Now, what happened was not maybe what you thought, which is, he suddenly became passionate, engaged, involved, got a new teacher, he hit puberty, or whatever it is. What actually happened was the impulses were reduced. You see, the first time he was playing with an impulse on every note. (Piano) And the second with an impulse every other note. (Piano) You can see it by looking at my head. (Laughter) The nine-year-old, the nine-year-old put an impulse on every four notes. (Piano) And the ten-year-old on every eight notes. (Piano) And the 11-year-old, one impulse on the whole phrase. (Piano)
I know -- I don't know how we got into this position. (Laughter) I didn't say I'm going to move my shoulder over, move my body. No, the music pushed me over, which is why I call it one-buttock playing. (Piano) It can be the other buttock. (Piano) You know, a gentleman was once watching a presentation I was doing when I was working with a young pianist. He was the president of a corporation in Ohio. And I was working with this young pianist and I said, "The trouble with you is you're a two-buttock player. You should be a one-buttock player." And I moved his body like that while he was playing. And suddenly the music took off. It took flight. There was a gasp in the audience when they heard the difference. And then I got a letter from this gentleman. He said, "I was so moved. I went back and I transformed my entire company into a one-buttock company." (Laughter)
Now the other thing I wanted to do is to tell you about you. There are 1,600 people, I believe. My estimation is that probably 45 of you are absolutely passionate about classical music. You adore classical music. Your FM is always on that classical dial. And you have CDs in your car, and you go to the symphony. And your children are playing instruments. You can't imagine your life without classical music. That's the first group; it's quite a small group. Then there's another group, bigger group. These are the people who don't mind classical music. (Laughter) You know, you've come home from a long day and you take a glass of wine and you put your feet up. A little Vivaldi in the background doesn't do any harm. (Laughter) That's the second group. Now comes the third group. These are the people who never listen to classical music. It's just simply not part of your life. You might hear it like second-hand smoke at the airport, but -- (Laughter) -- and maybe a little bit of a march from Aida when you come into the hall. But otherwise you never hear it. That's probably the largest group of all.
And then there's a very small group. These are the people who think they're tone deaf. Amazing number of people think they're tone deaf. Actually, I hear a lot, "My husband is tone deaf." (Laughter) Actually, you cannot be tone deaf. Nobody is tone deaf. If you were tone deaf, you couldn't change the gears on your car, in a stick-shift car. You couldn't tell the difference between somebody from Texas and somebody from Rome. And the telephone. The telephone. If your mother calls on the miserable telephone, she calls and says "Hello," you not only know who it is, you know what mood she's in. You have a fantastic ear. Everybody has a fantastic ear. So nobody is tone deaf.
But I tell you what. It doesn't work for me to go on with this thing with such a wide gulf between those who understand, love and passionate about classical music, and those who have no relationship to it at all. The tone deaf people, they're no longer here. But even between those three categories, it's too wide a gulf. So I'm not going to go on until every single person in this room, downstairs and in Aspen, and everybody else looking, will come to love and understand classical music. So that's what we're going to do.
Now, you notice that there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this is going to work if you look at my face, right? It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming. Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, "I have a dream. Of course, I'm not sure they'll be up to it." (Laughter)
All right. So I'm going to take a piece of Chopin. This is a beautiful prelude by Chopin. Some of you will know it. (Music) Do you know what I think probably happened in this room? When I started, you thought, "How beautiful that sounds." (Music) "I don't think we should go to the same place for our summer holidays next year." (Laughter) It's funny, isn't it? It's funny how those thoughts kind of waft into your head. And of course -- (Applause) -- and of course, if the piece is long and you've had a long day, you might actually drift off. Then your companion will dig you in the ribs and say, "Wake up! It's culture!" And then you feel even worse.
I know -- I don't know how we got into this position. (Laughter) I didn't say I'm going to move my shoulder over, move my body. No, the music pushed me over, which is why I call it one-buttock playing. (Piano) It can be the other buttock. (Piano) You know, a gentleman was once watching a presentation I was doing when I was working with a young pianist. He was the president of a corporation in Ohio. And I was working with this young pianist and I said, "The trouble with you is you're a two-buttock player. You should be a one-buttock player." And I moved his body like that while he was playing. And suddenly the music took off. It took flight. There was a gasp in the audience when they heard the difference. And then I got a letter from this gentleman. He said, "I was so moved. I went back and I transformed my entire company into a one-buttock company." (Laughter)
Now the other thing I wanted to do is to tell you about you. There are 1,600 people, I believe. My estimation is that probably 45 of you are absolutely passionate about classical music. You adore classical music. Your FM is always on that classical dial. And you have CDs in your car, and you go to the symphony. And your children are playing instruments. You can't imagine your life without classical music. That's the first group; it's quite a small group. Then there's another group, bigger group. These are the people who don't mind classical music. (Laughter) You know, you've come home from a long day and you take a glass of wine and you put your feet up. A little Vivaldi in the background doesn't do any harm. (Laughter) That's the second group. Now comes the third group. These are the people who never listen to classical music. It's just simply not part of your life. You might hear it like second-hand smoke at the airport, but -- (Laughter) -- and maybe a little bit of a march from Aida when you come into the hall. But otherwise you never hear it. That's probably the largest group of all.
And then there's a very small group. These are the people who think they're tone deaf. Amazing number of people think they're tone deaf. Actually, I hear a lot, "My husband is tone deaf." (Laughter) Actually, you cannot be tone deaf. Nobody is tone deaf. If you were tone deaf, you couldn't change the gears on your car, in a stick-shift car. You couldn't tell the difference between somebody from Texas and somebody from Rome. And the telephone. The telephone. If your mother calls on the miserable telephone, she calls and says "Hello," you not only know who it is, you know what mood she's in. You have a fantastic ear. Everybody has a fantastic ear. So nobody is tone deaf.
But I tell you what. It doesn't work for me to go on with this thing with such a wide gulf between those who understand, love and passionate about classical music, and those who have no relationship to it at all. The tone deaf people, they're no longer here. But even between those three categories, it's too wide a gulf. So I'm not going to go on until every single person in this room, downstairs and in Aspen, and everybody else looking, will come to love and understand classical music. So that's what we're going to do.
Now, you notice that there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that this is going to work if you look at my face, right? It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading to realize whatever he's dreaming. Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, "I have a dream. Of course, I'm not sure they'll be up to it." (Laughter)
All right. So I'm going to take a piece of Chopin. This is a beautiful prelude by Chopin. Some of you will know it. (Music) Do you know what I think probably happened in this room? When I started, you thought, "How beautiful that sounds." (Music) "I don't think we should go to the same place for our summer holidays next year." (Laughter) It's funny, isn't it? It's funny how those thoughts kind of waft into your head. And of course -- (Applause) -- and of course, if the piece is long and you've had a long day, you might actually drift off. Then your companion will dig you in the ribs and say, "Wake up! It's culture!" And then you feel even worse.