0:00:00.913,0:00:04.310
I'd like you to imagine[br]what it would feel like

0:00:04.334,0:00:09.381
if for two whole minutes[br]your left arm was continuously flapping,

0:00:09.405,0:00:11.947
your eyes were constantly rolling,

0:00:11.971,0:00:13.901
your jaw was clenching so hard,

0:00:13.925,0:00:16.425
that it felt like your teeth[br]were about to break.

0:00:16.725,0:00:18.432
And every ten seconds,

0:00:18.456,0:00:22.733
you were forced to let out[br]a loud, high-pitched screech.

0:00:25.149,0:00:28.156
This is how I lived[br]at the young age of six.

0:00:28.736,0:00:31.814
Every waking moment, seven days a week.

0:00:32.950,0:00:35.362
And these were only some of my symptoms.

0:00:36.298,0:00:39.798
When these symptoms surfaced,[br]my life literally changed over night.

0:00:40.395,0:00:44.593
I could no longer go to school,[br]see my friends or even eat out,

0:00:44.617,0:00:48.786
because my tics would attract[br]the attention of everyone in the room.

0:00:49.700,0:00:52.263
In search for a cure, we flew to New York

0:00:52.287,0:00:56.199
to meet with the best pediatric[br]neuropsychologist my parents could find.

0:00:59.680,0:01:02.986
But the doctor did not give us[br]the easy remedy we had hoped for.

0:01:03.530,0:01:08.093
Instead, she diagnosed me[br]with an incurable neurological disorder,

0:01:08.117,0:01:09.517
Tourette's syndrome.

0:01:10.776,0:01:14.172
Oftentimes, medication can be[br]an essential and valuable part

0:01:14.196,0:01:16.029
of many treatment processes.

0:01:16.466,0:01:19.419
But in my case, the drugs[br]only made things worse.

0:01:20.442,0:01:22.474
One drug put me in a wheelchair,

0:01:22.498,0:01:25.894
because my legs had gotten so numb,[br]that I couldn't move them.

0:01:27.157,0:01:29.323
Another one caused me to hallucinate.

0:01:29.347,0:01:31.664
I would see green people running after me,

0:01:31.688,0:01:34.506
threatening to boil me in a pot[br]and drink me as soup.

0:01:34.530,0:01:36.130
And it was really scary.

0:01:36.815,0:01:38.213
We tried drug after drug

0:01:38.237,0:01:41.241
to find something that would bring me[br]some sort of relief.

0:01:41.546,0:01:45.331
But every single attempt[br]just ended up making things worse.

0:01:47.038,0:01:52.265
It is estimated that in 2013[br]in the United States alone,

0:01:52.289,0:01:53.964
the prescription drug expenditure

0:01:53.988,0:01:56.932
to treat neurological conditions[br]and mental illness

0:01:56.956,0:02:00.903
was about 89 billion dollars annually.

0:02:01.818,0:02:04.659
But imagine if there were a way[br]to treat these conditions

0:02:04.683,0:02:08.342
without a price or without side effects.

0:02:09.112,0:02:13.073
Imagine if your doctor prescribed you[br]a daily dose of music.

0:02:14.067,0:02:18.439
I'm here today to share with you[br]my personal experience with music,

0:02:18.463,0:02:21.482
and the effect that it had[br]on my neurological disorder.

0:02:23.978,0:02:26.015
Tourette's syndrome[br]is essentially a series

0:02:26.039,0:02:29.318
of involuntary movements[br]and sounds, known as tics.

0:02:30.374,0:02:34.418
And the best way for me to really describe[br]what it's like to have Tourette's syndrome

0:02:34.442,0:02:37.093
is something I'm sure[br]you're all very familiar with --

0:02:37.117,0:02:38.498
the hiccups.

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You can try to stop yourself from the act.

0:02:40.560,0:02:44.395
You can hold your breath and count to 10,[br]or drink water upside down,

0:02:44.419,0:02:46.537
but there is just nothing[br]you can do about it

0:02:46.561,0:02:50.185
until the sensation passes[br]and the hiccups have taken their course.

0:02:51.441,0:02:55.234
I often lay on my bedroom floor[br]after an attack of tics,

0:02:55.258,0:02:57.305
feeling exhausted and in despair.

0:02:58.974,0:03:02.847
My equally desperate mother[br]would attempt to soothe me and herself

0:03:02.871,0:03:04.538
by putting on some music.

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She would play peaceful music,[br]to soothe our aching hearts.

0:03:08.664,0:03:10.347
And we'd lie together on the floor,

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and allow the beat[br]of the drums to uplift us.

0:03:13.124,0:03:15.728
And as the rhythms and the tunes unfolded,

0:03:15.752,0:03:19.053
our spirits would rise,[br]our moods would be lighter,

0:03:19.077,0:03:20.944
and we would be rejuvenated.

0:03:23.922,0:03:28.002
Very soon, and rather unknowingly,[br]I became an addict of this newfound drug.

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When I found myself slipping[br]into my bouts of sadness and self-pity,

0:03:32.736,0:03:35.299
I would rush to the 88 keys of my piano,

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knowing in my heart that the tones[br]and rhythms from each one of those keys

0:03:39.688,0:03:41.222
would soon set me free.

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At the time, I didn't realize[br]how much music was helping me.

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It was just something I did by default.

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When I wrote my songs[br]it wasn't to impress anybody,

0:03:50.537,0:03:52.003
it was just a release.

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But the more I played,[br]the less my symptoms surfaced,

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and the intensity of my attacks reduced.

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So I became curious as to how[br]these songs were soothing my symptoms.

0:04:02.260,0:04:06.462
And I wondered if there were[br]any other cases of medicinal music.

0:04:07.641,0:04:09.041
So I began to search.

0:04:10.768,0:04:13.734
I found that there was[br]a highly successful US congresswoman,

0:04:13.758,0:04:16.202
Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head.

0:04:16.560,0:04:18.560
She lost her ability to speak.

0:04:19.187,0:04:22.122
Because the ability to speak[br]and the ability to sing

0:04:22.146,0:04:24.339
lay in two separate parts of the brain,

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her doctors brought in[br]music therapist to work with her.

0:04:27.887,0:04:30.283
The therapist encouraged her[br]to sing her thoughts,

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since she was incapable of speaking them.

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And through this technique,

0:04:33.856,0:04:37.352
the congresswoman was finally able[br]to regain her speech.

0:04:37.697,0:04:39.897
Music helped heal Gabby Giffords.

0:04:41.720,0:04:45.641
Scientists have found that music causes[br]our brains to release a natural painkiller

0:04:45.665,0:04:47.133
known as oxytocin,

0:04:47.157,0:04:49.315
and a feel-good chemical dopamine.

0:04:49.625,0:04:52.260
Dopamine is essential[br]for a healthy nervous system,

0:04:52.284,0:04:54.817
and strongly impacts emotional health.

0:04:55.149,0:04:59.005
Music also affects our heart rate,[br]breathing and pulse rate,

0:04:59.029,0:05:00.829
as it stimulates blood flow.

0:05:01.243,0:05:04.092
In addition, it lowers[br]our cortisol levels,

0:05:04.116,0:05:05.616
thus reducing anxiety,

0:05:05.640,0:05:08.818
which is a common stimulant[br]for neurological symptoms.

0:05:10.122,0:05:14.399
In our lifetimes, we are all going to know[br]someone with a neurological disorder.

0:05:15.050,0:05:16.804
If it's not a family member,

0:05:18.019,0:05:20.352
it could be a friend or a coworker.

0:05:20.784,0:05:23.117
Please help me spread this message.

0:05:23.474,0:05:27.233
Music has the ability to uplift our lives[br]and heal us from within.

0:05:28.616,0:05:30.251
I still have Tourette's syndrome,

0:05:30.275,0:05:32.531
I deal with it every day, every hour.

0:05:32.555,0:05:34.997
I'm going to deal with it[br]for the rest of my life.

0:05:35.021,0:05:38.537
And that means that I have to frequently[br]excuse myself from my classroom,

0:05:38.561,0:05:41.582
because my verbal tics[br]can be extremely distracting.

0:05:41.958,0:05:45.149
That means that sometimes[br]when I wink my eyes involuntarily,

0:05:45.173,0:05:48.053
the guy sitting opposite from me[br]thinks I'm flirting with him

0:05:48.077,0:05:49.315
when I'm really not.

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And I have to tell him, "Sorry,[br]I wasn't trying to flirt."

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But the most amazing thing is

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that when I sing, play music[br]and even just listen to music,

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I don't tic.

0:06:02.974,0:06:06.744
I've been onstage numerous times[br]in highly stressful situations,

0:06:06.768,0:06:09.196
with thousands of people watching me.

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And while I do tic before my performance,

0:06:12.823,0:06:16.175
when the music starts,[br]the tics take a back seat.

0:06:17.993,0:06:22.795
So, I may have written my own lyrics[br]and composed my own music,

0:06:22.819,0:06:26.952
but in reality I realized[br]it was the music that composed me.

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Thank you.

0:06:28.920,0:06:35.911
(Applause)

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(Music)

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I think I took my mask off too soon.

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'Cause you were there[br]and then you were not

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I think I pushed it all onto you

0:07:20.739,0:07:22.675
I should have dragged it out

0:07:22.699,0:07:23.934
dragged it out

0:07:23.958,0:07:30.545
I think that maybe each time[br]I lose a bit of myself I put it back on

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Just to fake ti till I break[br]my own heart in two

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And oh I wanted you

0:07:42.691,0:07:45.937
To know the real me

0:07:45.961,0:07:48.743
And take it seriously

0:07:51.465,0:07:52.636
But now

0:07:52.660,0:07:54.167
I'm not loving you

0:07:54.191,0:07:55.866
I'm not loving you

0:07:55.890,0:07:59.285
I'm not loving you

0:07:59.309,0:08:01.206
I thought I could trust you

0:08:01.679,0:08:05.879
But you're running away[br]from me and my mask

0:08:05.903,0:08:07.546
I'm not loving you

0:08:07.570,0:08:09.234
I'm not loving you

0:08:09.258,0:08:11.753
I'm not loving you

0:08:18.416,0:08:20.806
right now

0:08:21.490,0:08:25.147
I think I took my mask off too soon

0:08:25.171,0:08:28.108
because you screamed when I pulled it off

0:08:28.132,0:08:32.967
You told me you were[br]unprepared and like that

0:08:32.991,0:08:34.821
just like that

0:08:34.845,0:08:41.642
I think that maybe this time[br]it hurt more than it ever has before

0:08:41.666,0:08:46.540
I think maybe this blow[br]I took was a little more

0:08:46.564,0:08:49.093
a little more

0:08:49.876,0:08:53.010
And oh I wanted you

0:08:53.034,0:08:55.309
To know the real me

0:08:56.532,0:08:59.203
And take it seriously

0:09:02.001,0:09:03.152
But now

0:09:03.176,0:09:04.781
I’m not loving you

0:09:04.805,0:09:06.398
I'm not loving you

0:09:06.422,0:09:08.825
I'm not loving you

0:09:09.894,0:09:12.217
I thought I could trust you

0:09:12.241,0:09:16.518
but you're running away[br]from me and my mask

0:09:16.542,0:09:18.212
I'm not loving you

0:09:18.236,0:09:19.917
I'm not loving you

0:09:19.941,0:09:22.505
I'm not loving you

0:09:29.680,0:09:32.738
right now

0:09:33.183,0:09:38.944
(Applause)