But has it ever occurred to you that the reason you feel sleepy in classical music is not because of you, but because of us? Did anybody think while I was playing, "Why is he using so many impulses?" If I'd done this with my head you certainly would have thought it. (Music) And for the rest of your life, every time you hear classical music you'll always be able to know if you hear those impulses.
So let's see what's really going on here. We have a B. This is a B. The next note is a C. And the job of the C is to make the B sad. And it does, doesn't it? (Laughter) Composers know that. If they want sad music they just play those two notes. (Music) But basically it's just a B, with four sads. (Laughter) Now, it goes down to A. Now to G, and then to F. So we have B, A, G, F. And if we have B, A, G, F, what do we expect next? Oh, that might have been a fluke. Let's try it again. Ooh, the TED choir. (Laughter) And you notice nobody is tone deaf, right? Nobody is. You know, every village in Bangladesh and every hamlet in China. Everybody knows: da, da, da, da -- da. Everybody knows who's expecting that E.
Now, Chopin didn't want to reach the E there, because what will have happened? It will be over, like Hamlet. Do you remember Hamlet? Act 1, Scene 3: he finds out that his uncle killed his father. You remember he keeps on going up to his uncle and almost killing him. And then he backs away and he goes up to him again and almost kills him. And the critics, all of whom are sitting in the back row there, they have to have an opinion, so they say, "Hamlet is a procrastinator." (Laughter) Or they say, "Hamlet has an Oedipus complex." No, otherwise the play would be over, stupid. That's why Shakespeare puts all that stuff in Hamlet. You know, Ophelia going mad and the play within the play, and Yorick's skull, and the grave diggers. That's in order to delay -- until Act 5 he can kill him.
It's the same with the Chopin. He's just about to reach the E, and he says, "Oops, better go back up and do it again." So he does it again. Now he gets excited -- that's excitement, you don't have to worry about it. Now he gets to F sharp and finally he goes down to E, but it's the wrong chord. Because the chord he's looking for is this one, and instead he does ... now, we call that a deceptive cadence because it deceives us. I always tell my students, "If you have a deceptive cadence be sure to raise your eyebrows then everybody will know." (Laughter) (Applause) Right. So he gets to E, but it's the wrong chord. Now, he tries E again. That chord doesn't work. Now, he tries the E again. That chord doesn't work. Now, he tries E again, and that doesn't work. And then finally .... There was a gentleman in the front row who went, "Mmm." It's the same gesture he makes when he comes home after a long day, turns off the key in his car and says, "Aah, I'm home." Because we all know where home is.
So this is a piece which goes from away to home. And I'm going to play it all the way through and you're going to follow. B, C, B, C, B, C, B -- down to A, down to G, down to F. Almost goes to E, but otherwise the play would be over. He goes back up to B. He gets very excited. Goes to F sharp. Goes to E. It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. And finally goes to E, and it's home. And what you're going to see is-one buttock playing. (Laughter) Because for me, to join the B to the E, I have to stop thinking about every single note along the way and start thinking about the long, long line from B to E.
You know, we were just in South Africa, and you can't go to South Africa without thinking of Mandela in jail for 27 years. What was he thinking about? Lunch? No, he was thinking about the vision for South Africa and for human beings. That's what kept -- this is about vision; this is about the long line. Like the bird who flies over the field and doesn't care about the fences underneath, all right? So now you're going to follow the line all the way from B to E. And I've one last request before I play this piece all the way through. Would you think of somebody who you adore, who's no longer there? A beloved grandmother, a lover, somebody in your life who you love with all your heart, but that person is no longer with you. Bring that person into your mind, and at the same time follow the line all the way from B to E, and you'll hear everything that Chopin had to say. (Music) (Applause)
Now, you may be wondering, you may be wondering why I'm clapping. Well, I did this at a school in Boston with about 70 seventh-graders -- 12-year-olds. And I did exactly what I did with you, and I told them and explained them and the whole thing. And at the end they went crazy, clapping. They were clapping. I was clapping. They were clapping. Finally, I said, "Why am I clapping?" And one of the little kids said, "Because we were listening." (Laughter) Think of it. 1,600 people, busy people, involved in all sorts of different things. Listening, understanding and being moved by a piece by Chopin. Now that is something. Now, am I sure that every single person followed that, understood it, was moved by it. Of course I can't be sure. But I tell you what happened to me.
I was in Ireland during the Troubles 10 years ago, and I was working with some Catholic and Protestant kids on conflict resolution. And I did this with them. A risky thing to do because they were street kids. And one of them came to me the next morning and he said, "You know, I've never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece...." (Laughter) He said, "My brother was shot last year and I didn't cry for him. But last night when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And you know, it felt really good to cry for my brother." So I made up my mind at that moment that classical music is for everybody. Everybody.
Now, how would you walk -- because you know, my profession, the music profession doesn't see it that way. They say 3 percent of the population likes classical music. If only we could move it to 4 percent our problems would be over. I say, "How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be if you thought 3 percent of the population likes classical music? If only we could move it to 4 percent. How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be if you thought everybody loves classical music -- they just haven't found out about it yet." (Laughter) See, these are totally different worlds.
Now, I had an amazing experience. I was 45 years old, I'd been conducting for 20 years, and I suddenly had a realization. The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. My picture appears on the front of the CD -- (Laughter) -- but the conductor doesn't make a sound. He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful. And that changed everything for me. It was totally life-changing. People in my orchestra came up to me and said, "Ben, what happened?" That's what happened. I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people. And of course, I wanted to know whether I was doing that. And you know how you find out? You look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. You could light up a village with this guy's eyes. (Laughter) Right. So if the eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question. And this is the question: Who am I being that my players' eyes are not shining? We can do that with our children too. Who am I being that my children's eyes are not shining? That's a totally different world.
Now, we're all about to end this magical, on-the-mountain week, and we're going back into the world. And I say, it's appropriate for us to ask the question: Who are we being as we go back out into the world? And you know, I have a definition of success. For me it's very simple. It's not about wealth and fame and power. It's about how many shining eyes I have around me.
So now I have one last thought, which is that it really makes a difference what we say. The words that come out of our mouth. I learned this from a woman who survived Auschwitz, one of the rare survivors. She went to Auschwitz when she was 15 years old, and her brother was eight, and the parents were lost. And she told me this, she said, "We were in the train going to Auschwitz and I looked down and saw my brother's shoes were missing. And I said, "Why are you so stupid, can't you keep your things together for goodness' sake?" -- the way an elder sister might speak to a younger brother. Unfortunately, it was the last thing she ever said to him because she never saw him again. He did not survive. And so when she came out of Auschwitz, she made a vow. She told me this. She said, "I walked out of Auschwitz into life and I made a vow. And the vow was, I will never say anything that couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say." Now, can we do that? No. And we'll make ourselves wrong and others wrong. But it is a possibility to live into. Thank you. (Applause) Shining eyes, shining eyes. Thank you, thank you. (Musi
So let's see what's really going on here. We have a B. This is a B. The next note is a C. And the job of the C is to make the B sad. And it does, doesn't it? (Laughter) Composers know that. If they want sad music they just play those two notes. (Music) But basically it's just a B, with four sads. (Laughter) Now, it goes down to A. Now to G, and then to F. So we have B, A, G, F. And if we have B, A, G, F, what do we expect next? Oh, that might have been a fluke. Let's try it again. Ooh, the TED choir. (Laughter) And you notice nobody is tone deaf, right? Nobody is. You know, every village in Bangladesh and every hamlet in China. Everybody knows: da, da, da, da -- da. Everybody knows who's expecting that E.
Now, Chopin didn't want to reach the E there, because what will have happened? It will be over, like Hamlet. Do you remember Hamlet? Act 1, Scene 3: he finds out that his uncle killed his father. You remember he keeps on going up to his uncle and almost killing him. And then he backs away and he goes up to him again and almost kills him. And the critics, all of whom are sitting in the back row there, they have to have an opinion, so they say, "Hamlet is a procrastinator." (Laughter) Or they say, "Hamlet has an Oedipus complex." No, otherwise the play would be over, stupid. That's why Shakespeare puts all that stuff in Hamlet. You know, Ophelia going mad and the play within the play, and Yorick's skull, and the grave diggers. That's in order to delay -- until Act 5 he can kill him.
It's the same with the Chopin. He's just about to reach the E, and he says, "Oops, better go back up and do it again." So he does it again. Now he gets excited -- that's excitement, you don't have to worry about it. Now he gets to F sharp and finally he goes down to E, but it's the wrong chord. Because the chord he's looking for is this one, and instead he does ... now, we call that a deceptive cadence because it deceives us. I always tell my students, "If you have a deceptive cadence be sure to raise your eyebrows then everybody will know." (Laughter) (Applause) Right. So he gets to E, but it's the wrong chord. Now, he tries E again. That chord doesn't work. Now, he tries the E again. That chord doesn't work. Now, he tries E again, and that doesn't work. And then finally .... There was a gentleman in the front row who went, "Mmm." It's the same gesture he makes when he comes home after a long day, turns off the key in his car and says, "Aah, I'm home." Because we all know where home is.
So this is a piece which goes from away to home. And I'm going to play it all the way through and you're going to follow. B, C, B, C, B, C, B -- down to A, down to G, down to F. Almost goes to E, but otherwise the play would be over. He goes back up to B. He gets very excited. Goes to F sharp. Goes to E. It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. And finally goes to E, and it's home. And what you're going to see is-one buttock playing. (Laughter) Because for me, to join the B to the E, I have to stop thinking about every single note along the way and start thinking about the long, long line from B to E.
You know, we were just in South Africa, and you can't go to South Africa without thinking of Mandela in jail for 27 years. What was he thinking about? Lunch? No, he was thinking about the vision for South Africa and for human beings. That's what kept -- this is about vision; this is about the long line. Like the bird who flies over the field and doesn't care about the fences underneath, all right? So now you're going to follow the line all the way from B to E. And I've one last request before I play this piece all the way through. Would you think of somebody who you adore, who's no longer there? A beloved grandmother, a lover, somebody in your life who you love with all your heart, but that person is no longer with you. Bring that person into your mind, and at the same time follow the line all the way from B to E, and you'll hear everything that Chopin had to say. (Music) (Applause)
Now, you may be wondering, you may be wondering why I'm clapping. Well, I did this at a school in Boston with about 70 seventh-graders -- 12-year-olds. And I did exactly what I did with you, and I told them and explained them and the whole thing. And at the end they went crazy, clapping. They were clapping. I was clapping. They were clapping. Finally, I said, "Why am I clapping?" And one of the little kids said, "Because we were listening." (Laughter) Think of it. 1,600 people, busy people, involved in all sorts of different things. Listening, understanding and being moved by a piece by Chopin. Now that is something. Now, am I sure that every single person followed that, understood it, was moved by it. Of course I can't be sure. But I tell you what happened to me.
I was in Ireland during the Troubles 10 years ago, and I was working with some Catholic and Protestant kids on conflict resolution. And I did this with them. A risky thing to do because they were street kids. And one of them came to me the next morning and he said, "You know, I've never listened to classical music in my life, but when you played that shopping piece...." (Laughter) He said, "My brother was shot last year and I didn't cry for him. But last night when you played that piece, he was the one I was thinking about. And I felt the tears streaming down my face. And you know, it felt really good to cry for my brother." So I made up my mind at that moment that classical music is for everybody. Everybody.
Now, how would you walk -- because you know, my profession, the music profession doesn't see it that way. They say 3 percent of the population likes classical music. If only we could move it to 4 percent our problems would be over. I say, "How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be if you thought 3 percent of the population likes classical music? If only we could move it to 4 percent. How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be if you thought everybody loves classical music -- they just haven't found out about it yet." (Laughter) See, these are totally different worlds.
Now, I had an amazing experience. I was 45 years old, I'd been conducting for 20 years, and I suddenly had a realization. The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. My picture appears on the front of the CD -- (Laughter) -- but the conductor doesn't make a sound. He depends for his power on his ability to make other people powerful. And that changed everything for me. It was totally life-changing. People in my orchestra came up to me and said, "Ben, what happened?" That's what happened. I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people. And of course, I wanted to know whether I was doing that. And you know how you find out? You look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. You could light up a village with this guy's eyes. (Laughter) Right. So if the eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question. And this is the question: Who am I being that my players' eyes are not shining? We can do that with our children too. Who am I being that my children's eyes are not shining? That's a totally different world.
Now, we're all about to end this magical, on-the-mountain week, and we're going back into the world. And I say, it's appropriate for us to ask the question: Who are we being as we go back out into the world? And you know, I have a definition of success. For me it's very simple. It's not about wealth and fame and power. It's about how many shining eyes I have around me.
So now I have one last thought, which is that it really makes a difference what we say. The words that come out of our mouth. I learned this from a woman who survived Auschwitz, one of the rare survivors. She went to Auschwitz when she was 15 years old, and her brother was eight, and the parents were lost. And she told me this, she said, "We were in the train going to Auschwitz and I looked down and saw my brother's shoes were missing. And I said, "Why are you so stupid, can't you keep your things together for goodness' sake?" -- the way an elder sister might speak to a younger brother. Unfortunately, it was the last thing she ever said to him because she never saw him again. He did not survive. And so when she came out of Auschwitz, she made a vow. She told me this. She said, "I walked out of Auschwitz into life and I made a vow. And the vow was, I will never say anything that couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say." Now, can we do that? No. And we'll make ourselves wrong and others wrong. But it is a possibility to live into. Thank you. (Applause) Shining eyes, shining eyes. Thank you, thank you. (Musi