TED2010
Robert Gupta: Music is medicine, music is sanity
Filmed:
Readability: 5.7
1,333,855 views
Robert Gupta, violinist with the LA Philharmonic, talks about a violin lesson he once gave to a brilliant, schizophrenic musician -- and what he learned. Called back onstage later, Gupta plays his own transcription of the prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1.
Robert Gupta - Violinist
Violinist Robert Gupta joined the LA Philharmonic at the age of 19 -- and maintains a passionate parallel interest in neurobiology and mental health issues. He's a TED Senior Fellow. Full bio
Violinist Robert Gupta joined the LA Philharmonic at the age of 19 -- and maintains a passionate parallel interest in neurobiology and mental health issues. He's a TED Senior Fellow. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
One day, Los Angeles Times columnist
0
0
3000
00:18
Steve Lopez was walking along
1
3000
2000
00:20
the streets of downtown Los Angeles
2
5000
2000
00:22
when he heard beautiful music.
3
7000
3000
00:25
And the source was a man,
4
10000
2000
00:27
an African-American man,
5
12000
2000
00:29
charming, rugged, homeless,
6
14000
4000
00:33
playing a violin that only had two strings.
7
18000
3000
00:36
And I'm telling a story that many of you know,
8
21000
2000
00:38
because Steve's columns became the basis
9
23000
3000
00:41
for a book, which was turned into a movie,
10
26000
3000
00:44
with Robert Downey Jr. acting as Steve Lopez,
11
29000
2000
00:46
and Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Anthony Ayers,
12
31000
3000
00:49
the Juilliard-trained double bassist
13
34000
2000
00:51
whose promising career was cut short
14
36000
3000
00:54
by a tragic affliction with paranoid schizophrenia.
15
39000
4000
00:58
Nathaniel dropped out of Juilliard, he suffered a complete breakdown,
16
43000
2000
01:00
and 30 years later he was living homeless
17
45000
2000
01:02
on the streets of Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.
18
47000
4000
01:06
I encourage all of you to read Steve's book or to watch the movie
19
51000
3000
01:09
to understand not only the beautiful bond
20
54000
3000
01:12
that formed between these two men,
21
57000
2000
01:14
but how music helped shape that bond,
22
59000
3000
01:17
and ultimately was instrumental -- if you'll pardon the pun --
23
62000
3000
01:20
in helping Nathaniel get off the streets.
24
65000
4000
01:24
I met Mr. Ayers in 2008,
25
69000
2000
01:26
two years ago, at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
26
71000
2000
01:28
He had just heard a performance of Beethoven's First and Fourth symphonies,
27
73000
3000
01:31
and came backstage and introduced himself.
28
76000
2000
01:33
He was speaking in a very jovial and gregarious way
29
78000
3000
01:36
about Yo-Yo Ma and Hillary Clinton
30
81000
3000
01:39
and how the Dodgers were never going to make the World Series,
31
84000
2000
01:41
all because of the treacherous first violin passage work
32
86000
3000
01:44
in the last movement of Beethoven's Fourth Symphony.
33
89000
4000
01:48
And we got talking about music, and I got an email from Steve a few days later
34
93000
4000
01:52
saying that Nathaniel was interested in a violin lesson with me.
35
97000
4000
01:56
Now, I should mention that Nathaniel refuses treatment
36
101000
3000
01:59
because when he was treated it was with shock therapy
37
104000
3000
02:02
and Thorazine and handcuffs,
38
107000
2000
02:04
and that scar has stayed with him for his entire life.
39
109000
4000
02:08
But as a result now, he is prone to
40
113000
2000
02:10
these schizophrenic episodes,
41
115000
2000
02:12
the worst of which can manifest themselves as
42
117000
2000
02:14
him exploding
43
119000
2000
02:16
and then disappearing for days,
44
121000
2000
02:18
wandering the streets of Skid Row,
45
123000
2000
02:20
exposed to its horrors, with the torment of his own mind
46
125000
4000
02:24
unleashed upon him.
47
129000
2000
02:26
And Nathaniel was in such a state of agitation
48
131000
3000
02:29
when we started our first lesson at Walt Disney Concert Hall --
49
134000
3000
02:32
he had a kind of manic glint in his eyes,
50
137000
3000
02:35
he was lost.
51
140000
2000
02:37
And he was talking about
52
142000
2000
02:39
invisible demons and smoke,
53
144000
2000
02:41
and how someone was poisoning him in his sleep.
54
146000
4000
02:45
And I was afraid,
55
150000
2000
02:47
not for myself, but I was afraid
56
152000
3000
02:50
that I was going to lose him,
57
155000
2000
02:52
that he was going to sink into one of his states,
58
157000
2000
02:54
and that I would ruin his relationship with the violin
59
159000
3000
02:57
if I started talking about scales
60
162000
2000
02:59
and arpeggios and other exciting forms of
61
164000
2000
03:01
didactic violin pedagogy.
62
166000
2000
03:03
(Laughter)
63
168000
1000
03:04
So, I just started playing.
64
169000
3000
03:07
And I played the first movement of the Beethoven Violin Concerto.
65
172000
4000
03:11
And as I played,
66
176000
2000
03:13
I understood that there was a profound change
67
178000
3000
03:16
occurring in Nathaniel's eyes.
68
181000
2000
03:18
It was as if he was in the grip of some invisible pharmaceutical,
69
183000
3000
03:21
a chemical reaction, for which my playing the music
70
186000
4000
03:25
was its catalyst.
71
190000
3000
03:28
And Nathaniel's manic rage
72
193000
4000
03:32
was transformed into understanding,
73
197000
4000
03:36
a quiet curiosity and grace.
74
201000
5000
03:41
And in a miracle, he lifted his own violin
75
206000
3000
03:44
and he started playing, by ear,
76
209000
3000
03:47
certain snippets of violin concertos
77
212000
2000
03:49
which he then asked me to complete -- Mendelssohn,
78
214000
2000
03:51
Tchaikovsky, Sibelius.
79
216000
2000
03:53
And we started talking about music, from Bach
80
218000
2000
03:55
to Beethoven and Brahms,
81
220000
2000
03:57
Bruckner, all the B's,
82
222000
2000
03:59
from Bartók, all the way up to Esa-Pekka Salonen.
83
224000
2000
04:01
And I understood that he not only
84
226000
2000
04:03
had an encyclopedic knowledge of music,
85
228000
2000
04:05
but he related to this music at a personal level.
86
230000
4000
04:09
He spoke about it with the kind of passion
87
234000
2000
04:11
and understanding that I share with my colleagues
88
236000
2000
04:13
in the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
89
238000
3000
04:16
And through playing music and talking about music,
90
241000
3000
04:19
this man had transformed
91
244000
2000
04:21
from the paranoid, disturbed man
92
246000
3000
04:24
that had just come from walking the streets
93
249000
2000
04:26
of downtown Los Angeles
94
251000
2000
04:28
to the charming, erudite,
95
253000
2000
04:30
brilliant, Juilliard-trained musician.
96
255000
4000
04:34
Music is medicine. Music changes us.
97
259000
5000
04:39
And for Nathaniel, music is sanity.
98
264000
4000
04:43
Because music allows him to take his thoughts
99
268000
2000
04:45
and delusions and shape them
100
270000
3000
04:48
through his imagination and his creativity,
101
273000
2000
04:50
into reality.
102
275000
2000
04:52
And that is an escape
103
277000
2000
04:54
from his tormented state.
104
279000
2000
04:56
And I understood that this was the very essence of art.
105
281000
3000
04:59
This was the very reason why we made music,
106
284000
2000
05:01
that we take something that exists within all of us
107
286000
2000
05:03
at our very fundamental core,
108
288000
2000
05:05
our emotions,
109
290000
2000
05:07
and through our artistic lens,
110
292000
2000
05:09
through our creativity, we're able to shape those emotions into reality.
111
294000
5000
05:14
And the reality of that expression
112
299000
2000
05:16
reaches all of us
113
301000
2000
05:18
and moves us, inspires and unites us.
114
303000
5000
05:23
And for Nathaniel,
115
308000
2000
05:25
music brought him back into a fold of friends.
116
310000
3000
05:28
The redemptive power of music brought him back
117
313000
2000
05:30
into a family of musicians
118
315000
2000
05:32
that understood him,
119
317000
2000
05:34
that recognized his talents
120
319000
2000
05:36
and respected him.
121
321000
3000
05:39
And I will always make music with Nathaniel,
122
324000
3000
05:42
whether we're at Walt Disney Concert Hall
123
327000
2000
05:44
or on Skid Row, because he reminds me
124
329000
2000
05:46
why I became a musician.
125
331000
3000
05:49
Thank you.
126
334000
2000
05:51
(Applause)
127
336000
7000
05:58
Bruno Giussani: Thank you. Thanks.
128
343000
3000
06:01
Robert Gupta.
129
346000
2000
06:03
(Applause)
130
348000
3000
06:22
Robert Gupta: I'm going to play something that I shamelessly stole from cellists.
131
367000
3000
06:25
So, please forgive me.
132
370000
2000
06:27
(Laughter)
133
372000
1000
06:28
(Music)
134
373000
3000
09:13
(Applause)
135
538000
8000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Robert Gupta - ViolinistViolinist Robert Gupta joined the LA Philharmonic at the age of 19 -- and maintains a passionate parallel interest in neurobiology and mental health issues. He's a TED Senior Fellow.
Why you should listen
Violinist Robert Vijay Gupta joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the age of 19. He made his solo debut, at age 11, with the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta. He has a Master's in music from Yale. But his undergraduate degree? Pre-med. As an undergrad, Gupta was part of several research projects in neuro- and neurodegenerative biology. He held Research Assistant positions at CUNY Hunter College in New York City, where he worked on spinal cord neuronal regeneration, and at the Harvard Institutes of Medicine Center for Neurologic Diseases, where he studied the biochemical pathology of Parkinson's disease.
Gupta is passionate about education and outreach, both as a musician and as an activist for mental health issues. He has the privilege of working with Nathaniel Ayers, the brilliant, schizophrenic musician featured in "The Soloist," as his violin teacher.
Robert Gupta | Speaker | TED.com