TED Community » Robert Gupta

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Music and the brain, education, great old (and new) violins, collaboration, social sciences, lamb curry.

An idea worth spreading

Music is medicine.

Talk to me about

Late Beethoven string quartets, neurocircuitry, sriracha.

People don't know that I'm good at

cooking a really tasty lamb curry.

My TED Story

Proud to be a Senior TED Fellow!

Comments

• TEDCred score: +2450.80 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +8

  A comment on Talk: Robert Gupta: Between music and medicine

  Oct 14 2012: Thank you all for your wonderful comments.
  I came across this poem by Rumi recently, and thought I'd share:
  
  Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened.
  Don't open the door to the study and begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
  Let the beauty we love be what we do.
  There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
  
  -RVG

• A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: do also remember that all TED talks are performances - Sarah Kay's talk above is a mixture of amazing performance art through spoken word, alongside her stunning talk. Bobby McFerrin says more through dancing through musical notes than any of the other neuroscientists on that panel...

• A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: they certainly are - and these norms are an old remainder from the German concert-hall age, where you had to be totally quiet during a symphony performance. However, even in Mozart's time, the audience talked, ate, and caroused throughout the performance.

• A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: and we lose ourselves on stage as well. It's an indescribably beautiful feeling when you feel the audience sharing in that experience.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: I think it's because you have respect for the live performer - that you wouldn't be so inclined to chat to your neighbor or check your cell phone, as you might during a movie - you know that someone has prepared for thousands of hours to present something to you. That's what makes the performance precious.

• A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: HA! Wow, Marysol - you've inspired me to go see a UFC fight - and certainly, we have our fair share of 'fights' onstage musically during a performance. What a fantastic perspective.

• A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: Hi Dino - a good few questions - I do feel sometimes that I can relive my memory of a great performance through a recording - and sometimes, that's all I need to experience the music most fully. The idea of YouTube and online video platforms is simply a representation of the real - so I would say that experiencing music through technology is moral, it's just clouded with noise (see Tom's point above). I think we can absolutely experience art and music through leaps of imagination and technology - and don't always have to be there.

• A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: well said, Alexis - energy is as infectious on stage as in the audience - but during an event like a classical music concert, where you might not 'get' the music and its context - and are in a way 'forced' to remain quiet, do you still feel the same way?

• A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: Fantastic point, Tom - the live performance creates the fewest sensory barriers between the audience and the expression on stage.
• +1

  A reply on Conversation: With the advent of amazing online videos, why are we still so compelled to experience live performance (music, sports games, dance)?

  Sep 2 2011: This is a great point, Daniel - we do, especially in classical music, create a dissociation between the performer and audience. From the very formal attire, the parking, the 'sit down, shut up, turn off your cell phone', and the ticket price itself, I could see that going to a concert hall can simply be a hassle at the very start - and only a devoted listener, or one open to experiencing the event with an open mind, would gladly go through the first steps. More over, classical music is the only genre of music that is totally not mobile - that you MUST come to a concert hall to "experience" our version of musical culture. I'm not sure, in this internet video age, if that is a sustainable way to continue reaching audiences.