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  • (Music)

  • (Music ends)

  • (Applause)

  • (Applause ends)

  • Hi, everyone. I'm Sirena.

  • I'm 11 years old and from Connecticut.

  • (Audience cheers)

  • (Applause)

  • Well, I'm not really sure why I'm here.

  • (Laughter)

  • I mean, what does this have to do with technology, entertainment and design?

  • Well, I count my iPod, cellphone and computer as technology,

  • but this has nothing to do with that.

  • So I did a little research on it.

  • Well, this is what I found.

  • Of course, I hope I can memorize it.

  • (Clears throat)

  • The violin is made of a wood box and four metal strings.

  • By pulling a string, it vibrates and produces a sound wave,

  • which passes through a piece of wood called a bridge,

  • and goes down to the wood box and gets amplified, but ... let me think.

  • (Laughter)

  • Placing your finger at different places on the fingerboard

  • changes the string length, and that changes the frequency of the sound wave.

  • (Sighs) Oh, my gosh!

  • (Laughter)

  • OK, this is sort of technology,

  • but I can call it a 16th-century technology.

  • But actually, the most fascinating thing that I found

  • was that even the audio system or wave transmission nowadays

  • are still based on the same principle of producing and projecting sound.

  • Isn't that cool?

  • (Laughter)

  • (Applause)

  • Design -- I love its design.

  • I remember when I was little, my mom asked me,

  • "Would you like to play the violin or the piano?"

  • I looked at that giant monster and said to myself --

  • "I am not going to lock myself on that bench the whole day!"

  • (Laughter)

  • This is small and lightweight.

  • I can play from standing, sitting or walking.

  • And, you know what?

  • The best of all is that if I don't want to practice,

  • (Whispering) I can hide it.

  • (Laughter)

  • The violin is very beautiful.

  • Some people relate it as the shape of a lady.

  • But whether you like it or not, it's been so for more than 400 years,

  • unlike modern stuff [that] easily looks dated.

  • But I think it's very personal and unique that,

  • although each violin looks pretty similar,

  • no two violins sound the same --

  • even from the same maker or based on the same model.

  • Entertainment -- I love the entertainment.

  • But actually, the instrument itself isn't very entertaining.

  • I mean, when I first got my violin and tried to play around on it,

  • it was actually really bad,

  • because it didn't sound the way I'd heard from other kids --

  • it was so horrible and so scratchy.

  • So, it wasn't entertaining at all.

  • But besides, my brother found this very funny:

  • Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!

  • (Laughter)

  • A few years later, I heard a joke

  • about the greatest violinist, Jascha Heifetz.

  • After Mr. Heifetz's concert,

  • a lady came over and complimented him:

  • "Oh, Mr. Heifetz, your violin sounded so great tonight!"

  • And Mr. Heifetz was a very cool person,

  • so he picked up his violin and said,

  • "Funny -- I don't hear anything."

  • (Laughter)

  • Now I realize that as the musician,

  • we human beings, with our great mind, artistic heart and skill,

  • can change this 16th-century technology and a legendary design

  • to a wonderful entertainment.

  • Now I know why I'm here.

  • (Music)

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  • (Applause)

  • At first, I thought I was just going to be here to perform,

  • but unexpectedly, I learned and enjoyed much more.

  • But ... although some of the talks were quite up there for me.

  • (Laughter)

  • Like the multi-dimension stuff.

  • I mean, honestly, I'd be happy enough

  • if I could actually get my two dimensions correct in school.

  • (Laughter)

  • But actually, the most impressive thing to me is that --

  • well, actually, I would also like to say this for all children

  • is to say thank you to all adults, for actually caring for us a lot,

  • and to make our future world much better.

  • Thank you.

  • (Applause)

  • (Music)

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(Music)

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