Hello, My name is Yuanpu
Today I'm here to share my story with music.
Why did I write the book The Colors Between Black and White" ?
I started introducing classical music in a kids program
at a broadcasting company since I was ten.
Started writing for professional music magazines at fifteen.
A lot of questions came up back then
Many can be answered through reading books and music sheets
Many cannot.
So I thought to myself: Some of these musicians are still alive
why not just go ask them?
It's simple, just knock the door and ask.
After visiting them, I gained many answers.
And of course more questions came up.
This was a very meaningful experience.
However through this experience, I wanted
to further know what exactly are these musicians thinking?
This is why I wrote "The Colours Between Black and White".
Why do these musicians perform on stage?
What do they have in common?
All I can say is:
No "real" musician exist in this world.
No matter how different their personality and background is
they all have 2 things in common
The first:
They are modest.
The second:
They are patient.
Being modest doesn't mean they are being humble to others
but means that they are humble towards music.
Therefore they always see their own flaws.
Having flaws, but they have patience.
Therefore they are willing to spend a lifetime in music
I really learned a lot from them.
Not only did I get to know these musicians through "The Colors between Black and White",
feel their passion,
I also experienced friendship.
There are 200 plus photos in "The Colours Between Black and White"
I spent eleven months
gaining copyrights for every one of them.
Many are shown to the world for the first time.
But really, this isn't the point.
The point is, I asked every musician a question.
"What driving force supports you to perform on stage again and again?"
"You often might have to play the same program 50 or 60 times,
How is it possible to perform whole-heartedly in every concert?
Why are you able to pour out your heart and soul to play?"
The answers were unexpectedly simple.
All the answers were the same
Like they planned beforehand:
"Because the audience in each concert is different!"
"I have so much to say throughout my music."
"I have so much love of music,
and each concert is filled with different people."
"Despite I may have played this song since I was little,
but the audience is never the same.
For the love of music, for the love of the audience,
I am willing to selflessly pass out this music in every concert, for everyone."
I think, this is something that I learned most while writing.
"The Colors Between Black and White" isn't my own work.
I am just a excited and compassionate witness,
recording all that I hear.
It is also throughout the love of these musicians,
am I able to be sure of one thing.
That is, when I was in Taiwan, I had a lot of speeches,
wrote a few books,
and had six columns to write.
I wrote 8 books at that time,
and during my speeches I often meet these passionate audience.
Even more passionate than you guys.
Everyone would have pen and paper in their hands, recording everything I say.
They were quite earnest.
Every time I see this type of audience,
on one hand I'm glad,
on the other hand I'm worried.
What am anxious about?
Worried that these audience will conclude that classical music
is something very deep and difficult.
That they'd need to prepare at home before going to concerts,
read books,
and listen to speeches before they can start listening to classical music.
I have to say I am grateful for these people.
If it weren't for them I'd be starving. Unemployed.
But what I'm trying to say is
When it comes to the end,
try asking all the musicians.
"What is music"?
The answers are the same.
Music exists, only when language ends.
If a person can express anything through language,
there's no reason for us to need music.
Music being able to surpass all spoken languages,
has it's own unique meaning.
Now, listen to a small section of music.
I won't say who wrote this song,
and neither will I tell you its background.
Let us just use our ears,
and listen what the music is trying to tell us.
(music)
We are now listening to a minor melody.
Listen carefully,
the music is changing to major.
Like smiling before wiping away the tears.
Is this smile from the heart?
Let us continue.
Now the music is back to the beginning.
Of course,
There are many stories to tell from this song.
A little boy,
named Mozart,
traveled to Paris all the way from Salzburg.
He tried to find a job,
but things didn't go well in Paris.
Meanwhile, his mother who accompanied him passed away.
Mozart didn't know how to face this death.
He really didn't know what to say.
He didn't even mention mother's death
on the letter he sent to his father.
But he wrote this song.
We can hear all the emotions tangled in the piece.
There's music in major to comfort himself,
and also minor to express what he couldn't say in words.
What he couldn't tell even to his own dad.
What I'm trying to say is,
if you weren't moved by the music
we just played,
you have no connection with this music.
You don't need to think of the background and story of the music
and think:
"wow poor Mozart."
"I need to have compassion when I hear this music!"
"I MUST be moved."
No.
This is unnecessary.
Every time I have speeches,
I meet people who ask me:
"So.. I'm really want to be interested in classical music,
but I don't know what to listen to.
can you please suggest some songs?"
My response is always the same:
I cannot suggest any songs.
Because I don't know you.
I don't know what kind of songs should I suggest.
You're always welcome to go on Youtube,
and see for yourself.
But if you listened to all types of songs,
from A to Z, and from Z to A,
and you realize that you like none of them,
that's also okay.
Like I said,
It's okay to not love music.
What's important is that you still have love.
I stubbornly believe that
humans must be attracted to at least one type ofart.
Maybe you don't like music,
But you like literature.
You like movies.
You like dance.
You like architecture.
Or various art.
Eventually, finding what you love.
I render this the most important.
When your life comes to a struggle,
this is what can comfort you the most.
For one,
what can most understand you is,
simply your relationship with art.
In the last part of my speech,
what I'm going to talk about is
how I myself came to know classical music.
Most people in Taiwan think of classical music
as something high-classed.
Very luxurious,
Very hard to grasp.
How did I come to know classical music?
This goes back to when I was ten.
Let's start from talking about how I talk.
In the past, I didn't talk like how I do now.
I was not like this.
Then what did I talk like?
Like him.
Okay, maybe not as serious as him.
But I did have talking problems when I was young.
I would stammer a lot.
Until one afternoon in grade four,
A teacher at school called me
to her office to hear me speak.
Why?
Because she read my essay, and thought
"This essay is amazing,
if this student can write this well,
he'll definetly win first place
if he reads out his essays in speech contests!"
My writing looked pretty bad.
That was probably why the teacher aimed for speech contests.
Writing ugly was okay,
but unfortunately I had major speaking disabilities.
Afterwards, my teacher made a decision.
She would train me in speaking well
rather than teaching me how to write pretty.
So during summer vacation in grade 4,
although this teacher didn't have any background in correcting speaking,
and didn't major in Mandarin,
she gathered her courage to train me.
That summer
I had to go to school four days a week.
She would lead me word by word,
using the slowest speed to read the newspaper.
From eight to twelve o'clock,
correcting my speaking.
Afterwards, because I started speaking "normally",
another teacher called me in, and
because he liked to broadcast during lunch time a school,
He appointed me to run a classical music program.
At that time, I had no thorough knowledge on classical music.
So I started by listening to tapes I found in the office.
There was this one tape, on side B,
Karayan composing Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra,
playing Brahms Tragische Ouverture.
No one would think of letting a ten year old little boy
listen toBrahms Tragische Ouverture.
But I remember clearly, when I listened to that music,
that feeling of electric shock.
And because of that, my program at school went well.
Later I was recommend to a broadcasting company,
to do an actual professional radio program.
Why did these two teachers do such a thing?
Are they professionals in this area?
No.
They are elementary school teachers.
Was my school special?
No.
It was nothing but plain.
There were no graduating classes when I first went in.
Six classes in a grade,
this elementary no longer exists.
It was built with contaminated sea sand,
therefore is already taken down now.
The year I was going into that school,
my mom was extremely worried.
"What kind of school is this? It's not even fully built yet."
There was no gym or field.
Other parents likely would have moved their children
cross-boundary to other schools.
My mom did something very special.
She decided:
You must capture the leader first, in order to capture his followers.
And made a phone call
directly to the school's principal.
Asking the principal to explain
how he will run this school.
"If my kid goes to this elementary to study,
how are you going to educate him?"
After this phone call,
my mother mad two decisions.
One:
I will study there.
Two:
My two sisters will also study there.
Why?
Because the person on the other side of the phone
was a principal who was full of passion and love,
and had creativity for education.
My mom made plenty mistakes before.
But this time she was right.
Maybe you find it hard to believe, actually I find it hard to imagine too,
this is something that only happens in fictional movies.
But really, this principal,
was able to move the hearts of teachers,
and have teachers voluntary use their own methods
to train students.
To let students have the ability to compete and honor the school.
Why?
To gain other for the principal. (joke)
This is a story too unique.
I can say that I benefited much from this school.
Classical music changed my life.
Everything I do now,
essays, speeches, radio broadcasting, music
all of this was decided the year I was ten.
These are not all from my two parents who are Ph.D graduates.
but from these
most hard-working
full of love
educators that do their work well in the foundations.
They created who I am.
And I am thankful.
Karayan once said:
To do music, you must have love.
Without passionate love,
it is impossible to achieve greatness in music.
I think,
not only do I love music
Today TED wanted me to talk about how much I love music.
So I say to them,
this is just like asking me to say how important
sunlight, air, and water is to me.
I don't know how!
But what I can say is
being able to meet these wonderful teachers and principal,
they are the most beautiful music in my life.
My principal died of cancer when I was in grade 7.
So I want to take this time to
tell this story about my past,
and remember him, thank him.
Of course, in the end I have to thank my parents.
Maybe these educators brought
the most wonderful music in my life,
If it hadn't been for my mom and her phone call,
she would't see the love and compassion in the principal,
and I wouldn't be standing here today.
Thank you.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community