WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Probably a lot of you know the story of the two salesmen 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:06.000 who went down to Africa in the 1900s. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.000 They were sent down to find if there was any opportunity 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:10.000 for selling shoes, 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:13.000 and they wrote telegrams back to Manchester. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:17.000 And one of them wrote, "Situation hopeless. Stop. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:18.000 They don't wear shoes." 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:21.000 And the other one wrote, "Glorious opportunity. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:23.000 They don't have any shoes yet." 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:24.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Now, there's a similar situation in the classical music world, 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:29.000 because there are some people who think 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.000 that classical music is dying. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:36.000 And there are some of us who think you ain't seen nothing yet. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.000 And rather than go into statistics and trends, 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:42.000 and tell you about all the orchestras that are closing, 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.000 and the record companies that are folding, 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.000 I thought we should do an experiment tonight -- an experiment. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:53.000 Actually, it's not really an experiment, because I know the outcome. NOTE Paragraph 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:56.000 But it's like an experiment. Now, before we -- 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.000 (Laughter) 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000 -- before we start, I need to do two things. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.000 One is I want to remind you of what a seven-year-old child 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:08.000 sounds like when he plays the piano. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.000 Maybe you have this child at home. 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:12.000 He sounds something like this. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:32.000 (Piano) 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.000 I see some of you recognize this child. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.000 Now, if he practices for a year and takes lessons, he's now eight 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:40.000 and he sounds like this. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:47.000 (Piano) 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:50.000 Then he practices for another year and takes lessons -- now he's nine. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:56.000 (Piano) 00:01:56.000 --> 00:01:59.000 Then he practices for another and takes lessons -- now he's 10. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:06.000 (Piano) 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:07.000 At that point, they usually give up. 00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:09.000 (Laughter) 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:11.000 (Applause) 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:13.000 Now, if you'd waited, if you'd waited for one more year, 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:15.000 you would have heard this. 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:24.000 (Piano) NOTE Paragraph 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.000 Now, what happened was not maybe what you thought, 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:30.000 which is, he suddenly became passionate, engaged, 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.000 involved, got a new teacher, he hit puberty, or whatever it is. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:37.000 What actually happened was the impulses were reduced. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:39.000 You see, the first time, he was playing 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:41.000 with an impulse on every note. 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.000 (Piano) 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:46.000 And the second, with an impulse every other note. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:49.000 (Piano) 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:50.000 You can see it by looking at my head. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:52.000 (Laughter) 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.000 The nine-year-old 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:55.000 put an impulse on every four notes. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.000 (Piano) 00:02:58.000 --> 00:02:59.000 And the 10-year-old, on every eight notes. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:02.000 (Piano) 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:04.000 And the 11-year-old, one impulse on the whole phrase. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:07.000 (Piano) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.000 I know -- I don't know how we got into this position. 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.000 (Laughter) 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.000 I didn't say, "I'm going to move my shoulder over, move my body." 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:17.000 No, the music pushed me over, 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:19.000 which is why I call it one-buttock playing. 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:21.000 (Piano) 00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:22.000 It can be the other buttock. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:26.000 (Piano) 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.000 You know, a gentleman was once watching a presentation I was doing, 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:30.000 when I was working with a young pianist. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:33.000 He was the president of a corporation in Ohio. 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.000 And I was working with this young pianist 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.000 and I said, "The trouble with you is you're a two-buttock player. 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:40.000 You should be a one-buttock player." 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:42.000 And I moved his body like that, while he was playing. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:44.000 And suddenly, the music took off. It took flight. 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:47.000 There was a gasp in the audience when they heard the difference. 00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:49.000 And then I got a letter from this gentleman. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:50.000 He said, "I was so moved. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:52.000 I went back and I transformed my entire company 00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:54.000 into a one-buttock company." 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:57.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.000 Now, the other thing I wanted to do is to tell you about you. 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.000 There are 1,600 people, I believe. 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:06.000 My estimation is that probably 45 of you 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.000 are absolutely passionate about classical music. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:14.000 You adore classical music. Your FM is always on that classical dial. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.000 And you have CDs in your car, and you go to the symphony. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:18.000 And your children are playing instruments. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:20.000 You can't imagine your life without classical music. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:23.000 That's the first group; it's quite a small group. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:25.000 Then there's another group, bigger group. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.000 These are the people who don't mind classical music. 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:28.000 (Laughter) 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:30.000 You know, you've come home from a long day, 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:32.000 and you take a glass of wine, and you put your feet up. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:35.000 A little Vivaldi in the background doesn't do any harm. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:36.000 (Laughter) 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:37.000 That's the second group. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:38.000 Now comes the third group. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.000 These are the people who never listen to classical music. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.000 It's just simply not part of your life. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:45.000 You might hear it like second-hand smoke at the airport, but -- 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.000 (Laughter) 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:48.000 -- and maybe a little bit of a march from "Aida" 00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.000 when you come into the hall. But otherwise, you never hear it. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:53.000 That's probably the largest group of all. NOTE Paragraph 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:55.000 And then there's a very small group. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.000 These are the people who think they're tone-deaf. 00:04:58.000 --> 00:05:00.000 Amazing number of people think they're tone-deaf. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:03.000 Actually, I hear a lot, "My husband is tone-deaf." 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:04.000 (Laughter) 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:07.000 Actually, you cannot be tone-deaf. Nobody is tone-deaf. 00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:10.000 If you were tone-deaf, you couldn't change the gears 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.000 on your car, in a stick shift car. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.000 You couldn't tell the difference between 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:16.000 somebody from Texas and somebody from Rome. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:20.000 And the telephone. The telephone. If your mother calls 00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:23.000 on the miserable telephone, she calls and says, "Hello," 00:05:23.000 --> 00:05:26.000 you not only know who it is, you know what mood she's in. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:30.000 You have a fantastic ear. Everybody has a fantastic ear. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:32.000 So nobody is tone-deaf. NOTE Paragraph 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.000 But I tell you what. It doesn't work for me to go on with this thing, 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:39.000 with such a wide gulf between those who understand, 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.000 love and [are] passionate about classical music, 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.000 and those who have no relationship to it at all. 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:47.000 The tone-deaf people, they're no longer here. 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:51.000 But even between those three categories, it's too wide a gulf. 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:55.000 So I'm not going to go on until every single person in this room, 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.000 downstairs and in Aspen, and everybody else looking, 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:04.000 will come to love and understand classical music. 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.000 So that's what we're going to do. NOTE Paragraph 00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:12.000 Now, you notice that there is not the slightest doubt in my mind 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:15.000 that this is going to work if you look at my face, right? 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:19.000 It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:22.000 for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:25.000 to realize whatever he's dreaming. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.000 Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, "I have a dream. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:30.000 Of course, I'm not sure they'll be up to it." 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:33.000 (Laughter) NOTE Paragraph 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:36.000 All right. So I'm going to take a piece of Chopin. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:41.000 This is a beautiful prelude by Chopin. Some of you will know it. 00:06:42.000 --> 00:07:10.000 (Music) 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.000 Do you know what I think probably happened in this room? 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.000 When I started, you thought, "How beautiful that sounds." 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:28.000 (Music) 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:30.000 "I don't think we should go to the same place 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.000 for our summer holidays next year." 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:35.000 (Laughter) 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.000 It's funny, isn't it? It's funny how those thoughts 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.000 kind of waft into your head. 00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:42.000 And of course -- 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.000 (Applause) 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:47.000 -- and of course, if the piece is long and you've had a long day, 00:07:48.000 --> 00:07:49.000 you might actually drift off. 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:51.000 Then your companion will dig you in the ribs 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:55.000 and say, "Wake up! It's culture!" And then you feel even worse. NOTE Paragraph 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:58.000 But has it ever occurred to you that the reason you feel sleepy 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:01.000 in classical music is not because of you, but because of us? 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:03.000 Did anybody think while I was playing, 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:05.000 "Why is he using so many impulses?" 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.000 If I'd done this with my head you certainly would have thought it. 00:08:09.000 --> 00:08:14.000 (Music) 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:18.000 And for the rest of your life, every time you hear classical music, 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:22.000 you'll always be able to know if you hear those impulses. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.000 So let's see what's really going on here. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:29.000 We have a B. This is a B. The next note is a C. 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:32.000 And the job of the C is to make the B sad. And it does, doesn't it? 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:35.000 (Laughter) 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.000 Composers know that. If they want sad music, 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:38.000 they just play those two notes. 00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:43.000 (Music) 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:45.000 But basically, it's just a B, with four sads. 00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:47.000 (Laughter) 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.000 Now, it goes down to A. Now to G. And then to F. 00:08:53.000 --> 00:08:57.000 So we have B, A, G, F. And if we have B, A, G, F, 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:04.000 what do we expect next? Oh, that might have been a fluke. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:10.000 Let's try it again. Ooh, the TED choir. 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:13.000 (Laughter) 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:17.000 And you notice nobody is tone-deaf, right? Nobody is. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:19.000 You know, every village in Bangladesh 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:24.000 and every hamlet in China -- everybody knows: 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:28.000 da, da, da, da -- da. Everybody knows, who's expecting that E. NOTE Paragraph 00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.000 Now, Chopin didn't want to reach the E there, 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:34.000 because what will have happened? It will be over, like Hamlet. 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:36.000 Do you remember Hamlet? Act one, scene three, 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:38.000 he finds out that his uncle killed his father. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.000 You remember, he keeps on going up to his uncle 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:41.000 and almost killing him. And then he backs away, 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:44.000 and he goes up to him again and almost kills him. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:46.000 And the critics, all of whom are sitting in the back row there, 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:49.000 they have to have an opinion, so they say, "Hamlet is a procrastinator." 00:09:49.000 --> 00:09:50.000 (Laughter) 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:52.000 Or they say, "Hamlet has an Oedipus complex." 00:09:53.000 --> 00:09:56.000 No, otherwise the play would be over, stupid. 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.000 That's why Shakespeare puts all that stuff in Hamlet -- 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.000 you know, Ophelia going mad and the play within the play, 00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:02.000 and Yorick's skull, and the gravediggers. 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:06.000 That's in order to delay -- until act five, he can kill him. NOTE Paragraph 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:11.000 It's the same with the Chopin. He's just about to reach the E, 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.000 and he says, "Oops, better go back up and do it again." 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.000 So he does it again. 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:20.000 Now, he gets excited. (Piano) That's excitement, 00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:21.000 you don't have to worry about it. 00:10:22.000 --> 00:10:24.000 Now, he gets to F-sharp, and finally he goes down to E, 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:27.000 but it's the wrong chord -- because the chord he's looking for 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.000 is this one, (Piano) and instead he does ... 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:35.000 (Piano) Now, we call that a deceptive cadence, because it deceives us. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:38.000 I always tell my students, "If you have a deceptive cadence, 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.000 be sure to raise your eyebrows. Then everybody will know." 00:10:40.000 --> 00:10:43.000 (Laughter) 00:10:43.000 --> 00:10:46.000 (Applause) 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:49.000 Right. So, he gets to E, but it's the wrong chord. 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:52.000 Now, he tries E again. That chord doesn't work. 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.000 Now, he tries the E again. That chord doesn't work. 00:10:55.000 --> 00:10:57.000 Now, he tries E again, and that doesn't work. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:01.000 And then finally ... (Piano) 00:11:01.000 --> 00:11:05.000 There was a gentleman in the front row who went, "Mmm." 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.000 It's the same gesture he makes when he comes home 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.000 after a long day, turns off the key in his car and says, 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.000 "Aah, I'm home." Because we all know where home is. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:18.000 So this is a piece which goes from away to home. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.000 And I'm going to play it all the way through 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.000 and you're going to follow. B, C, B, C, B, C, B -- 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:25.000 down to A, down to G, down to F. 00:11:25.000 --> 00:11:27.000 Almost goes to E, but otherwise the play would be over. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.000 He goes back up to B. He gets very excited. Goes to F-sharp. Goes to E. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.000 It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord. 00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:35.000 And finally goes to E, and it's home. 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.000 And what you're going to see is one-buttock playing. 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:41.000 (Laughter) 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:43.000 Because for me, to join the B to the E, 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:49.000 I have to stop thinking about every single note along the way, 00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:54.000 and start thinking about the long, long line from B to E. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:59.000 You know, we were just in South Africa, and you can't go to South Africa 00:11:59.000 --> 00:12:02.000 without thinking of Mandela in jail for 27 years. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:05.000 What was he thinking about? Lunch? 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:08.000 No, he was thinking about the vision for South Africa 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:10.000 and for human beings. That's what kept -- 00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:13.000 this is about vision. This is about the long line. 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:15.000 Like the bird who flies over the field 00:12:15.000 --> 00:12:19.000 and doesn't care about the fences underneath, all right? 00:12:19.000 --> 00:12:22.000 So now, you're going to follow the line all the way from B to E. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:26.000 And I've one last request before I play this piece all the way through. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:31.000 Would you think of somebody who you adore, who's no longer there? 00:12:31.000 --> 00:12:34.000 A beloved grandmother, a lover -- 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.000 somebody in your life who you love with all your heart, 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:41.000 but that person is no longer with you. 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:45.000 Bring that person into your mind, and at the same time 00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:49.000 follow the line all the way from B to E, 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:57.000 and you'll hear everything that Chopin had to say. 00:12:57.000 --> 00:14:48.000 (Music) 00:14:48.000 --> 00:14:55.000 (Applause) NOTE Paragraph 00:14:55.000 --> 00:15:00.000 Now, you may be wondering, 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:06.000 you may be wondering why I'm clapping. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.000 Well, I did this at a school in Boston 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:12.000 with about 70 seventh graders, 12-year-olds. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.000 And I did exactly what I did with you, and I told them 00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:15.000 and explained them and the whole thing. 00:15:15.000 --> 00:15:17.000 And at the end, they went crazy, clapping. They were clapping. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.000 I was clapping. They were clapping. 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:21.000 Finally, I said, "Why am I clapping?" 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:22.000 And one of the little kids said, "Because we were listening." 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:27.000 (Laughter) 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.000 Think of it. 1,600 people, busy people, 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:32.000 involved in all sorts of different things, 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:39.000 listening, understanding and being moved by a piece by Chopin. 00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:40.000 Now that is something. 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:43.000 Now, am I sure that every single person followed that, 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:45.000 understood it, was moved by it? Of course, I can't be sure. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.000 But I tell you what happened to me. NOTE Paragraph 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:50.000 I was in Ireland during the Troubles, 10 years ago, 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.000 and I was working with some Catholic and Protestant kids 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:57.000 on conflict resolution. And I did this with them -- 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.000 a risky thing to do, because they were street kids. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.000 And one of them came to me the next morning and he said, 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:07.000 "You know, I've never listened to classical music in my life, 00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:08.000 but when you played that shopping piece ... " 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.000 (Laughter) 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:15.000 He said, "My brother was shot last year and I didn't cry for him. 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:17.000 But last night, when you played that piece, 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:20.000 he was the one I was thinking about. 00:16:20.000 --> 00:16:22.000 And I felt the tears streaming down my face. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.000 And you know, it felt really good to cry for my brother." 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:27.000 So I made up my mind at that moment 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:34.000 that classical music is for everybody. Everybody. NOTE Paragraph 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:37.000 Now, how would you walk -- because you know, 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.000 my profession, the music profession doesn't see it that way. 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:44.000 They say three percent of the population likes classical music. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:48.000 If only we could move it to four percent, our problems would be over. 00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:52.000 I say, "How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be? 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.000 If you thought, three percent of the population likes classical music, 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.000 if only we could move it to four percent. How would you walk? 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:00.000 How would you talk? How would you be? 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:02.000 If you thought, everybody loves classical music -- 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:04.000 they just haven't found out about it yet." 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:05.000 (Laughter) 00:17:05.000 --> 00:17:07.000 See, these are totally different worlds. NOTE Paragraph 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.000 Now, I had an amazing experience. I was 45 years old, 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:16.000 I'd been conducting for 20 years, and I suddenly had a realization. 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:20.000 The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.000 My picture appears on the front of the CD -- 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:25.000 (Laughter) 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:27.000 -- but the conductor doesn't make a sound. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:32.000 He depends, for his power, on his ability to make other people powerful. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:36.000 And that changed everything for me. It was totally life changing. 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:38.000 People in my orchestra came up to me and said, 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:40.000 "Ben, what happened?" That's what happened. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:45.000 I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people. 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:48.000 And of course, I wanted to know whether I was doing that. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:51.000 And you know how you find out? You look at their eyes. 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:55.000 If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:57.000 You could light up a village with this guy's eyes. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:59.000 (Laughter) 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:01.000 Right. So if the eyes are shining, you know you're doing it. 00:18:01.000 --> 00:18:04.000 If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:05.000 And this is the question: 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:11.000 who am I being, that my players' eyes are not shining? 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:13.000 We can do that with our children, too. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:18.000 Who am I being, that my children's eyes are not shining? 00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.000 That's a totally different world. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:26.000 Now, we're all about to end this magical, on-the-mountain week, 00:18:27.000 --> 00:18:28.000 and we're going back into the world. 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:32.000 And I say, it's appropriate for us to ask the question, 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:37.000 who are we being as we go back out into the world? 00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:39.000 And you know, I have a definition of success. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.000 For me, it's very simple. It's not about wealth and fame and power. 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.000 It's about how many shining eyes I have around me. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:49.000 So now, I have one last thought, which is 00:18:49.000 --> 00:18:52.000 that it really makes a difference what we say -- 00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.000 the words that come out of our mouth. 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:58.000 I learned this from a woman who survived Auschwitz, 00:18:58.000 --> 00:18:59.000 one of the rare survivors. 00:18:59.000 --> 00:19:03.000 She went to Auschwitz when she was 15 years old, 00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:11.000 and her brother was eight, and the parents were lost. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:16.000 And she told me this, she said, 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:19.000 "We were in the train going to Auschwitz, and I looked down 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:21.000 and saw my brother's shoes were missing. 00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:25.000 And I said, 'Why are you so stupid, can't you keep your things together 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:26.000 for goodness' sake?' " The way an elder sister 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:30.000 might speak to a younger brother. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:33.000 Unfortunately, it was the last thing she ever said to him, 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:37.000 because she never saw him again. He did not survive. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.000 And so when she came out of Auschwitz, she made a vow. 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:44.000 She told me this. She said, "I walked out of Auschwitz into life 00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:49.000 and I made a vow. And the vow was, I will never say anything 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:53.000 that couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say." 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:57.000 Now, can we do that? No. And we'll make ourselves wrong 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:05.000 and others wrong. But it is a possibility to live into. Thank you. 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:10.000 (Applause) 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:22.000 Shining eyes, shining eyes. 00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:25.000 Thank you, thank you. 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:31.000 (Music)