You know this song (but the orchestra doesn't) | Jacob Collier and VSO School of Music Orchestra

0:03You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. What I'm about to do with the musicians on stage is to create a piece of music for which we have had no rehearsal. There was no sheet music. We have had no plan or prior discussion of any kind. So none of you know what's about to happen. None of you have any idea what's about to happen. That's Jacob Collier, seven-time Grammy winner, multi-instrumentalist, and a hugely joyful force in music today. He's known for finding music in places most people wouldn't think to look and for getting everyone who's in the room with him to participate in collective music making.

0:39What you just heard isn't a description of a concept. It's actually what happened live on the TED stage with the VSO School of Music Orchestra. Collier is known for walking into a theater full of strangers and with a little conducting, making them sound like they've always been part of the same choir. He's done it with audiences of thousands. He's done it in concert halls around the world. And somehow, every time, it works. This is one of those times. Are you ready? Are you ready?

1:11It's the correct answer. It's coming up right after a short break.

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3:56What I'm about to do with the musicians on stage is to create a piece of music for which we have had no rehearsal. There was no sheet music. We have had no plan or prior discussion of any kind. So none of you know what's about to happen. None of you have any idea what's about to happen. And without further ado, let's begin. Are you ready? Are you ready?

4:19That's the correct answer. Let's start with the violins. I'd like for you to play a D. That one up there. Perfect. Keep playing that. Can you play an A next door? Could you play a G? That's the one. And a D? Perfecto. Gorgeous. Can you try tremolando? It's fun, isn't it? Back to Arco. No, tremolando's better. Cool. Harp. Actually, before I get to you, violas. Violas. Could you play a G? And you play a D? Okay, stop playing for a second. This is the tempo. So I want you guys to keep playing. Here's the tempo. And we're going to go, you're just going to play every beat. So it's going to go, dun, dun, dun, dun.

5:16Perfect. Beautiful. OK, harp. G major. We're going to do a glissando from the bottom to the top of the harp. And one, two. That's lovely. And again. Yeah, isn't that nice? One, two. Here.

5:42Vibraphone, could you put a note on the top of that? Try a G. What's the highest G on the vibraphone?

5:51That's a good one. Can you play that and the G above it? Even louder. One, two. I love that. You can stop for a second. everyone else keep going. So cello and flute. Let's see, could you play three notes and you play three notes? So your three notes are archo, it's going to be G, F sharp, E, like that, can you do that? That's so lovely. And again, flute, can you play, you're going and then you go B, A, G, like that, three, go. Try octave lower, go.

6:44That's lower, again, go.

6:49Okay, you two stop, everyone else keep going. You're gonna be going for a while, I'm sorry. So that happens two times, two times, and the second half of the, this is the verse by the way, Second half of the verse is bass, cello, clarinet. And the bass, you're going to play down the G major scale, starting on A, on the G string. Yeah, exactly. So you're going to go...

7:20Keep going. D, C, B, A, and G. Okay, stop. That's wonderful. It's superb. So, all the way down, yeah? Okay. Clarinet, can you do the same thing, but starting on C, concert C there? So, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, that make sense? Yeah? And I'd like you to play just, D, then that just goes through the whole thing. Can I hear the note? D, exactly, yeah. Okay. So, you know what to do? Start on A, start on C. D, one, two, three, go.

8:08So That's not it that's not that beautiful beautiful work, so I mean it's really good, okay Keep playing So when you land on that G when they land on the G then you two start again So it kind of loops around does that make sense? So like that. And that whole thing happens twice. So let's try the whole thing. Let's try the verse all the way through. We're going to add some harp at the beginning. So play on my signal. And let's see if we can get all the way through this. So one, two, one, two, three.

8:57And stop. Okay. Give these musicians a round of applause. Come on now. Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. So that will be our verse. But every good song needs a chorus. So this will be our chorus. Brass, are you with me? Okay, sweet. We've got tuba, trumpets, trombone, horn. Have you got a snare drum? Yeah, you've got a snare drum and a kick drum and a cymbal. You're on double duty today. Okay, fantastic. So for the chorus, I want to start with trombone, one, trumpet, one, and horn. And you have three notes each, and you play those three notes twice each. So trombone, you go G-A-D, or in trombone that's...

9:46Is that right? Let's hear it.

9:52Exactly right. Trumpet, your part is G, G, F sharp. And horn, your part is B, C sharp, D. So, that's in horn.

10:14Can you hear it? Two, three, go! And again, two, three, go!

10:25That sounds lovely. That sounds really great. So I have two changes I want to make to that. The first change is I want you to do it five times louder. And the second change is I want to add some percussion. So could you play a snare drum roll? So it's like... And then hit the kick drum and the cymbal at the same time. Can you just do that by yourself? So do the snare drum roll on beat three to landing on beat one. So it goes one, two, three, and... There you go. It's pretty good, eh? It's like I told a joke, but I couldn't think of one. OK. So you're going to do that and land on this brass thing, and you're going to do that thing twice.

11:01So let's just try that. Let's try it with drums and, like, really loud. Like, louder than it's responsible for the TED Theatre. OK, ready? So, one, two, three, and... Two, three, go! Oh.

11:21Was that loud enough for you? Just about? OK. So the second half of the chorus is, who's left? tuba, trombone, trumpet. Tuba, can you play seven notes? But don't worry, they're like in a sequence. You're going to go G, F sharp, E, D, C, which is all the G major scale, and then D, G. So it's like... You got it? Two, three, go.

11:57Yeah, that's good. Tubas are so great. I love tubas. Death. It's good vibes. Trombone. Could you go... B, A, G, G, C, C, B. Right?

12:20He's good. He's good. And then trumpet, could you play chromatic? So it starts on D. And it goes, it's a sneaky little part. It goes... Like that. Does that make sense? Starting on D up to F and back to D.

12:41Pristine. Can you do an octave lower, though? Octave lower. And let's hit everyone together. Three of you together. So, one, two, three, go. That's totally my bad. Half speed trumpet. Half speed. Yeah? One, two, three.

13:05That's gorgeous. That's lovely. You're doing so well. You're doing so well. So that whole thing happens twice as well. So the verse happens twice, and then the chorus happens twice, and the drums are only that first time. And on the repeat of the chorus, don't do the drum roll, but do do the hit and the... Does that make sense? Okay, she's amazing. So, okay, that makes sense. And after that, we're going to go straight back to the violins. So be ready. Yeah. Does everyone have something to do? Okay. When you don't have something to do, you should have said, no. Okay, so I'm going to give you a part.

13:43Your part is really simple. It goes, Can I hear that? Much louder than that. Go. You're doing it more drunkenly. Ready? And That's exactly the vibe. That's the vibe I'm talking about. So on my signal, you go, Sublime. Right. Now, I have a part too, but you don't know that part yet. But we're going to go from the top of the song, and then you're going to do your part, and we'll get to the end of the song, and then we'll be at the end. That'll be sad. So we'll do violins, and then violas, and harp, vibes, and then cello, flute, clarinet, drum bass, chorus, audience, chorus, OK, great. I think we're ready.

14:24Is everybody ready? Yes! That's the correct answer. OK, violins, you ready? One, two, three, go!

14:37One, two, three, go. One, two, three, go. One, two, three,

14:52go. There's nothing you can do that can't be done. Nothing you can sing that can't be solved There's nothing you can save that can't be saved Yeah, yeah, go There's nothing you can do but you can learn how to feel in time It's easy Plus, go, three, and All you need is love And again, go! All you need is love And All you need is love Love Love is all you need And again, one, two, three, go! All you need is love Go! Love, love, love All you need is love, yeah! Love, love, love! All you need is love, love Love is all you need One, two, three, one

16:25Love, love, love. Ready? Go. Yeah, keep singing it. Go. Go. Love, love, love. Go. Love, love, love. Prenez it.

16:52No.

16:56Love, love, love.

17:36Thank you.

17:58If you're curious about TED's curation, visit ted.com slash curationguidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED. This episode was fact-checked by the TED Research Team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sungmarnivong. Additional support from Daniela Ballarezzo, Christopher Faze-Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Banban Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lott. Learn more at podcasts.ted.com. I am Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed. Thanks for listening.

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