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solidified, excuse me -- solidified form,
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you're supposed to actually polish the piece, polish the details,
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and then polish the overall performance of the composition.
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And another thing that I enjoy doing is drawing.
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Drawing, because I like to draw, you know, Japanese anime art.
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I think that's a craze among teens right now.
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And once I realized it,
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there's a parallel between creating music and creating art,
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because for your motive, or your little initial idea for your drawing,
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it's your character -- you want to decide who you want to draw,
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or if you want to draw an original character.
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And then you want to decide: How are you going to draw the character?
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Like, am I going to use one page? Am I going to draw it on the computer?
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Am I going to use a two-page spread like a comic book?
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For a more grandiose effect, I guess.
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And then you have to do the initial sketch of the character,
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which is like your structure of a piece,
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and then you add pen and pencil, and whatever details that you need --
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that's polishing the drawing.
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And another thing that both of these have in common is your state of mind,
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because I know I'm one of those teenagers that are really easily distracted.
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So if I'm trying to do homework and I don't feel like it,
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I'll try to draw or, you know, waste my time.
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And then what happens is, sometimes I absolutely can't draw
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or I can't compose at all,
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and then it's like there's too much on your mind.
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You can't focus on what you're supposed to do.
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And sometimes, if you manage to use your time wisely and work on it,
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you'll get something out of it, but it doesn't come naturally.
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What happens is, if something magical happens,
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if something natural happens to you,
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you're able to produce all this beautiful stuff instantly,
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and then that's what I consider "flow,"
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because that's when everything clicks and you're able to do anything.
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You feel like you're on top of your game and you can do anything you want.
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I'm not going to play my own composition today because,
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although I did finish it, it's way too long.
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Instead, I'd like to try something called "improvisation."
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I have here seven note cards,
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one with each note of the musical alphabet.
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And I'd like someone to come up here and choose five --
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anyone to come up here and choose five --
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and then I can make it into some sort of melody,
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and I'll improvise it.
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Wow. A volunteer, yay!
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(Laughter)
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(Applause)
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Jennifer Lin: Nice to meet you.
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Goldie Hawn: Thank you. Choose five?
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JL: Yes, five cards. Any five cards.
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GH: OK, one. JL: OK.
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GH: Two. JL: Yes.
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GH: Three.
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GH: Oh, D and F -- too familiar.
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(Laughter)
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JL: One more. GH: OK. "E" for "effort."
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JL: Would you mind reading them out in the order that you chose them?
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GH: OK -- C, G, B, A and E.
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JL: Thank you very much!
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GH: You're welcome. And what about these?
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JL: I won't use them. Thank you!
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(Applause)
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Now, she chose C, G, B, A, E.
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I'm going to try to put that in some sort of order.
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(Plays notes)
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OK, that's nice.
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So, I'm going to have a moment to think,
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and I'll try to make something out of it.
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(Plays the five notes)
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(Music)
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(Music ends)
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(Applause)
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The next song, or the encore that I'm going to play
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is called "Bumble Boogie," by Jack Fina.
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(Applause)
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(Music)
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(Music ends)
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(Applause)