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Improvising on piano, aged 14

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    (Applause)
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    Thank you.
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    Thank you very much.
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    Like the speaker before me, I am -- that's the TED virgin, I guess --
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    I'm also the first time here, and I don't know what to say.
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    (Applause)
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    I'm really happy that Mr. Anderson invited me.
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    I'm really grateful that I get a chance to play for everyone.
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    And the song that I just played was by Józef Hofmann.
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    It's called "Kaleidoscope."
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    And Hofmann is a Polish pianist and composer of the late 19th century,
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    and he's widely considered one of the greatest pianists of all time.
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    I have another piece that I'd like to play for you.
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    It's called "Abegg Variations," by Robert Schumann,
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    a German 19th century composer.
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    The name "Abegg" -- "Abegg" is actually A-B-E-G-G,
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    and that's the main theme in the melody.
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    That comes from the last name of one of Schumann's female friends.
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    (Laughter)
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    But he wrote that for his wife.
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    (Laughter)
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    So, actually, if you listen carefully,
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    there's supposed to be five variations on this Abegg theme.
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    It's written around 1834, so, even though it's old,
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    I hope you like it. (Music)
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    (Applause)
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    Now comes the part that I hate.
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    Well, because Mr. Anderson told me
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    that this session is called "Sync and Flow," I was wondering,
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    "What do I know that these geniuses don't?"
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    So, I'll talk about musical composition,
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    even though I don't know where to start.
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    How do I compose?
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    I think Yamaha does a really good job of teaching us how to compose.
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    What I do first is, I make a lot of little musical ideas --
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    you can just improvise here at the piano --
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    and I choose one of those to become my main theme, my main melody,
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    like the Abegg that you just heard.
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    And once I choose my main theme I have to decide,
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    out of all the styles in music, what kind of style do I want?
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    And this year I composed a Romantic style.
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    So, for inspiration I listened to Liszt and Tchaikovsky
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    and all the great Romantic composers.
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    Next, I make the structure of the entire piece with my teachers.
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    They help me plan out the whole piece,
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    and then the hard part is filling it in with musical ideas,
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    because then you have to think. (Laughter)
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    And then, when the piece takes somewhat of a solified form --
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    solidified, excuse me -- solidified form,
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    you're supposed to actually polish the piece, polish the details,
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    and then polish the overall performance of the composition.
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    And another thing that I enjoy doing is drawing --
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    drawing, because I like to draw, you know, Japanese anime art.
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    I think that's a craze among teens right now.
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    And once I realized it,
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    there's a parallel between creating music and creating art,
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    because for your motive or your little initial idea for your drawing,
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    it's your character -- you want to decide who do you want to draw,
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    or if you want to draw an original character.
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    And then you want to decide, how are you going to draw the character?
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    Like, am I going to use one page?
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    Am I going to draw it on the computer?
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    Am I going to use a two-page spread like a comic book
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    for more grandiose effect, I guess?
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    And then you have to do the initial sketch of the character,
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    which is like your structure of a piece,
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    and then you add pen and pencil and whatever details that you need --
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    that's polishing the drawing.
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    And another thing that both of these have in common
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    is your state of mind, because I don't --
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    I'm one of those teenagers that are really easily distracted,
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    so if I'm trying to do homework, (Laughter)
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    if I'm trying to do homework and I don't feel like it,
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    I'll try to draw or, you know, waste my time.
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    And then what happens is, sometimes I absolutely can't draw
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    or I can't compose at all, and then it's like
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    there's too much on your mind.
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    You can't focus on what you're supposed to do.
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    And sometimes, if you manage to use your time wisely and work on it,
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    you'll get something out of it, but it doesn't come naturally.
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    What happens is, if something magical happens,
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    if something natural happens to you,
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    you're able to produce all this beautiful stuff instantly,
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    and then that's what I consider "flow,"
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    because that's when everything clicks and you're able to do anything.
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    You feel like you're on top of your game
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    and you can do anything you want.
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    I'm not going to play my own composition today because,
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    although I did finish it, it's way too long.
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    Instead, I'd like to try something called "improvisation."
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    I have here seven note cards,
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    one with each note of the musical alphabet,
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    and I'd like someone to come up here and choose five --
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    anyone to come up here and choose five --
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    and then I can make it into some sort of melody and I'll improvise it.
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    Wow, a volunteer, yay!
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    (Applause)
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    Nice to meet you.
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    Goldie Hawn: Thank you. Choose five?
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    Jennifer Lin: Yes, five cards. Any five cards.
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    GH: OK. One. Two. Three.
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    Oh, D and F -- too familiar.
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    (Laughter)
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    JL: One more.
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    GH: OK, E for effort.
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    JL: Would you mind reading them out in the order that you chose them?
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    GH: OK. C, G, B, A and E.
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    JL: Thank you very much.
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    GH: You're welcome. And what about these?
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    JL: I won't use them. Thank you.
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    (Applause)
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    Now, she chose C, G, B, A, E.
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    I'm going to try to put that in some sort of order. (Plays notes)
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    OK, that's nice.
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    So, I'm going to have a moment to think,
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    and I'll try to make something out of it. (Music)
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    (Applause)
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    The next song, or the encore, that I'm going to play
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    is called "Bumble Boogie," by Jack Fina.
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    (Applause)
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    (Applause)
Title:
Improvising on piano, aged 14
Speaker:
Jennifer Lin
Description:

Pianist and composer Jennifer Lin gives a magical performance, talks about the process of creativity and improvises a moving solo piece based on a random sequence of notes.

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Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
23:52
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Improvising on piano, aged 14 Oct 6, 2015, 12:50 PM
Krystian Aparta commented on English subtitles for Improvising on piano, aged 14 Oct 6, 2015, 12:42 PM
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Improvising on piano, aged 14 Oct 6, 2015, 12:42 PM
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for Improvising on piano, aged 14 Oct 6, 2015, 12:40 PM
TED edited English subtitles for Improvising on piano, aged 14 Jul 31, 2013, 12:31 PM
TED added a translation Nov 8, 2011, 1:45 AM
  • The English transcript was updated on 10/6/2015.

    Oct 6, 2015, 12:42 PM

English subtitles

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