The transformative power of classical music | Benjamin Zander | TED

Translator: Theodor Klostergaard Reviewer: Jens Genders

Probably a lot of you know the story of the two salesmen

Der er sikkert mange af jer, som kender historien om de to sælgere

who went down to Africa in the 1900s.

der tog til Afrika i 1900-tallet.

They were sent down to find if there was any opportunity

De blev sendt afsted for at undersøge mulighederne

for at sælge sko.

for selling shoes,

and they wrote telegrams back to Manchester.

Og de skrev telegrammer tilbage til Manchester.

And one of them wrote,

En af dem skrev: "Situation håbløs. Stop.

"Situation hopeless. Stop. They don't wear shoes."

De går ikke med sko."

And the other one wrote,

Og den anden skrev: "Oplagt mulighed.

"Glorious opportunity. They don't have any shoes yet."

De har ingen sko endnu."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, there's a similar situation in the classical music world,

Indenfor klassisk musik har vi en lignende situation

because there are some people who think that classical music is dying.

fordi nogle folk mener

at klassisk musik er ved at dø.

And there are some of us who think you ain't seen nothing yet.

Og nogle af os siger: "I kan bare vente jer!"

And rather than go into statistics and trends,

I stedet for at fortælle om statistikker og tendenser

and tell you about all the orchestras that are closing,

og fortælle jer om alle de orkestre, som er ved at lukke

and the record companies that are folding,

og de pladeselskaber, der giver op

I thought we should do an experiment tonight.

syntes jeg, vi skulle lave et eksperiment her til aften.

Actually, it's not really an experiment, because I know the outcome.

Faktisk er det ikke et rigtigt eksperiment, fordi jeg kender udfaldet.

(Laughter)

But it's like an experiment.

Men det minder om et eksperiment. Okay, før vi -

Now, before we start --

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Before we start, I need to do two things.

- før vi starter, må jeg bede jer om to ting:

One is I want to remind you of what a seven-year-old child

For det første vil jeg bede jer huske på, hvordan en syv-årig

sounds like when he plays the piano.

lyder, når han spiller klaver.

Maybe you have this child at home.

Måske har I sådan et barn derhjemme.

He sounds something like this.

Han lyder cirka sådan her:

(Music)

(Klaver)

(Music ends)

I see some of you recognize this child.

Jeg kan se, nogen af jer genkender barnet.

Hvis han nu øver sig i et år og får undervisning, er han nu otte

Now, if he practices for a year and takes lessons, he's now eight

and he sounds like this.

(Music)

og lyder sådan her:

(Klaver)

(Music ends)

He practices for another year and takes lessons -- he's nine.

Så øver han sig i endnu et år og får undervisning; han er nu ni:

(Music)

(Klaver)

(Music ends)

Then he practices for another year and takes lessons -- now he's 10.

Så øver han sig igen et år og får undervisning; han er nu ti:

(Klaver)

(Music)

(Music ends)

At that point, they usually give up.

På dette tidspunkt giver de som regel op.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

(Applause)

(Bifald)

Now, if you'd waited for one more year, you would have heard this.

Hvis I havde ventet et år mere

ville I have hørt dette:

(Music)

(Klaver)

(Music ends)

Now, what happened was not maybe what you thought,

Det, som skete, var ikke, hvad I måske tror

which is, he suddenly became passionate, engaged,

nemlig, at han pludselig blev lidenskabelig, engageret

involved, got a new teacher, he hit puberty, or whatever it is.

involverede sig, fik en ny lærer, kom i puberteten eller hvad det nu er.

Der skete faktisk det, at impulserne blev reducerede.

What actually happened was the impulses were reduced.

You see, the first time, he was playing with an impulse on every note.

Ser I, første gang spillede han

med en impuls på hver tone.

(Music)

(Klaver)

And the second, with an impulse every other note.

Og anden gang med en impuls på hveranden tone.

(Music)

(Klaver)

You can see it by looking at my head.

I kan se det ved at kigge på mit hoved.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

The nine-year-old put an impulse on every four notes.

Den ni-årige

lagde en impuls på hver fjerde tone.

(Klaver)

(Music)

The 10-year-old, on every eight notes.

Og den ti-årige på hver ottende tone.

(Klaver)

(Music)

And the 11-year-old, one impulse on the whole phrase.

Og den 11-årige en impuls for hele frasen.

(Klaver)

(Music)

I don't know how we got into this position.

Jeg ved ikke rigtig, hvordan jeg endte i denne position.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

I didn't say, "I'm going to move my shoulder over, move my body."

Jeg sagde ikke, at jeg ville flytte min skulder, flytte min krop.

Nej, musikken skubbede til mig,

No, the music pushed me over,

which is why I call it one-buttock playing.

jeg kalder det for en-balle musik.

(Music)

(Klaver)

It can be the other buttock.

Det kan være den anden balle.

(Klaver)

(Music)

You know, a gentleman was once watching a presentation I was doing,

En herre overværede engang en præsentation, jeg lavede

hvor jeg arbejde med en ung pianist.

when I was working with a young pianist.

Han var direktør for en virksomhed i Ohio.

He was the president of a corporation in Ohio.

Jeg arbejdede med den unge pianist

I was working with this young pianist, and said,

"The trouble with you is you're a two-buttock player.

og sagde: "Dit problem er, at du er en to-balle musiker.

Du burde være en en-balle musiker."

You should be a one-buttock player."

I moved his body while he was playing.

Jeg bevægede hans krop sådan her, mens han spillede.

And suddenly, the music took off. It took flight.

Og pludselig løftede musikken sig. Den fik vinger.

The audience gasped when they heard the difference.

Der gik et suk igennem tilhørerne, da de hørte forskellen.

Then I got a letter from this gentleman.

Bagefter fik jeg et brev fra denne herre.

He said, "I was so moved.

Han skrev: "Jeg blev dybt berørt.

Jeg tog tilbage og forandrede hele mit firma

I went back and I transformed my entire company

into a one-buttock company."

til et en-balle firma."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, the other thing I wanted to do is to tell you about you.

Den anden ting jeg ville fortælle om, handler om jer.

Der er cirka 1600 mennesker.

There are 1,600 people, I believe.

My estimation is that probably 45 of you

Jeg vil tro, at omkring 45 af jer

are absolutely passionate about classical music.

er meget lidenskabelige omkring klassisk musik.

You adore classical music. Your FM is always on that classical dial.

I elsker klassisk musik. Radioen står altid på klassisk.

You have CDs in your car, and you go to the symphony,

I har CD'er i bilen og I går til koncerter.

your children are playing instruments.

Jeres børn spiller et instrument.

I kan ikke forestille jer et liv uden klassisk musik.

You can't imagine your life without classical music.

That's the first group, quite small.

Det er den første gruppe - en ret lille gruppe.

Then there's another bigger group.

Så er der en anden, større gruppe:

The people who don't mind classical music.

Det er de folk, som ikke har noget imod klassisk musik

(Laughter)

(Latter)

You know, you've come home from a long day,

I kommer hjem efter en lang dag

and you take a glass of wine, and you put your feet up.

tager jer et glas vin og smækker benene op.

A little Vivaldi in the background doesn't do any harm.

Lidt Vivaldi i baggrunden gør ikke nogen skade.

(Latter)

That's the second group.

Det er den anden gruppe.

Now comes the third group:

Så kommer vi til den tredie gruppe.

people who never listen to classical music.

Det er de folk, som aldrig lytter til klassisk musik.

Det er simpelthen ikke en del af jeres liv.

It's just simply not part of your life.

You might hear it like second-hand smoke at the airport ...

I hører det måske ligesom passiv rygning i lufthavnen, men -

(Latter)

(Laughter)

-- and maybe a little bit of a march from "Aida"

- og måske et lille smule af en march fra Aida

når I kommer til indgangshallen. Men ellers hører I det aldrig.

when you come into the hall.

But otherwise, you never hear it.

That's probably the largest group.

Det er sikkert den største gruppe.

Og så er der en meget lille gruppe.

And then there's a very small group.

These are the people who think they're tone-deaf.

Det er de mennesker, der tror, de er tonedøve.

Et utroligt antal mennesker tror, de er tonedøve.

Amazing number of people think they're tone-deaf.

Actually, I hear a lot, "My husband is tone-deaf."

Faktisk hører jeg tit: "Min mand er tonedøv."

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Actually, you cannot be tone-deaf.

Faktisk kan du ikke være tonedøv. Ingen er tonedøve.

Nobody is tone-deaf.

Hvis du var tonedøv, kunne du ikke skifte gear

If you were tone-deaf, you couldn't change the gears

on your car, in a stick shift car.

i bilen - med manuelt gearskifte.

You couldn't tell the difference between

Du kunne ikke kende forskel mellem

somebody from Texas and somebody from Rome.

en fra Texas og en der kommer fra Rom.

Og telefonen - hvis din mor ringer dig op

And the telephone. The telephone.

If your mother calls

on the miserable telephone, she calls and says, "Hello,"

på den forfærdelige telefon og siger: "Hallo"

you not only know who it is, you know what mood she's in.

ved du ikke blot, hvem det er. Du ved også hvilket humør, hun er i.

You have a fantastic ear. Everybody has a fantastic ear.

Du har et fantastisk øre. Alle har et fantastisk øre.

So nobody is tone-deaf.

Så ingen er tonedøve.

But I tell you what.

Men det virker ikke for mig at gå videre med dette

It doesn't work for me to go on with this thing,

with such a wide gulf between those who understand,

med så stort et gab mellem de, der forstår

love and are passionate about classical music,

elsker og er lidenskabelige omkring klassisk musik

og de som overhovedet ikke har noget forhold til det.

and those who have no relationship to it at all.

The tone-deaf people, they're no longer here.

De tonedøve mennesker er her ikke længere.

Men selv mellem disse tre kategorier er det for stort et gab.

But even between those three categories,

it's too wide a gulf.

So I'm not going to go on until every single person in this room,

Så jeg går ikke videre, før hver eneste person i salen

nedenunder og i Aspen, og alle der kigger med

downstairs and in Aspen, and everybody else looking,

will come to love and understand classical music.

har lært at elske og forstå klassisk musik.

Det skal vi så til nu.

So that's what we're going to do.

Now, you notice that there is not the slightest doubt in my mind

I bemærker, at jeg ikke er den mindste smule i tvivl om

that this is going to work, if you look at my face, right?

at det kommer til at virke, når I ser på mit ansigt, ikke?

It's one of the characteristics of a leader that he not doubt

Det er et af kendetegnene ved en leder, at han ikke tvivler

for one moment the capacity of the people he's leading

et sekund på evnerne hos de folk, han leder

to realize whatever he's dreaming.

til realisere, hvad han end drømmer.

Forestil jer, at Martin Luther King havde sagt: "Jeg har en drøm.

Imagine if Martin Luther King had said, "I have a dream.

Of course, I'm not sure they'll be up to it."

Men jeg er selvfølgelig ikke sikker på, de kan klare det."

(Latter)

(Laughter)

All right. So I'm going to take a piece of Chopin.

Okay. Jeg tager et af Chopins stykker.

This is a beautiful prelude by Chopin.

Det er et smukt præludie af Chopin, som nogle af jer måske kender.

Some of you will know it.

(Music)

(Musik)

Ved I, hvad jeg tror skete her i salen?

Do you know what I think probably happened here?

When I started, you thought, "How beautiful that sounds."

Da jeg startede, tænkte I: "Det lyder smukt."

(Musik)

(Music)

"I don't think we should go to the same place

"Jeg tror ikke, vi skal tage det samme sted hen

på sommerferie til næste år."

for our summer holidays next year."

(Latter)

(Laughter)

It's funny, isn't it?

Det er sjovt, ikke? Det er sjovt, hvordan de tanker

It's funny how those thoughts kind of waft into your head.

ligesom driver ind i dit hoved.

Og selvfølgelig -

And of course --

(Bifald)

(Applause)

Of course, if the piece is long and you've had a long day,

- hvis stykket er langt og du har haft en lang dag

you might actually drift off.

falder du måske ligefrem i søvn.

Then your companion will dig you in the ribs

Så skubber din sidemand dig i siden

and say, "Wake up! It's culture!" And then you feel even worse.

og siger: "Vågn op! Det er kultur!" Og så har du det endnu værre.

(Laughter)

Men er det nogensinde faldet dig ind, at grunden til du føler dig søvnig

But has it ever occurred to you that the reason you feel sleepy

in classical music is not because of you, but because of us?

ved klassisk musik er ikke på grund af dig, men på grund af os?

Did anybody think while I was playing,

Var der nogen, mens jeg spillede, som tænkte:

"Why is he using so many impulses?"

"Hvorfor bruger han så mange impulser?"

If I'd done this with my head you certainly would have thought it.

Hvis jeg havde gjort sådan her med hovedet, ville I helt sikkert.

(Music)

(Musik)

(Music ends)

I resten af dit liv - hver gang du hører klassisk musik

And for the rest of your life, every time you hear classical music,

- vil du vide, om du hører de impulser.

you'll always be able to know if you hear those impulses.

Lad os se på, hvad der virkelig foregår.

So let's see what's really going on here.

Vi har et B. Det her er et B. Den næste tone er C.

We have a B. This is a B.

The next note is a C.

And the job of the C is to make the B sad.

Og C'ets opgave er at gøre B'et trist. Det gør det faktisk, ikke?

And it does, doesn't it?

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Composers know that.

Det ved komponister. Hvis de vil have trist musik

If they want sad music, they just play those two notes.

spiller de bare de to toner.

(Musik)

(Music)

But basically, it's just a B, with four sads.

I bund og grund er det bare et B med fire trister.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Now, it goes down to A.

Nu går det ned til A. Nu til G og så til F.

Now to G.

And then to F.

So we have B, A, G, F.

Så vi har B, A, G, F. Og når vi har B, A, G, F

And if we have B, A, G, F,

what do we expect next?

hvad forventer vi så kommer? Åh, det var vist bare held.

(Music)

That might have been a fluke.

Let's try it again.

Lad os prøve igen. Åhh - TED koret.

(Music)

Oh, the TED choir.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Læg mærke til, at ingen er tonedøve, ikke? Ingen.

And you notice nobody is tone-deaf, right?

Nobody is.

Ser I, hver landsby i Bangladesh

You know, every village in Bangladesh

og hver lille flække i Kina. Alle ved at:

and every hamlet in China -- everybody knows:

da, da, da, da -- da.

da, da, da, da - da. Alle ved, at de kan forvente det E.

Everybody knows, who's expecting that E.

Men Chopin ønskede ikke at ramme E'et der

Chopin didn't want to reach the E there,

because what will have happened?

for hvad ville der så være sket? Det ville være slut. Ligesom Hamlet.

It will be over, like Hamlet. Do you remember?

Kan I huske Hamlet? 1. akt, 3. scene:

Act One, scene three,

he finds out his uncle killed his father.

Han finder ud af, at hans onkel dræbte hans far.

I husker nok, at han bliver ved med at gå hen til sin onkel

He keeps on going up to his uncle and almost killing him.

og næsten dræbe ham. Så trækker han sig tilbage

og han går hen til ham igen og slår ham næsten ihjel.

And then he backs away, he goes up to him again, almost kills him.

Alle kritikerne, der sidder nede på bageste række

The critics sitting in the back row there,

er nødt til at have en mening, og de siger: "Hamlet kan ikke tage sig sammen."

they have to have an opinion, so they say, "Hamlet is a procrastinator."

(Latter)

Eller de siger: "Hamlet har et Ødipus-kompleks."

Or they say, "Hamlet has an Oedipus complex."

No, otherwise the play would be over, stupid.

Nej, dit fjols - ellers ville stykket jo være slut.

(Laughter)

Det er derfor Shakespeare skriver alt det i Hamlet.

That's why Shakespeare puts all that stuff in Hamlet --

Ophelia going mad, the play within the play,

Ofelia der bliver vanvittig, skuespillet inde i skuespillet

and Yorick's skull, and the gravediggers.

og Yoricks kranium og graverne.

That's in order to delay --

Det er for at forsinke - indtil 5. akt hvor han kan dræbe ham.

until Act Five, he can kill him.

Det er det samme med Chopin. Han er lige ved at nå E'et

It's the same with the Chopin.

He's just about to reach the E,

and he says, "Oops, better go back up and do it again."

og så siger han: "Hov, jeg må hellere lige gå op og gøre det igen."

Så gør han det igen.

So he does it again.

Now, he gets excited.

(Music)

Nu bliver han ophidset - det her er ophidselse

That's excitement, don't worry about it.

det behøver I ikke bekymre jer om.

Now, he gets to F-sharp, and finally he goes down to E,

Nu kommer han til Fis og endelig ned til E

men det er den forkerte akkord. Fordi akkorden han søger

but it's the wrong chord --

because the chord he's looking for is this one,

er denne her og i stedet gør han...

and instead he does ...

Det kalder vi en skuffende kadence, fordi den bedrager os.

Now, we call that a deceptive cadence,

because it deceives us.

I tell my students, "If you have a deceptive cadence,

Jeg siger altid til mine elever: "Hvis du har en skuffende kadence

så husk at hæve øjenbrynet, så alle kan se det."

raise your eyebrows, and everybody will know."

(Latter)

(Laughter)

(Applause)

(Bifald)

Right.

Okay. Så han kommer til E, men det er den forkerte akkord.

He gets to E, but it's the wrong chord.

Han prøver E igen. Den akkord duer ikke.

Now, he tries E again.

That chord doesn't work.

Han prøver E'et igen. Den akkord duer ikke.

Now, he tries the E again. That chord doesn't work.

Now, he tries E again, and that doesn't work.

Han prøver E igen og det virker ikke.

And then finally ...

Og til sidst...

Der var en herre på forreste række, som sagde: "Mmm..."

There was a gentleman in the front row who went, "Mmm."

(Laughter)

It's the same gesture he makes when he comes home

Det er den samme bevægelse, som når han kommer hjem

efter en lang dag - slukker for bilen og siger:

after a long day, turns off the key in his car and says,

"Aah, I'm home."

"Ahh, jeg er hjemme." Fordi vi ved, hvor hjem er.

Because we all know where home is.

So this is a piece which goes from away to home.

Det her er altså et stykke, som tager hjemmefra.

I'm going to play it all the way through and you're going to follow.

Og jeg spiller det hele igennem

og I følger det. B, C, B, C, B, C, B -

B, C, B, C, B, C, B --

down to A, down to G, down to F.

ned til A, ned til G, ned til F.

Almost goes to E, but otherwise the play would be over.

Går næsten til E, men så ville stykket være forbi.

He goes back up to B, he gets very excited.

Han går tilbage til B. Han bliver meget ophidset. Går til Fis. Går til E.

Goes to F-sharp. Goes to E.

Det er den forkerte akkord. Den forkerte akkord. Den forkerte akkord.

It's the wrong chord. It's the wrong chord.

And finally goes to E, and it's home.

Og til sidst til E, og det er hjem.

And what you're going to see is one-buttock playing.

I kommer til at se en-balle spillen.

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Because for me, to join the B to the E,

Fordi for at jeg kan forbinde B'et til E'et

I have to stop thinking about every single note along the way,

bliver jeg nødt til at lade være med at tænke på hver enkelt tone

og begynde at tænke på den lange, lange linie fra B til E.

and start thinking about the long, long line from B to E.

You know, we were just in South Africa, and you can't go to South Africa

Vi har lige været i Sydafrika, og man kan ikke tage til Sydafrika

uden at tænke på Mandela i fængsel i 27 år.

without thinking of Mandela in jail for 27 years.

What was he thinking about? Lunch?

Hvad tænkte han på? Frokost?

No, he was thinking about the vision for South Africa

Nej, han tænkte på sin vision for Sydafrika

and for human beings.

og for menneskene. Det var det, der holdt -

This is about vision. This is about the long line.

det her handler om visionen; det handler om den lange linie.

Like the bird who flies over the field

Som fuglen der flyver over marken

and doesn't care about the fences underneath, all right?

og er ligeglad med skellene under sig, ikke?

So now, you're going to follow the line all the way from B to E.

Så nu følger I linien hele vejen fra B til E.

And I've one last request before I play this piece all the way through.

Jeg har en sidste anmodning, inden jeg spiller stykket igennem:

Would you think of somebody who you adore,

Tænk venligst på en person du beundrer, som ikke er her længere.

who's no longer there?

En elsket bedstemor, en elsker

A beloved grandmother, a lover --

somebody in your life who you love with all your heart,

en person i dit liv, som du elsker med hele dit hjerte

men den person er ikke længere hos dig.

but that person is no longer with you.

Bring that person into your mind,

Hold den person i tankerne samtidig med

and at the same time,

at du følger linien hele vejen fra B til E

follow the line all the way from B to E,

and you'll hear everything that Chopin had to say.

og så vil du høre alt, Chopin havde at sige.

(Musik)

(Music)

(Music ends)

(Applause)

(Bifald)

Det kan være I undrer jer over -

Now, you may be wondering --

(Applause)

det kan være I undrer jer over, hvorfor jeg klapper.

(Applause ends)

You may be wondering why I'm clapping.

Well, I did this at a school in Boston

Altså, jeg lavede det her på en skole i Bostonn

with about 70 seventh graders, 12-year-olds.

for cirka 70 7. klasses elever - 12-årige.

I did exactly what I did with you,

Jeg gjorde præcist som med jer og fortalte dem

and I explained the whole thing.

og forklarede dem det hele.

Til allersidst klappede de som besatte. De klappede.

At the end, they went crazy, clapping.

I was clapping. They were clapping.

Jeg klappede. De klappede.

Finally, I said, "Why am I clapping?"

Til sidst sagde jeg: "Hvorfor klapper jeg?"

And one of them said, "Because we were listening."

Og et af børnene svarede: "Fordi vi lyttede efter."

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Think of it. 1,600 people, busy people,

Tænk engang. 1600 mennesker, travle mennesker

som arbejder med alt muligt forskelligt.

involved in all sorts of different things,

listening, understanding and being moved

Som lytter, forstår og bliver bevæget af et stykke af Chopin.

by a piece by Chopin.

Now, that is something.

Det er da noget.

Am I sure that every single person followed that,

Er jeg nu sikker på, at hver enkelt person kunne følge det

understood it, was moved by it?

forstod det, blev bevæget af det? Selvfølgelig kan jeg ikke være sikker.

Of course, I can't be sure.

But I'll tell you what happened to me in Ireland

Men jeg skal fortælle, hvad der skete for mig.

Jeg var i Irland under urolighederne for 10 år siden

during the Troubles, 10 years ago,

and I was working with some Catholic and Protestant kids

og her arbejdede jeg med katolske og protestantiske børn

on conflict resolution.

på konflikthåndtering. Og jeg lavede det her med dem.

And I did this with them --

a risky thing to do, because they were street kids.

Lidt risikabelt at gøre, da de var gadebørn.

En af dem kom hen til mig næste morgen og sagde:

And one of them came to me the next morning

and he said,

"You know, I've never listened to classical music in my life,

"Jeg har faktisk aldrig lyttet til klassisk musik før

but when you played that shopping piece ..."

men da du spillede det dersens shopping stykke..."

(Latter)

(Laughter)

He said, "My brother was shot last year and I didn't cry for him.

Han sagde: "Da min bror blev skudt sidste år, græd jeg ikke over ham.

But last night, when you played that piece,

Men da du spillede det stykke i går

he was the one I was thinking about.

var det ham, jeg tænkte på.

And I felt the tears streaming down my face.

Og jeg kunne mærke tårerne løbe ned ad kinderne.

And it felt really good to cry for my brother."

Ved du hvad? Det føltes rigtig godt at græde over min bror."

So I made up my mind at that moment

I det øjeblik besluttede jeg mig for

at klassisk musik er for alle. Alle.

that classical music is for everybody.

Everybody.

Now, how would you walk --

Hvordan ville du gå - for ser I

my profession, the music profession doesn't see it that way.

min profession, musik professionen ser det ikke på den måde.

They say three percent of the population likes classical music.

De siger, at tre procent af befolkningen kan lide klassisk musik.

Hvis bare vi kunne komme på fire procent, ville vore problemer være ovre.

If only we could move it to four percent, our problems would be over.

(Laughter)

How would you walk? How would you talk? How would you be?

Jeg siger: "Hvordan ville du gå? Hvordan ville du tale? Hvordan ville du være

hvis du mente, at tre procent af befolkningen kan lide klassisk musik?

If you thought, "Three percent of the population likes classical music,

if only we could move it to four percent."

Hvis bare vi kunne komme på fire procent. Hvordan ville du gå?

How would you walk or talk? How would you be?

Hvordan ville du tale? Hvordan ville du være

If you thought, "Everybody loves classical music --

hvis du mente, at alle elsker klassisk musik -

de har bare ikke opdaget det endnu."

they just haven't found out about it yet."

(Latter)

See, these are totally different worlds.

Det er to vidt forskellige verdener.

Now, I had an amazing experience.

Jeg havde en fantastisk oplevelse. Jeg var 45 år

I was 45 years old,

jeg havde dirigeret i 20 år, og jeg indså pludselig at:

I'd been conducting for 20 years,

and I suddenly had a realization.

The conductor of an orchestra doesn't make a sound.

Orkestrets dirigent laver ikke en eneste lyd.

My picture appears on the front of the CD --

Det er mit billede på forsiden af CD'en -

(Latter)

(Laughter)

But the conductor doesn't make a sound.

- men dirigenten laver ikke en eneste lyd.

He depends, for his power,

Han får sin kraft gennem sin evne til at gøre andre kraftfulde.

on his ability to make other people powerful.

Og det ændrede alt for mig. Det var en total ændring af mit liv.

And that changed everything for me.

It was totally life-changing.

People in my orchestra said,

Folk fra mit orkester kom hen til mig og sagde:

"Ben, what happened?" That's what happened.

"Ben, hvad er der sket?" Det er det, der skete.

Jeg indså, at min opgave var at vække mulighederne i andre mennesker.

I realized my job was to awaken possibility in other people.

Og selvfølgelig ville jeg gerne vide om det var det, jeg gjorde.

And of course, I wanted to know whether I was doing that.

Ved I hvordan man finder ud af det? Man ser på deres øjne.

How do you find out?

You look at their eyes.

Hvis deres øjne stråler, ved du, at du gør det.

If their eyes are shining, you know you're doing it.

You could light up a village with this guy's eyes.

Du kunne oplyse en landsby med den her fyrs øjne.

(Latter)

(Laughter)

Right. So if the eyes are shining, you know you're doing it.

Okay. Så hvis øjnene stråler, ved du, at du gør det.

Hvis øjnene ikke stråler, får du lov at stille et spørgsmål.

If the eyes are not shining, you get to ask a question.

Og her er spørgsmålet:

And this is the question:

"Hvem er jeg, siden mine spilleres øjne ikke stråler?"

who am I being

that my players' eyes are not shining?

We can do that with our children, too.

Vi kan også gøre det med vore børn.

Who am I being,

Hvem er jeg, siden mine børns øjne ikke stråler?

that my children's eyes are not shining?

That's a totally different world.

Det er en helt anden verden.

Now, we're all about to end this magical, on-the-mountain week,

Vi skal nu til at afslutte denne magiske uge på bjerget

we're going back into the world.

og er på vej tilbage til verden.

And I say, it's appropriate for us to ask the question,

Jeg vil mene, det er passende at stille os selv det spørgsmål:

who are we being as we go back out into the world?

Hvem er vi, når vi går ud igen i verden?

And you know, I have a definition of success.

Jeg har en definition på succes.

For me, it's very simple.

Det er meget enkelt for mig. Det handler ikke om rigdom, berømmelse og magt.

It's not about wealth and fame and power.

Det handler om, hvor mange strålende øjne jeg har omkring mig,

It's about how many shining eyes I have around me.

So now, I have one last thought,

Nu har jeg bare en sidste tanke, som handler om

which is that it really makes a difference what we say --

at det gør en forskel, hvad vi siger.

De ord der kommer ud af vores mund.

the words that come out of our mouth.

Jeg lærte det af en kvinde, som overlevede Auschwitz

I learned this from a woman who survived Auschwitz,

one of the rare survivors.

en af de få overlevende.

She went to Auschwitz when she was 15 years old.

Hun kom til Auschwitz, da hun var 15 år gammel

And ...

og hendes bror var otte, og forældrene var forsvundet.

And her brother was eight,

and the parents were lost.

And she told me this, she said,

Hun fortalte mig:

"We were in the train going to Auschwitz,

"Vi var i toget til Auschwitz og jeg så ned

and I looked down and saw my brother's shoes were missing.

og opdagede at min brors sko var væk.

I said, 'Why are you so stupid, can't you keep your things together

Og jeg sagde: "Hvorfor er du så dum, kan du for Guds skyld, ikke holde

for goodness' sake?'"

styr på dine ting?" - som nu en storesøster

The way an elder sister might speak to a younger brother.

kan tale til sin lillebror.

Desværre var det, det sidste hun nogensinde sagde til ham

Unfortunately, it was the last thing she ever said to him,

for hun så ham aldrig igen. Han overlevede ikke.

because she never saw him again.

He did not survive.

And so when she came out of Auschwitz, she made a vow.

Så da hun kom ud af Auschwitz, afgav hun et løfte.

She told me this.

Hun sagde: "Jeg gik ud af Auschwitz og ind i livet

She said, "I walked out of Auschwitz into life

og jeg lovede mig selv, at jeg aldrig vil sige noget

and I made a vow.

And the vow was,

"I will never say anything that couldn't stand as the last thing I ever say."

som ikke kunne være det sidste, jeg nogensinde sagde."

Kan vi gøre det? Nej. Vi ville gøre os selv forkerte

Now, can we do that? No.

And we'll make ourselves wrong and others wrong.

og andre forkerte. Men det en mulighed at stræbe efter. Tak.

But it is a possibility to live into.

Thank you.

(Applause)

(Bifald)

Shining eyes.

Strålende øjne. Strålende øjne.

(Applause)

Shining eyes.

(Applause)

Thank you, thank you.

Tak skal I have. Tak skal I have.

(Musik)