I chose Benjamin Zander’s TED TALK “How Does Music Transform Us?” He discusses how powerful the art of music is and how much of an impact it can have on a person’s life. He describes how there are all different groups of people who appreciate classical music in different ways. He states how when he is conducting he is able to have power over the players. He explains how he doesnt make a single sound but his power makes the other people have power. He also states “if the eyes are shining you know you are doing it.” This shows that you know you are having an impact and doing the right thing when you see the shine in others eyes.When he tells the audience to think of someone they love with their entire heart, but no longer have in their life anymore it really shows how powerful classical music can be. He tells them to have that one person in your mind the entire time and you will understand everything about the music piece he was playing. He explains how this music has been able to touch many lives, and how he doesnt know it was able to touch everyone’s life but he knows for a fact it had an impact on one person in particular. He tells the story about how one boy who had never listened to classical music before, but when he played that song it brought him back to when his brother was shot. He says how he didn’t cry at the time but when that piece was played he could feel the tears running down his face. This made Benjamin truly believe in the fact that classical music is for everyone. “It really makes a difference what we say” This was one of the messages he added in at the end. It shows that you should always try to be careful what the last thing you say to a person is because you honestly never know if you will see them again. Benjamin Zander is able to prove in this TED TALK how powerful music can truly be to the society.
I too listened to this TED talk and was extremely moved by his powerful descriptions of how people were moved when they listened to classical music. I really enjoyed his talk and how he presented himself, and his delivery. I think and believe that there really aren’t any limits to the power that classical music can have on an individual. The only real limit is that not enough people are listening to the music, and in turn are unable to be impacted by. It’s really amazing how with classical music since there are no lyrics everyone interprets the song differently and is able to relate their personal encounters and relationships to the pieces. The only thing I have to say is I think you could’ve gone more in-depth about your personal opinion about the power of classical music instead of just describing what Zander thought. Other than that, I really enjoyed your free write and can’t wait to read your perspective on this TED talk.
You picked out many interesting moments and quotes from Zander’s talk. Great work. What do YOU think about music? Do you think it is as powerful as Zander thinks it is? Do you think it’s powerful enough to make a real difference in a suffering world?
Did your peers comment on your blog? If so, please let me know so I can give them credit for it. Thanks!