WEBVTT

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For many of us right now,
our lives are quieter than normal.

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And quiet can be unnerving.

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It can make you feel lonely,

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or just all too aware
of the things you're missing out on.

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I think about sound all the time.

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I'm a sound designer,

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and I host the podcast
"Twenty Thousand Hertz."

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It's all about the world's most
recognizable and interesting sounds.

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But I think this is the perfect time
to talk about silence.

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Because what I've come to understand

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is that there is no such thing as silence.

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And the person who opened
my mind to this idea

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is one of the most influential
composers in history.

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(Piano music)

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John Cage has made an impact
on artists in many genres,

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from avant-garde musicians,
to modern dance, to pop music.

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Right now, we're listening
to his 1948 piece

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called "In a Landscape."

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This version was recorded in 1994
by Stephen Drury.

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(Piano music)

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This piece is actually not very typical
of John Cage's writing.

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He's more known for his innovations
and avant-garde techniques.

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But despite his reputation,

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no one was prepared
for what he did in 1952,

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when he created the most daring
piece of his career.

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It was called "4'33'',"

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and it was a piece that some critics
even refused to call "music,"

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because for the entire
duration of the piece,

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the performer plays

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nothing at all.

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Well, to be technical,
the performer is actually playing rest.

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But to the audience,
it looks like nothing is happening.

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John Cage's "4'33''"
was performed for the first time

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in the summer of 1952,

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by renowned pianist David Tudor.

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It was at the Maverick Concert hall
in Woodstock, New York.

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This is a beautiful wooden building
with huge openings to the outdoors.

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So, David Tudor walked out on stage,

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sat down at the piano,

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then closed the piano lid.

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He then sat in silence,

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only moving to open
and close the piano lid

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between each of the three movements.

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After the time was up,

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he got up

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and walked off the stage.

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(Piano music)

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The audience had no idea what to think.

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It made people wonder if Cage
is even taking his career seriously.

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A close friend even wrote to him,

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begging that he not turn
his career into a joke.

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John Cage had, well, if you could call it,

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composed a piece of music

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that really challenged
some very established ideas

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about music composition.

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It's something that musicians
still debate today.

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To understand just what
John Cage was thinking,

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let's back up to the 1940s.

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Back then,

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John Cage was making a name for himself
composing for the prepared piano.

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(Piano music)

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To make music like this,

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John Cage would put objects
inside the piano,

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between the strings.

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Things you just find lying around,

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like screws, tape and rubber erasers.

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So now, you've transformed the piano

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from a tonal instrument
with high and low pitches

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into a collection of unique sounds.

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The music you're hearing 
is Cage's "Sonata V,"

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from "Sonatas and Interludes
for Prepared Piano."

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Probably his most famous work
outside of "4'33''."

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This version was performed
by Boris Berman.

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John Cage wrote incredibly
detailed instructions

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about where to place
each object in the piano.

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But it's impossible for every performer
to get the exact same objects,

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so the sound you get is always different.

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Basically, it comes down to random chance.

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This was pretty bananas and pretty alien

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to the way most composers and musicians
are taught to do things.

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John Cage was becoming
increasingly interested

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in chance and randomness

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and letting the universe
provide the answer to the question

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"What note should I play next?"

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But to hear the answer to the question,

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first, you have to listen.

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And in the 1940s,

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listening to the universe
was getting harder to do.

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(Elevator music)

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The Muzak company was founded in the '30s.

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It really took off,

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and soon, there was constant
background music nearly everywhere.

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It was almost impossible to escape.

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John Cage realized
that people were losing the option

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to shut out the background
music of the world.

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He worried that Muzak would prevent people
from hearing silence altogether.

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In 1948,

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four years before he wrote "4'33'',"

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John Cage mentioned
that he wanted to write

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a four-and-a-half-minute-long
piece of silence

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and sell it to the Muzak company.

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It started as something
of a political statement

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or an offhand comment,

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but this idea struck a nerve
and quickly evolved.

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John Cage was starting to think
deeply about silence.

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And when he visited a truly quiet place,

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he made a startling discovery.

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John Cage visited an anechoic chamber
at Harvard University.

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Anechoic chambers are rooms
that are acoustically treated

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to minimize sound to almost zero.

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There are no sounds in these rooms,

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so John Cage didn't expect
to hear anything at all.

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But he actually heard
his own blood circulating.

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(Pulse)

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I've personally experienced
an anechoic chamber,

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and it's a really wild experience

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that can completely change
your perceptions

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about sound and silence.

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It really felt like my brain
just turning up an amplifier,

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grasping for anything to hear.

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Just like John Cage,

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I could very clearly hear my blood
pushing through my body.

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John Cage realized, in that moment,

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that no matter where we are,
even our bodies are making sound.

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There's basically no such thing
as true silence.

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As long as you are in your body,

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you're always hearing something.

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This is where John Cage's interest
in chance and randomness

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met his interest in silence.

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He realized that creating an environment
with no distractions

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wasn't about creating silence.

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It wasn't even about controlling noise.

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It was about the sounds
that were already there,

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but you suddenly hear for the first time

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when you're really ready to listen.

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That's what's so often
misunderstood about "4'33''."

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People assume it's a joke,

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but that couldn't be further
from the truth.

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It sounds different
everywhere you play it.

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And that's the point.

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What John Cage really wanted us to hear

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is the beauty of the sonic
world around us.

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(Birds chirping)

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(Overlapping voices)

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(Church bell ringing)

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(Crickets chirping and owl hooting)

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"4'33''" should be a mindful experience

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that helps you focus on accepting things
just the way they are.

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It's not something that anyone else
can tell you how you're supposed to feel.

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It's deeply personal.

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It also brings up
some pretty big questions

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about our sonic world.

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Is "4'33''" music, is it sound,

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is sound music?

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Is there even a difference?

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John Cage reminds us

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that music isn't the only kind of sound
worth listening to.

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All sounds are worth thinking about.

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We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

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to reset our ears.

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And if we become more conscious
of what we hear,

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we'll inherently make
our world sound better.

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Quietness is not when we turn off
our minds to sound,

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but when we can really start to listen

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and hear the world
in all of its sonic beauty.

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So in this spirit,

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let's perform "4'33''" together,

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wherever you are.

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It's three movements,

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and I'll let you know when they start.

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Listen to the texture and rhythm
of the sounds around you right now.

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Listen for the loud and soft,

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the harmonic, the dissonant,

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and all the small details
that make every sound unique.

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Spend this time as mindful and focused
in this real-life sonic moment.

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Enjoy the magnificence
of hearing and listening.

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So here comes the first movement.

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Starting ...

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now.

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[I. Tacet]

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(No audio)

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And here's movement two.

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It will be two minutes and 23 seconds.

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[II. Tacet]

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(No audio)

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And here is the final movement.

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It will be one minute and 40 seconds.

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[III. Tacet]

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(No audio)

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And that's it.

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We did it.

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Thanks for listening.