How I found myself through music | Anika Paulson

翻译人员: chunhua zhang 校对人员: Tianji (Homer) Li

The philosopher Plato once said,

古希腊哲学家柏拉图曾说过，

"Music gives a soul to the universe,

“音乐使宇宙有了魂魄，

wings to the mind,

心灵有了翅膀，

flight to the imagination

想像得以飞翔，

and life to everything."

一切事物有了生命。”

Music has always been a big part of my life.

音乐一直是我生命中 很重要的一部分。

To create and to perform music

创作和表演音乐

connects you to people countries and lifetimes away.

将你与不同国家和 年龄的人连在一起：

It connects you to the people you're playing with,

它将你与同你一起表演的人，

to your audience

你的观众，

and to yourself.

以及你自己连在一起。

When I'm happy, when I'm sad,

当我快乐、悲伤时，

when I'm bored, when I'm stressed,

当我无聊、紧张时，

I listen to and I create music.

我都会聆听和创作音乐。

When I was younger, I played piano;

年少的时候，我弹钢琴；

later, I took up guitar.

后来，我拿起了吉它。

And as I started high school,

从高中开始，

music became a part of my identity.

音乐就成了我身份的一部分。

I was in every band,

我加入了每一个乐队，

I was involved with every musical fine arts event.

参加了每一次的音乐艺术活动。

Music surrounded me.

音乐对我来说无处不在。

It made me who I was,

它塑造了过去的我，

and it gave me a place to belong.

让我有了归属感。

Now, I've always had this thing with rhythms.

我一直对节奏很感兴趣。

I remember being young,

我记得年轻的时候，

I would walk down the hallways of my school

我会沿着学校的走廊溜达，

and I would tap rhythms to myself on my leg with my hands,

用手在自己腿上打拍子，

or tapping my teeth.

或者轻叩牙齿。

It was a nervous habit,

这是一个紧张时的习惯动作，

而我总是感到紧张。

and I was always nervous.

I think I liked the repetition of the rhythm --

我想我喜欢上了那种重复的节奏——

it was calming.

它使人平静。

Then in high school,

然后在高中，

I started music theory,

我开始上乐理课，

and it was the best class I've ever taken.

这是我有史以来上过的最棒的课。

We were learning about music --

我们学习音乐相关的知识——

things I didn't know, like theory and history.

一些之前我不知道的东西， 比如音乐理论和历史。

It was a class where we basically just listened to a song,

在课堂上我们通常是先听一首歌曲，

talked about what it meant to us

再去讨论它对我们意味着什么，

and analyzed it,

然后进行分析，

and figured out what made it tick.

弄明白它的原理。

Every Wednesday, we did something called "rhythmic dictation,"

每周三，我们都会进行一次“节奏听写”，

and I was pretty good at it.

而我对此非常在行。

Our teacher would give us an amount of measures

老师会给我们一些小节

and a time signature,

和一个拍号，

and then he would speak a rhythm to us

然后他会给我们念一段节奏，

and we would have to write it down with the proper rests and notes.

我们要用正确的 休止符和音符把它写下来。

Like this:

就像这样：

ta ta tuck-a tuck-a ta,

嗒 嗒 哒咔 哒咔 嗒

ta tuck-a-tuck-a-tuck-a, tuck-a.

嗒 哒咔哒咔哒咔 哒咔。

And I loved it.

我爱死它了。

The simplicity of the rhythm --

节奏很简明——

a basic two- to four- measure line --

基础的二到四小节线——

and yet each of them almost told a story,

然而它们各自几乎又是 在讲述各自的故事，

like they had so much potential,

好像它们都有很多的潜能，

and all you had to do was add a melody.

你所需要做的只不过是添加一段旋律。

(Guitar)

(吉它）

Rhythms set a foundation for melodies and harmonies to play on top of.

节奏在顶层为旋律和和声构建了基础。

It gives structure and stability.

它提供了结构和稳定性。

Now, music has these parts --

音乐包含这几个部分——

rhythm, melody and harmony --

节奏、旋律以及和声——

just like our lives.

就像我们的人生。

Where music has rhythm,

音乐中有节奏，

we have routines and habits --

我们有规范和习惯——

things that help us to remember what to do and to stay on track,

它们提醒我们要做什么, 要呆在正确的轨道上，

and to just keep going.

还要不断前进。

And you may not notice it,

也许你并没到注意到它，

but it's always there.

但是它一直都在。

(Guitar)

（吉它）

And it may seem simple,

它可能听起来很简单，

it may seem dull by itself,

本身很单调无趣，

but it gives tempo and heartbeat.

但是它能带来节拍和心跳。

And then things in your life add on to it,

然后你把生命中的其它东西加入进去，

giving texture --

就产生了纹理——

that's your friends and your family,

那是你的朋友和家人，

and anything that creates a harmonic structure in your life

是任何在你的生命中，在你的歌曲中

and in your song,

创造出一个和谐结构的东西，

like harmonies,

比如和声，

cadences

韵律

and anything that makes it polyphonic.

以及任何使之成为复调的东西。

And they create beautiful chords and patterns.

它们会创造出美丽的和弦和模式。

(Guitar)

（吉它）

And then there's you.

然后是你。

You play on top of everything else,

你在万物之上演奏，

on top of the rhythms and the beat

在节奏和拍子之上，

because you're the melody.

因为你就是旋律。

And things may change and develop,

而事物会改变和发展，

but no matter what we do,

但是不管我们做什么，

we're still the same people.

我们还是原来的我们。

Throughout a song melodies develop,

旋律在歌曲中发展变化，

but it's still the same song.

但它还是原来的歌。

No matter what you do,

不管你做了什么，

the rhythms are still there:

节奏仍然在那里：

the tempo and the heartbeat ...

节拍和心跳都还在...

until I left,

直到我离开，

and I went to college

去上大学，

and everything disappeared.

所有的东西也就消失了。

When I first arrived at university,

当我刚到大学时，

I felt lost.

有种恍然若失的感觉。

And don't get me wrong -- sometimes I loved it and it was great,

别误解我的意思—— 有时候我很爱学校，那里很棒，

but other times,

但是在其它时侯，

I felt like I had been left alone

我感觉我被抛弃了，

to fend for myself.

只能自生自灭。

It's like I had been taken out of my natural environment,

好像我被从原本舒适的环境中赶了出来，

and put somewhere new,

放到了一个新的地方，

where the rhythms and the harmonies

在这里，节奏，和声

and the form had gone away,

还有形式，都已经远去了，

and it was just me --

只留下了我——

(Guitar)

（吉它）

silence and my melody.

只有寂静，和我的旋律。

And even that began to waver,

甚至连这些都开始动摇，

because I didn't know what I was doing.

因为我不知道我在做什么。

I didn't have any chords to structure myself,

我没有了可以构建自我的和弦，

or a rhythm

节拍，

or a beat to know the tempo.

或者帮我找到节奏的心跳。

(Guitar)

(吉它）

And then I began to hear all these other sounds.

然后我开始听到所有其它的声音。

(Guitar)

（吉它）

And they were off-time

但它们都不合时宜，

and off-key.

也并不和谐。

And the more I was around them,

我跟它们待得越久，

the more my melody started to sound like theirs.

我的旋律就越像它们。

And slowly I began to lose myself,

慢慢的，我开始失去自我，

like I was being washed away.

好像自己正在被冲蚀殆尽。

But then the next moment --

但是在下一刻——

(Guitar)

（吉它）

I could hear it.

我又能听到它了。

And I could feel it.

又能感受到它了。

And it was me.

那就是我。

And I was here.

我在这里，

And it was different,

虽然旋律有些变化，

but not worse off.

但没有变得更糟，

Just changed a little.

只改变了一点点。

Music is my way of coping with the changes in my life.

音乐是我克服生命中变故的方式。

There's a beautiful connection between music and life.

音乐和生命之间有一种美妙的连接，

It can bind us to reality

它能够将我们与现实紧密相连，

at the same time it allows us to escape it.

同时又允许我们从现实中逃离。

Music is something that lives inside of you.

音乐就扎根在你心中。

You create it and you're created by it.

你创造它，同时也在被它创造。

Our lives are not only conducted by music,

音乐不仅是我们人生中的指挥家，

they're also composed of it.

也是我们人生的作曲家。

So this may seem like a bit of a stretch,

这听起来可能有点夸张，

but hear me out:

但是请听我说完：

music is a fundamental part of what we are

音乐是我们自身以及周边一切事物的

and of everything around us.

基本组成部分。

Now, music is my passion,

音乐是我的爱好，

but physics also used to be an interest of mine.

但是物理曾经也是我的兴趣之一。

And the more I learned,

我学到得越多，

the more I saw connections between the two --

就越能看到它们两者之间的联系——

especially regarding string theory.

特别是在弦理论方面。

I know this is only one of many theories,

我知道这只是众多理论中的一个，

but it spoke to me.

但它却直击我的心扉。

So, one aspect of string theory, at its simplest form, is this:

弦理论的一方面，简单来说就是：

matter is made up of atoms,

物质是由原子构成的，

which are made up of protons and neutrons and electrons,

原子又由质子、中子和电子构成，

which are made up of quark.

而这些又是由夸克构成。

And here's where the string part comes in.

接下来就到了弦的部分。

This quark is supposedly made up of little coiled strings,

据推测，夸克是由 很小很小的线状的弦构成，

and it's the vibrations of these strings that make everything what it is.

弦的不同振动和运动 构成了宇宙万物。

Michio Kaku once explained this

加来道雄曾经在一场名为

in a lecture called, "The Universe in a Nutshell,"

“果壳中的宇宙”的讲座中对此做过解释，

where he says,

他说，

"String theory is the simple idea

“弦理论是一个很简单的概念，

that the four forces of the universe --

宇宙中的四种基本作用力——

gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the two strong forces --

引力、电磁力以及 强、弱相互作用力——

can be viewed as music.

可以看成是音乐。

The music of tiny little rubber bands."

一首微型橡皮筋之歌。”

In this lecture, he goes on to explain physics

在这场讲座中，他继续解释道，

as the laws of harmony between these strings;

物理就像是这些弦之间的和声法则；

chemistry, as the melodies you can play on these strings;

化学则是你可以在这些弦中演奏的旋律；

and he states that the universe is a "symphony of strings."

他说宇宙就是一首“弦的交响曲”。

These strings dictate the universe;

这些弦决定了宇宙；

they make up everything we see and everything we know.

它们构成了所有我们 看到和知道的事物。

They're musical notes,

它们是音符，

but they make us what we are and they hold us together.

但是却构成了我们， 并把我们联系在一起。

So you see,

所以看吧，

everything is music.

所有东西都是音乐。

(Guitar)

（吉它）

When I look at the world,

当我看着这个世界的时候，

I see music all around us.

我看见到处都是音乐。

When I look at myself,

当我看着自己时，

I see music.

我看见了音乐。

And my life has been defined by music.

我的生命已经被音乐所定义。

I found myself through music.

我通过音乐找到了自我。

Music is everywhere,

音乐无处不在，

and it is in everything.

它存在于所有事物中。

And it changes and it builds

它改变、它增强，

and it diminishes.

也会减弱。

But it's always there,

但是它会一直在，

supporting us,

一直支持着我们，

connecting us to each other

将我们相互联系在一起，

and showing us the beauty of the universe.

并向我们展示这宇宙的美妙。

So if you ever feel lost,

所以，如果你曾感到迷茫，

stop and listen for your song.

请停下来倾听你心中的歌曲。

Thank you.

谢谢。

（掌声）

(Applause)