1
00:00:14,584 --> 00:00:16,085
Thank you very much.

2
00:00:16,109 --> 00:00:19,498
It's true I was born into a band;

3
00:00:19,499 --> 00:00:22,038
very literally, I mean that literally.

4
00:00:22,039 --> 00:00:25,788
When I was born, my four older brothers
who were already playing music,

5
00:00:25,789 --> 00:00:28,589
knew that they needed a bass player

6
00:00:28,590 --> 00:00:30,059
(Laughter)

7
00:00:30,060 --> 00:00:32,738
to round out the family band.

8
00:00:32,740 --> 00:00:35,157
I was born into that role.

9
00:00:35,158 --> 00:00:40,199
As I'm older I'm looking back right now,
now that I'm called a teacher.

10
00:00:41,099 --> 00:00:43,848
When I look back on that,
and how I was taught,

11
00:00:43,849 --> 00:00:46,375
I realized that I wasn't really taught.

12
00:00:46,376 --> 00:00:49,079
Which is why I say
that music is a language;

13
00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:51,489
because if you think
about your first language,

14
00:00:51,490 --> 00:00:54,098
for me, and probably
most of us here might be English,

15
00:00:54,099 --> 00:00:56,018
so I'm just going to go with English.

16
00:00:56,019 --> 00:00:59,488
If you think about how you learned it,
you realize you weren't taught it.

17
00:00:59,489 --> 00:01:01,414
People just spoke to you.

18
00:01:01,415 --> 00:01:04,708
But the coolest thing
is where it gets interesting

19
00:01:04,709 --> 00:01:07,828
because you were allowed to speak back.

20
00:01:07,829 --> 00:01:09,989
If I take the music example,

21
00:01:09,990 --> 00:01:14,998
in most cases, our beginners are not
allowed to play with the better people.

22
00:01:14,999 --> 00:01:16,868
You're stuck in the beginning class.

23
00:01:16,869 --> 00:01:18,788
You have to remain there a few years,

24
00:01:18,789 --> 00:01:22,028
until you are elevated
to the intermediate, and then advanced;

25
00:01:22,029 --> 00:01:24,139
and after you graduate the advanced class,

26
00:01:24,140 --> 00:01:26,989
you still have to go out
and pay a lot of dues.

27
00:01:26,990 --> 00:01:28,568
But with language,

28
00:01:28,569 --> 00:01:33,260
to use a musical term, even as a baby
you're "jamming" with professionals.

29
00:01:34,530 --> 00:01:36,448
All the time.

30
00:01:36,449 --> 00:01:39,937
To the point that you don't even know
you're a beginner.

31
00:01:39,938 --> 00:01:43,369
No one says, "I can't talk to you until--
You got to go over there.

32
00:01:43,370 --> 00:01:45,468
When you're older,
then I can speak to you."

33
00:01:45,469 --> 00:01:47,268
(Laughter)

34
00:01:47,269 --> 00:01:48,978
That doesn't happen.

35
00:01:48,979 --> 00:01:51,519
No one tells you what you have to say.

36
00:01:52,709 --> 00:01:56,039
You're not made
to sit in a corner and practice.

37
00:01:57,689 --> 00:02:01,570
You're never even corrected
when you're wrong.

38
00:02:02,670 --> 00:02:06,660
Think about it: when you're 2-3 years old,
and you say a word wrong over and over,

39
00:02:06,669 --> 00:02:08,268
no one corrects you.

40
00:02:08,269 --> 00:02:10,388
If you say it wrong enough times,

41
00:02:10,389 --> 00:02:13,688
instead of correcting you,
your parents learn your way.

42
00:02:13,689 --> 00:02:14,523
(Laughter)

43
00:02:14,524 --> 00:02:17,488
And they start saying it wrong too!

44
00:02:17,489 --> 00:02:21,292
The coolest part of that
is that you remain free,

45
00:02:21,293 --> 00:02:23,181
with how you talk.

46
00:02:24,241 --> 00:02:27,529
And so you never have to follow
the musical role of learning

47
00:02:27,530 --> 00:02:30,559
all these years and then,
going and finding your voice.

48
00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:33,353
With your speaking voice,
you've never lost it.

49
00:02:34,263 --> 00:02:36,496
No one ever robbed you of that.

50
00:02:37,336 --> 00:02:41,839
And so, when I was young
that's how I was learning;

51
00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:46,719
I was learning English
and music at the same time

52
00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:48,499
and in the same way.

53
00:02:49,269 --> 00:02:53,477
So I tell this to people; I usually say,
"Yeah, I started when I was two or three."

54
00:02:53,478 --> 00:02:57,010
And I say that just
because that's more believable.

55
00:02:57,940 --> 00:02:59,959
But when did you start speaking English?

56
00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:02,029
Did you wait until you were two or three?

57
00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:03,979
No.

58
00:03:04,589 --> 00:03:08,009
You were speaking,
I'd probably say, before birth.

59
00:03:08,769 --> 00:03:12,529
Whenever you could hear
is when you probably started learning it.

60
00:03:13,119 --> 00:03:17,199
To me, that's very, very cool,
and very very clever of my brothers

61
00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,729
- my oldest brother, out of the five...

62
00:03:19,730 --> 00:03:21,739
I'm the youngest, Reggie is the oldest -

63
00:03:21,740 --> 00:03:23,788
He's only eight years older than me.

64
00:03:23,789 --> 00:03:26,998
So how he was this smart, I don't know.
That's the real question.

65
00:03:26,999 --> 00:03:29,328
That should be the real TED talk.

66
00:03:29,329 --> 00:03:32,729
How he figured out the ingenious way

67
00:03:32,730 --> 00:03:37,079
of not teaching us,
younger brothers, how to play!

68
00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,429
He didn't start me
by putting a bass in my hands.

69
00:03:39,430 --> 00:03:40,610
No.

70
00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,118
The first thing they did
was to play music around me

71
00:03:46,848 --> 00:03:49,278
from my earliest age that I can remember.

72
00:03:49,279 --> 00:03:51,129
I can remember living in Hawaii,

73
00:03:51,130 --> 00:03:56,569
my brothers would set up,
and I can remember seeing a plastic stool.

74
00:03:56,570 --> 00:03:59,099
A lot of times
we'd set up in the front yard

75
00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:00,949
where I can see a plastic stool,

76
00:04:00,950 --> 00:04:04,319
with a little plastic toy,
Mickey Mouse wind-up-guitar,

77
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,078
laying on top of that stool.

78
00:04:06,079 --> 00:04:09,078
No one had to tell me
that that was for me.

79
00:04:09,079 --> 00:04:12,919
The same way no one has to tell you
when it's your turn to talk.

80
00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:16,718
You know how to do it
and so I knew that stool was for me.

81
00:04:16,719 --> 00:04:18,418
I knew that instrument was for me.

82
00:04:18,418 --> 00:04:22,218
It had plastic strings on it, you would
wind it up, and it would play a song.

83
00:04:22,219 --> 00:04:26,708
But you couldn't really play it from
the strings, and it wasn't about that.

84
00:04:26,709 --> 00:04:29,940
By the time I was old enough
to hold an instrument,

85
00:04:31,649 --> 00:04:36,398
they gave me something to hold
Just for the sake of holding something;

86
00:04:36,399 --> 00:04:39,119
preparing me for the later years.

87
00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,550
It wasn't about playing that instrument.

88
00:04:42,770 --> 00:04:45,448
That's the mistake
a lot of us, music teachers make:

89
00:04:45,449 --> 00:04:50,147
we teach kids how to play the instrument
first, before they understand music.

90
00:04:50,148 --> 00:04:52,549
You don't teach a kid how to spell.

91
00:04:52,550 --> 00:04:54,359
Teaching a kid to spell "milk"

92
00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:57,029
before they've been drinking
a lot of it for a few years

93
00:04:57,030 --> 00:04:58,479
doesn't make sense does it?

94
00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,349
But for some reason,
we still think it does in music.

95
00:05:01,350 --> 00:05:04,750
We want to teach them the rules
and the instruments first.

96
00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:09,448
But by the time I was about two,
and they put that toy in my hands,

97
00:05:09,449 --> 00:05:13,749
I was already very musical
because I believe you're born musical.

98
00:05:13,750 --> 00:05:18,049
Just listen to anybody's voice.
Listen to any child's voice.

99
00:05:18,050 --> 00:05:20,115
There's no purer music than that.

100
00:05:20,116 --> 00:05:23,541
So my brothers somehow knew
I was born musical,

101
00:05:23,542 --> 00:05:25,451
but they wanted me to be a bass player

102
00:05:25,452 --> 00:05:28,027
so when I was old enough,
they put a toy in my hands,

103
00:05:28,028 --> 00:05:29,931
and they would play.

104
00:05:29,932 --> 00:05:33,784
I would just bounce up and down
and strum along, too.

105
00:05:33,785 --> 00:05:38,909
But the coolest thing about it, again,
is it wasn't about the instrument.

106
00:05:38,910 --> 00:05:43,039
I was learning to play music
not an instrument.

107
00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,510
And I continue that hopefully today.

108
00:05:46,380 --> 00:05:50,687
Again, what I did know
was I knew what it meant

109
00:05:50,688 --> 00:05:56,178
when my brother opened up his high hat
at the end of a four-bar phrase.

110
00:05:56,189 --> 00:05:58,489
Or I learned these phrases
versus that phrase.

111
00:05:58,490 --> 00:06:00,787
The same way a baby knows what it means

112
00:06:00,788 --> 00:06:03,787
when the mother raises
the pitch of her voice

113
00:06:03,788 --> 00:06:06,569
versus the father lowering
the pitch of his.

114
00:06:06,570 --> 00:06:07,909
You know these things,

115
00:06:07,910 --> 00:06:11,569
and even though you may not
even understand what the word means.

116
00:06:11,570 --> 00:06:13,484
And so you're learning all these things.

117
00:06:13,604 --> 00:06:16,287
By the time a baby can speak a real word,

118
00:06:16,288 --> 00:06:19,089
they know already a lot
about the language.

119
00:06:19,090 --> 00:06:20,861
So I was learning music the same way.

120
00:06:20,981 --> 00:06:25,029
By the time I had the instrument
in my hands, I was already very musical.

121
00:06:25,030 --> 00:06:27,358
When I would turn about three years old,

122
00:06:27,359 --> 00:06:31,578
Reggie took two strings off
of one of his six-string guitars.

123
00:06:31,579 --> 00:06:36,559
He took the two high strings off,
and that became my first real instrument.

124
00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,458
So Reggie actually started teaching me

125
00:06:39,459 --> 00:06:44,398
to put my finger
in certain places to produce notes

126
00:06:44,399 --> 00:06:46,229
to songs I already knew.

127
00:06:48,860 --> 00:06:53,388
I wasn't starting from the beginning.
I was musical first.

128
00:06:53,389 --> 00:06:56,820
Now, I just had to put
that music through an instrument.

129
00:06:58,060 --> 00:07:02,159
And looking back on it now,
I realize that's how I learned to talk.

130
00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:05,369
It wasn't about learning
the instrument first.

131
00:07:05,370 --> 00:07:07,812
Who cares about
the instrument you talk with?

132
00:07:07,813 --> 00:07:10,116
It's about what you have to say.

133
00:07:11,959 --> 00:07:16,042
I've always musically maintained
my own voice.

134
00:07:16,089 --> 00:07:18,137
I've always had something to say.

135
00:07:18,138 --> 00:07:22,167
And I've learned how to speak
through my instrument.

136
00:07:22,957 --> 00:07:24,907
So if we think about a couple of things

137
00:07:24,908 --> 00:07:30,238
not being forced to practice,
not being told what you have to say

138
00:07:30,239 --> 00:07:35,059
- I'm speaking English again -
not being told what you have to say.

139
00:07:35,060 --> 00:07:38,208
When the teacher teaches you
a new word in English,

140
00:07:38,209 --> 00:07:41,537
she has you put it into a sentence;
in the context, right away.

141
00:07:41,538 --> 00:07:44,267
A music teacher will tell you
to go practice it.

142
00:07:44,268 --> 00:07:48,827
Practicing works but it's a slower process
than putting it into context.

143
00:07:48,828 --> 00:07:50,999
And we know that with English.

144
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:52,889
And so this was the way I learned.

145
00:07:52,890 --> 00:07:59,279
As I grew older, about five years old,
we were actually on tour; the five of us.

146
00:08:00,019 --> 00:08:02,249
We were fortunate enough
to be able to tour

147
00:08:02,250 --> 00:08:06,048
opening for a great soul singer
named Curtis Mayfield.

148
00:08:07,178 --> 00:08:10,399
So if I was five years old,
my oldest brother was only 13.

149
00:08:11,149 --> 00:08:16,199
But when I think about it,
we could speak good English at that age.

150
00:08:16,209 --> 00:08:17,679
Why not music?

151
00:08:18,739 --> 00:08:22,098
So I've always, since then, approached
music just like a language,

152
00:08:22,099 --> 00:08:26,659
because I learned it
at the same time and in the same way.

153
00:08:27,779 --> 00:08:29,518
The best part of it all

154
00:08:29,519 --> 00:08:32,558
is I've maintained something
that little children are born with.

155
00:08:33,568 --> 00:08:35,360
And that's freedom.

156
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,398
A lot of us are talked out
of our musical freedom,

157
00:08:41,399 --> 00:08:43,727
when we are first given a lesson.

158
00:08:43,729 --> 00:08:45,228
Because we go to a teacher,

159
00:08:45,229 --> 00:08:49,488
and the teacher rarely ever finds out
why we came in the first place.

160
00:08:49,489 --> 00:08:51,848
A lot of times,
that kid playing that air guitar

161
00:08:51,849 --> 00:08:53,609
where there's no right or wrong,

162
00:08:53,610 --> 00:08:57,028
it's not about the right or wrong notes,
it's not about the instrument.

163
00:08:57,029 --> 00:08:59,289
They're playing because it feels right.

164
00:08:59,290 --> 00:09:03,268
It's the same way and reason
that you sing in the shower.

165
00:09:03,269 --> 00:09:06,798
Or when you're driving
to work; you're singing.

166
00:09:06,799 --> 00:09:09,648
You're not singing
because it's the right notes

167
00:09:10,528 --> 00:09:12,287
or you know the right scales,

168
00:09:12,288 --> 00:09:14,957
you're singing because it feels good.

169
00:09:14,958 --> 00:09:17,759
I spoke to a lady at breakfast who said,

170
00:09:17,760 --> 00:09:20,262
"I'm Ella Fitzgerald
when I'm in the shower!"

171
00:09:20,263 --> 00:09:22,125
(Laughter)

172
00:09:22,126 --> 00:09:23,859
And of course she's right!

173
00:09:23,860 --> 00:09:28,060
So why does that change
when someone outside starts to listen?

174
00:09:30,070 --> 00:09:32,818
That freedom becomes lost
as we grow and as we learn,

175
00:09:32,819 --> 00:09:36,657
and we need to find
a way to keep that freedom.

176
00:09:36,658 --> 00:09:38,319
And it can be done!

177
00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:39,999
It's not gone forever.

178
00:09:41,239 --> 00:09:45,148
A kid playing air guitar will play
with a smile on their face.

179
00:09:46,778 --> 00:09:49,598
Give them the first lesson,
the smile goes away.

180
00:09:51,648 --> 00:09:53,588
A lot of times you have to work for

181
00:09:53,589 --> 00:09:56,798
your whole musical life
to get that smile back.

182
00:09:56,799 --> 00:10:01,768
As teachers, we can keep that smile,
if we approach it the right way.

183
00:10:01,769 --> 00:10:04,838
And I say approach it like a language;

184
00:10:04,839 --> 00:10:07,771
allow the student to keep the freedom.

185
00:10:07,772 --> 00:10:09,708
As I got older, a little bit older,

186
00:10:09,709 --> 00:10:13,638
and my brothers and I started
to tour and play a lot,

187
00:10:13,639 --> 00:10:16,729
my mom would ask a question
that I never understood really

188
00:10:16,730 --> 00:10:20,969
until I got much older
and had kids of my own.

189
00:10:20,970 --> 00:10:22,341
My Mom would ask us boys,

190
00:10:22,342 --> 00:10:24,610
and she was saying,
"What does the world need

191
00:10:26,089 --> 00:10:27,829
with another good musician?"

192
00:10:29,900 --> 00:10:31,205
Think about that.

193
00:10:31,206 --> 00:10:34,172
And I'm saying music,
but insert your own career.

194
00:10:35,082 --> 00:10:37,399
What does the world need with you?

195
00:10:39,669 --> 00:10:42,789
It really made me realize
that now, as I've got older,

196
00:10:42,790 --> 00:10:46,628
music is more than just a language,
music is a lifestyle.

197
00:10:48,888 --> 00:10:50,167
It's my lifestyle.

198
00:10:50,168 --> 00:10:54,639
Don't get me wrong: I'm not talking about
the lifestyle a lot of musicians lead.

199
00:10:55,899 --> 00:10:59,658
Because we can look back
at our musical heroes of the past

200
00:10:59,659 --> 00:11:02,389
and realize that they were
huge successes in music,

201
00:11:02,390 --> 00:11:04,540
but just as huge failures in life.

202
00:11:06,110 --> 00:11:10,038
I could name a few of them,
but I don't want to upset anybody;

203
00:11:10,039 --> 00:11:13,870
but if we think about our heroes,
a lot of them were like that.

204
00:11:15,490 --> 00:11:17,977
I think our parents were
preparing us for something

205
00:11:17,978 --> 00:11:21,928
that we didn't know at the time,
but I think she could see ahead.

206
00:11:21,929 --> 00:11:24,150
"What does the world need

207
00:11:26,580 --> 00:11:28,620
with another good musician?"

208
00:11:29,580 --> 00:11:32,220
So we're practicing all these hours.

209
00:11:33,220 --> 00:11:36,419
We turned our whole house
into a music room

210
00:11:36,420 --> 00:11:40,499
where all the neighborhood, all
the state-wide musicians would show up.

211
00:11:40,500 --> 00:11:42,069
We would practice,

212
00:11:42,070 --> 00:11:44,359
my parents would spend money
they didn't have

213
00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:46,928
to make sure we had
the next newest instrument.

214
00:11:46,929 --> 00:11:49,908
Every Christmas,
Santa would bring the newest thing.

215
00:11:49,909 --> 00:11:51,588
What was that about?

216
00:11:52,698 --> 00:11:55,638
Was it just so that we could make money?

217
00:11:55,639 --> 00:11:59,339
So that we could stand on stage
and bask in the glory?

218
00:12:02,470 --> 00:12:06,070
I realize now, that it is
much more than that.

219
00:12:07,220 --> 00:12:08,818
Music is my lifestyle.

220
00:12:09,578 --> 00:12:12,409
And now as I'm going into
really studying music,

221
00:12:12,410 --> 00:12:15,507
so that I could share it with
other people in a teacher's role,

222
00:12:15,508 --> 00:12:18,969
I realize that there's a lot
that we can learn from music

223
00:12:18,970 --> 00:12:20,455
and apply to our lives.

224
00:12:20,456 --> 00:12:23,232
To be a good musician,
you have to be a good listener.

225
00:12:26,012 --> 00:12:29,248
Doesn't matter how great I am
as a bassist, or any instrument.

226
00:12:29,249 --> 00:12:30,808
Doesn't matter how great I am.

227
00:12:30,809 --> 00:12:34,760
We can put five of the world's
best musicians on this stage.

228
00:12:36,370 --> 00:12:39,378
But if we're great
separate from each other,

229
00:12:39,379 --> 00:12:41,170
it's going to sound horrible.

230
00:12:43,730 --> 00:12:46,970
But if we listen to each other
and play together,

231
00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:51,139
individually, we don't have
to be as great,

232
00:12:52,490 --> 00:12:54,710
and it'll sound much better.

233
00:12:57,500 --> 00:13:01,758
I was invited a couple years in a row
to go to Stanford, in California,

234
00:13:01,759 --> 00:13:06,018
and put together a musical team
to address the incoming freshman class.

235
00:13:06,019 --> 00:13:08,888
And we were able to use music
to give them an idea

236
00:13:08,889 --> 00:13:11,758
what the next four years
of their life might be like.

237
00:13:11,759 --> 00:13:14,668
It was fun using music to do it
because music is a way

238
00:13:14,669 --> 00:13:17,819
that I can talk about anything
that could be kind of touchy:

239
00:13:17,820 --> 00:13:22,398
politics, racism, equality,
inequality, religion.

240
00:13:22,399 --> 00:13:25,628
I can do it through music,
and I'm still safe.

241
00:13:25,629 --> 00:13:27,909
We were able to pick
someone out of the audience

242
00:13:27,910 --> 00:13:29,849
who'd never played an instrument before.

243
00:13:29,850 --> 00:13:31,119
Usually, it was a female;

244
00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:33,598
have her come up,
we'd strap a bass around her neck,

245
00:13:33,599 --> 00:13:35,448
and then I would get the band playing.

246
00:13:35,449 --> 00:13:37,348
And as soon as the band starts playing,

247
00:13:37,349 --> 00:13:38,944
that person starts doing this.

248
00:13:38,945 --> 00:13:40,550
(Laughter)

249
00:13:40,551 --> 00:13:42,323
And I say, "That's music!"

250
00:13:43,293 --> 00:13:46,454
If you listen to that bass,
like any instrument in a music store,

251
00:13:46,455 --> 00:13:49,288
when it's sitting there,
it doesn't make a sound.

252
00:13:49,289 --> 00:13:52,518
So if you want music to come
out of that, you have to put it there.

253
00:13:52,519 --> 00:13:56,579
And that groove that's in your neck,
you just have to put it in the instrument.

254
00:13:56,580 --> 00:13:59,110
So I just had her
with her left hand squeeze the neck

255
00:13:59,125 --> 00:14:02,334
- because everyone knows how
to hold an instrument, that's not new -

256
00:14:02,335 --> 00:14:07,008
squeeze it and then, let
your right hand dance, on the string.

257
00:14:07,009 --> 00:14:10,169
She starts bouncing on that note,
and the band kicks up around her.

258
00:14:10,170 --> 00:14:13,158
All of a sudden, she's a bassist.

259
00:14:13,159 --> 00:14:15,537
More so, she's a musician.

260
00:14:15,538 --> 00:14:18,256
A dancer never has to ask questions
before they dance.

261
00:14:18,257 --> 00:14:20,927
A singer doesn't usually have to ask
what key are we in.

262
00:14:20,928 --> 00:14:23,608
Musicians have to ask too many questions.

263
00:14:25,639 --> 00:14:27,448
So what that taught me is that, "Wow!

264
00:14:27,449 --> 00:14:31,291
Because we're great,
she doesn't have to know anything."

265
00:14:31,292 --> 00:14:33,214
(Laughter)

266
00:14:33,215 --> 00:14:36,829
And all of a sudden, anyone who were
to walk into the room and see this band

267
00:14:36,830 --> 00:14:39,829
with this newcomer on stage,

268
00:14:39,830 --> 00:14:42,823
no one would know
who was the newcomer.

269
00:14:44,103 --> 00:14:45,595
So that let me know, "Wow!

270
00:14:45,596 --> 00:14:51,530
If I use my greatness in the right way,
it can help others rise up quickly."

271
00:14:52,910 --> 00:14:55,728
And the coolest thing about
that whole thing in Stanford

272
00:14:55,729 --> 00:14:57,398
is she got to take the bass home!

273
00:14:57,399 --> 00:14:58,907
(Laughter)

274
00:14:58,908 --> 00:15:01,908
I saw her recently,
she is still a bassist

275
00:15:01,909 --> 00:15:03,948
so that's great.

276
00:15:03,949 --> 00:15:07,508
Listening is a great musical key
that we can use for life,

277
00:15:07,509 --> 00:15:11,628
working together, of course, being great
to help other people become great.

278
00:15:11,629 --> 00:15:13,408
When people put you up on a pedestal,

279
00:15:13,409 --> 00:15:16,128
don't come off the pedestal
acting like you're humble.

280
00:15:16,129 --> 00:15:17,378
Stay up on that pedestal,

281
00:15:17,379 --> 00:15:20,778
because if they put you there
that's showing you how high they can see.

282
00:15:20,779 --> 00:15:22,719
Stay there and pull them up.

283
00:15:23,709 --> 00:15:27,301
And they'll grow faster
than if you come down.

284
00:15:27,302 --> 00:15:30,644
So we're going to help these people
because we're great.

285
00:15:30,645 --> 00:15:34,789
In music, usually, I'm not great
until you say I am, anyway.

286
00:15:34,790 --> 00:15:37,079
They say,
"He's won all these Grammy's."

287
00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:39,548
I can't win anything without you all.

288
00:15:39,549 --> 00:15:41,708
Another thing my mom
always taught us

289
00:15:41,709 --> 00:15:44,309
is, "You boys are already successful.

290
00:15:45,259 --> 00:15:47,939
The rest of the world
just doesn't know it yet!"

291
00:15:48,939 --> 00:15:52,049
I didn't understand that then,
but I really, really do now.

292
00:15:52,050 --> 00:15:56,450
Really quickly, before I get out of here
I just want you to think about this:

293
00:15:56,459 --> 00:15:59,459
If I were to play two notes,
Let's say I play a C;

294
00:15:59,469 --> 00:16:01,479
- just want you to use your imagination -

295
00:16:01,480 --> 00:16:04,950
if I play a C and a C-sharp
right next to each other,

296
00:16:05,850 --> 00:16:08,460
it'll probably sound
like those notes clash;

297
00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:11,223
"Wrong!", "Bad!"

298
00:16:14,393 --> 00:16:16,886
But if I take the C up an octave,

299
00:16:18,126 --> 00:16:20,728
play the C-sharp and the C again.

300
00:16:20,729 --> 00:16:22,548
All of a sudden, it sounds beautiful.

301
00:16:22,549 --> 00:16:24,369
Same two notes.

302
00:16:25,549 --> 00:16:29,128
That C becomes a major seventh
to the C-sharp

303
00:16:29,129 --> 00:16:34,958
which is a key element that makes a chord
almost too beautiful, too nice sounding.

304
00:16:34,959 --> 00:16:38,739
So how can the same two notes
sound bad and clash in one instance

305
00:16:38,740 --> 00:16:40,300
and beautiful in another?

306
00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:42,830
Just take that to life.

307
00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:46,658
When we see something bad,
or awful, or horrible in life,

308
00:16:46,659 --> 00:16:49,066
maybe we're just reviewing it
in the wrong octave.

309
00:16:50,796 --> 00:16:53,393
Maybe we could change our perspective.

310
00:16:54,053 --> 00:16:56,559
Actually, if you see
something that's wrong,

311
00:16:56,560 --> 00:17:00,479
you should know
that you're seeing it in the wrong octave

312
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:05,267
and find a way to change your viewpoint.

313
00:17:05,268 --> 00:17:08,498
Or to use a musical term -
change your octave.

314
00:17:11,048 --> 00:17:17,888
Countries make bombs
with the goal of hurting people,

315
00:17:18,909 --> 00:17:22,769
instilling fear, killing people,
proving a point.

316
00:17:24,069 --> 00:17:28,002
Countries, governments bless
the bombs before they're sent.

317
00:17:28,912 --> 00:17:31,514
This happens from the top-down,
the government down.

318
00:17:31,515 --> 00:17:33,329
This is our answer.

319
00:17:35,369 --> 00:17:38,749
Makes me realize that the solution
may have to come from the bottom-up.

320
00:17:38,750 --> 00:17:42,330
Is anyone working on a bomb
that makes people love you?

321
00:17:43,260 --> 00:17:44,980
Maybe a cupid bomb?

322
00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:48,189
I believe we already have it.

323
00:17:48,190 --> 00:17:49,709
It's called Music.

324
00:17:50,679 --> 00:17:53,678
And every country has
their own version of it.

325
00:17:53,679 --> 00:17:57,249
And it works. It brings people together.

326
00:17:57,250 --> 00:18:00,829
You don't have to know
a thing about it to get it.

327
00:18:01,839 --> 00:18:04,889
It's a language. It's a lifestyle.

328
00:18:05,949 --> 00:18:07,968
And it can save the world.

329
00:18:07,969 --> 00:18:10,699
My name is Victor Wooten. I'm a musician.

330
00:18:11,659 --> 00:18:13,951
And I hope you'll join
me on the battlefield.

331
00:18:13,952 --> 00:18:15,054
(Laughter)

332
00:18:15,055 --> 00:18:16,108
Thank you.

333
00:18:16,109 --> 00:18:17,355
(Applause)