TED Talks

Lets face it, band and orchestra as we know it today is more often than not an indicator of wealth. Learning to play an instrument it inherantly expensive. The cost of the instrument itself, lessons, materials, and the time it takes to even cross the beginner line is a barrier for many. Alex Ruthman discusses this in this video, along with his solutions to the problem.

Music works a lot like language does - except instead of words and ideas, it expresses emotions and intent. It also gives us an oxytocin boost, which plays an important role in increasing bonding and trust between people. The Showhawk Duo bonded TEDxKlagenfurt’s audience with their spectacular approach to playing the guitar. Listen to the magic they created on stage with their version of Insomnia - I can't get no sleep, Tiesto’s Adagio For Strings or the most unexpected thing you can expect on a guitar Bohemian Rhapsody.

Robb Janov is an accomplished electric violinist and national award-winning music educator who transformed a dying middle school music program into Rock and Rhythm Band™, an exciting, innovative alternative to traditional school music classes. The Rock and Rhythm Band™ program, now in its seventeenth year, has received grants from the Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, The Muzak Heart & Soul Foundation, The Mockingbird Foundation, and PNM's Classroom Innovation Grant Program. In 2010, he was chosen as the 2nd place winner in the National ING Unsung Heroes® Awards Competition presented by ING, a financial services company.

Music educator Richard Gill argues the case for igniting the imagination through music and for making our own music. In this talk, he leads the TEDxSydney audience through some surprising illustrations of the relationship between music and our imagination.

Music has a powerful effect on the brain. It is an accessible language that should be learned early but instead is being cut out of public elementary schools in the USA.

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Anita Collins shares how learning music influences our brain development, and what this means for musical education.

The theme for TEDxOxford in 2016 was “find X”. In his talk “the Science of Dubstep”, James Humberstone proposes that if this and future generations are going to “find X”, every nation needs to revolutionise education and develop cohorts of workers who can think abstractly. A composer, technologist, musicologist and music educator, Humberstone claims that music is the most abstract of all the arts and that technologically rich, culturally appropriate musical training could lead that educational revolution, turning the focus away from high stakes standardised testing and toward engaging and inspiring student-centred learning. Along the way he explains how incredible human perception of sound is, and composes a 12-tone dubstep song with the help of the TED audience!

Is songwriting really that complicated? Children’s rock performer Ralph Covert shares 4 simple steps to being a songwriter. To show how easy it can be, he creates one live on stage with the audience’s participation.

Young orchestral conductor, Nicolas Ellis, shares his passion for conducting and for one of his favorite composers.

Deconstructing what it is that makes music music, Notre Dame student Jackson Jhin uses both sound and imagery to explore the delicate balance between predictability and variability that makes the human ear (and brain) interpret harmonies as appealing—and dissonance as noise.