How music influences us | James Anderson | TEDxSongshanLake

imagine a world without music no Melodies to uplift our Spirits no rhythms to make us dance and no lyrics to express the depths of our emotions how different would our lives be think about that question today I stand before you to explore the profound influence music has on our lives a force that transcends boundaries and connects us all just a few days ago I returned home and the tedex conference was looming in my mind I was I was scared to get on this stage I must admit thinking about this tedex conference did not bring joy to my heart at all it was the last thing I wanted to think about and I pondered how can I get this speech ready by Saturday and I think I was thinking about this around Monday or Tuesday but then I reminded myself I don't need to worry I have ai to help me I have Chad gbt that can write this whole speech for me if I just give it a few words and I said all right cool I'm going to go outside and I'm going to go for a walk when I go for an evening walk often um the thoughts come to my mind I get creative I'm this kind of guy so I decided to go for a walk and I was walking around with various music that was playing uh on my phone as I strolled many many songs were coming on and each were carrying different energy and captivating uh sparking the creativity within me and so amidst the Rhythm and The Melodies I wrote the spee while I was walking literally I text Elizabeth and I said I just wrote my speech I don't know how and I thought I don't really need chat gbt the music gave me it fueled my energy my creativity to write this speech today I want to share a story story with you it's of a young boy who lived in the shadow of his outgoing and more accomplished brother constantly moving along the eastern coast this family due to their parents' uh profession their job they had to move all around the United States on the Eastern Seaboard and this young boy he struggled with extreme shyness he was scared of people the thought thought of interacting with other people gave him a stomach ache he would be in the car going to school and he would get sick he would be in school and go to the nurse's office so he could go home he just wanted to be alone he didn't want to interact with people he didn't have the courage to do that one day he was listening to his more accomplished brother his piano lesson and the boy had an idea he wondered if I play the piano and sing like his brother then that would make this little boy popular too with this thought in mind he embarked on a musical Journey starting with the piano and later embracing the Cornet which is a trumpet uh and also singing in high school he discovered his remarkable what he thought his singing talent and he developed a passion for music that would last a lifetime despite this despite this feeling that he had this skill that he found he still felt alone and he even would seek soless in the uh music room during lunchtime he would get his food and he would walk to the music room he would eat he would play piano and he would sing because he would sit by himself every day and every day sitting there alone he felt sad he felt maybe even depressed and lonely and so he found the joy in the music he was able to be happy with the music that he would learn and play during his junior year he auditioned for the School Musical and secured the lead role this Shy Boy this Shy Boy he secured the lead role it was amazing as this as he stood on the stage for the first time the spotlight hit him and the music something incredible happened to him the world around him faded away his fears dissolved and he began to shine like a star in the sky in that transformative moment he realized the immense power of music it had taken this Shy Boy from the shadows and thrust him into the spotlight forever changing the course of his life this boy's musical Journey continued and he eventually had the opportunity to perform on professional stages including the Royal Albert Hall in London England he fulfilled his childhood dream of playing in a brass band which was called the New York staff band music had become his source of strength eradicating his shyness revealing the true essence of his being in this simple but yet powerful story we witness how music has the ability to transform lives ignite passions and help individuals discover their true potential now the end of the story is I'm that boy I was scared of everybody I was shy until I found music or music found me and I was able to get up on this stage for the second time and give you a speech I'm able to sing in Opera Houses all around the world including in dongwang and guango and Shenzhen and juhi but it wasn't me it was the music and my faith that gave me this fuel this this drive to change my life yeah you can clap I heard somebody clapping ah give me some encouragement okay now we all know music is very powerful so I I would like to kind of um break it down a little bit um music has an emotional healing it's remarkable it allows us to express our emotions it can provide us a solace in end during uh diffic difficult times it can uplift our Spirits it can help us heal from emotional things that change in our life stress reduction how many of you are stressed stress wow you guys must have good I don't know I'm stressed so music can help reduce our stress exercise can help reduce our stress but music is definitely a power source uh that can really reduce our stress because music we have many different genres many different feelings that can help reduce our stress uh cognitive enhancement there's been links to con cognitive benefits learning to play an instrument for instance can enhance memory attention and problem solving skills actually a lot of um Chinese parents I guess you're Chinese of course uh playing the piano touching the keys with your finger has a brain connection I'm not a doctor I'm not a scientist but there's connection playing a stringed instrument the violin or the guitar when they touch the strings there's a connection now singing I guess it's a waste of time because I'm not touching anything but according to what I learned by moving to Asia playing the piano and strings really go hand inand with academic learning and the um the development of the brain uh connection and empathy music has the power to connect us all we are all I I think we have some foreign group here we have some Chinese Group by a raise of hand how many of you like to sing all right how many of you like English music okay so it's a universal language now I'm going to try something I might butcher this but I'm going to try it anyways so just a small town girl living in a my gosh I'm going home lonely world do you guys know this song all right I want to teach you this song real quick I'm going to sing just a small town girl living in a lonely world try lonely world World ready 1 2 3 all right now I'm going to go just a small town girl living in a oh this is my choir this is beautiful can you guys all come to guango I would love it all right yes so music has power it just brought us all together through this simple tune which you didn't know which I feel like a fool I should have show was a Chinese song but I can't sing in Chinese but you guys did awesome so thank you uh motivation inspiration as I told you about my story of going for a walk it inspired me to write this speech it was quite daunting to be honest with you to get up in front of you today now if I sing a song I have no problem I can sing as many songs till you're blew in the face or till you fall asleep but speaking is much different so music gave me that inspiration for the speech today uh also therapeutic uh music has become very therapeutic there are a lot of music therapy studies out there that help people with many different issues in their lives from kids to adults um and it's a wonderful thing to see how music is really changing uh the medical industry to really help people overcome anxiety overcome stress um all of these fears and different things even into Alzheimer's and things like that there's a lot of studies that are going into music that music can become a real therapy for us now I'm going to embark on another experience experiment Now by a show of hands who likes the Olympics Games who watches the Olympic Games please raise your hands my gosh supports your countries the Olympic games are amazing now now you're picture yourself actually first close your eyes don't fall asleep close your eyes now Envision yourself representing your country whether it's China or America or a European country I don't know you have dedicated your life to this moment from the time you were a little girl or boy you were training you were going strong you were getting ready for this Olympic Games and now it's your moment your heart is filled with these mixed emotions as you prepare to enter the stadium of the Olympic Games your adrenaline surges your heart's beating fast this go faster go faster go fast feel the heartbeat heartbe heartbeat Goosebumps tingly up your arms and the music starts [Music] okay now open your eyes it finished early now how did you feel doing that feel um during that song how did you feel shout it out huh excited we felt excited what else proud yes you're proud to represent your country G anybody else how about Majestic feeling that music is very Majestic excitement Triumph you are walking into that Stadium you want to win the gold medal you want to go home with a medal inspiring actually I'll be honest with you that song is what inspired me there's a brass band arrangement I played in a professional Brass Band in New York called the New York sta band it it got me to travel all over the world with actually the top trumpet players in the world who graduated from juliard I didn't play with them I sat in the last chair in the second row playing the second part but I got to sit with that guy who was the best in the world so we've played this March before and when I was walking I don't know why but this thing got me going it got me excited now I'm not a runner so I didn't run but I was walking really fast and my speech was just coming and coming this song is a sense of unity that one song takes all of those athletes from many many different countries it unites them as one during that Olympic day ding when you're walking into that Stadium we are one big world who are competing energy it gives us energy and I I remember someone said Pride we are proud to be who we are and that's okay hey if we're American if we're Chinese if we're polish if we're Spanish it we should be proud of where we come from and where we were born you see all these emotions they're all a result of music now I want to take a moment to reflect I might ask you a few more questions I like interaction if I just speak I find it kind of boring how many of you have belted out a song at the top of your lungs may be sober drunk Perfect Harmony off key with your friends raise your hand if you've ever just sung out loud nobody come on you guys are very boring okay now another question how many have you been to KTV yes come on all your hands should go up the first thing I did when I came to China was go to a KTV they said you're a singer you got to go to a KTV so I went to a KTV after a couple years of KTV I got sick of KTV uh and I just I haven't gone back in a long time but I know that's definitely um a thing in this country now raise your hand if you've ever been dancing in the car and don't be shy who of you have just danced in the car come on you drive in a car you got to wake yourself up and some favorite songs and you dance like a fool right and the guy drives like what's wrong with a person and they keep driving how about using your dashboard as a a drum have you ever done that a few of us yes when that drum rock song comes on when I have my car in America I think I hurt my dashboard I mean I was just banging on it was fun now the last question and I know everyone must say yes how many of you have discovered the Acoustics of your shower I'm sorry shower is the best place to PR raise your hand who sings in the shower come on all right all right most of you come on as a singer we like Reverb we like Echo so I sing in the shower all the time and my neighbors really dislike me very much but I really like singing in the shower okay now I lied here's the last question how many of you have had a breakup and you listen to those sad songs to get you through your breakup raise your hand come on I have I do it on a daily basis I'm joking all right put your hands down so as you can see from your hands being raised music takes us to all different places from the shower to the car to dancing to sadness to happiness it can take us to many different places in our emotions music has a way of uplifting people bringing them together in shared experiences of Joy sadness and everything in between music unites us there are a lot of things going on in the world but one thing that brings us together as one one voice one world is music it doesn't matter if I speak English it doesn't matter if you speak Chinese we all can enjoy the same Melodies music definitely unites us and in this destructive world that we live in we need to look to something to bring us together if we use Music properly not only can we entertain we can change people's lives music changes Our Lives we can heal whether it be an emotional heal or even a physical heal we can connect music connects us possibly and potentially music can save lives music is a driving force in I think all of our Lives whether you're a professional musician or you just like to enjoy music there's a choir from the Ukraine and um they become quite big and it's really awesome to see these kids get on the stage when their countries in this in this time and they're traveling the world and they're just singing their hearts out despite of what's going on at home they're singing they love music and they want to unite people together and I think that's what we should do as a world we shouldn't let these things get in the way we shouldn't let these differences all these politics get in the way we should unite as one and using music is a great form to do that all right thank you very much

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 555

Keywords: English, Life, Music (topic), TEDxTalks, [TEDxEID:53219]

Id: Cl28WxW4xqI

Length: 17min 55sec (1075 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2024