Towards a Personal Language of Music | Adam Neely | TEDxHSG

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  • čas přidán 21. 03. 2019
  • Adam highlights the striking similarities between music and spoken language. At a young age, his observation of music being used as a form of communication between professionals, was one of the reasons he went on to pursue this career. Adam Neely is a bassist, and music educator and CZcamsr with an engaged subscriber base of 500,000, 2 million monthly views, and 42 million lifetime views. His video essays, gig vlogs and educational content explore what music means, and what it means to be a musician. Sometimes called the "VSauce of music," Adam engages a wide popular audience with esoteric and obscure subjects in music, tying them to other subjects in neuroscience, acoustics, aesthetics, history and art. As a bass player, he also shares his experiences as a working professional session musician in New York City. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

Komentáře • 395

  • @drewajv
    @drewajv Před 5 lety +1798

    He played the lick when he said the word lick. The absolute madman

  • @leonrez
    @leonrez Před 5 lety +2174

    The audio is pretty shot. Mirroring it to left and right channels would help somewhat. Super disappointing issue for a talk about music and sound.

    • @Trance117_
      @Trance117_ Před 5 lety +4

      It wasn't that bad.

    • @koalanectar9382
      @koalanectar9382 Před 5 lety +31

      If you have the ability to sum your audio output to mono that will make it sound normal.

    • @LimeGreenTeknii
      @LimeGreenTeknii Před 5 lety +1

      @@koalanectar9382 How do you do that

    • @wesshepard
      @wesshepard Před 5 lety +29

      It’s sooo bad! 😢

    • @dantekross6489
      @dantekross6489 Před 5 lety +20

      It sounds especially bad if you're on a phone without earphones

  • @BrandonCuringtonOfficial
    @BrandonCuringtonOfficial Před 5 lety +734

    Me: yaaayy Adam Neely in a TED talk
    Audio:

    • @gooball2005
      @gooball2005 Před 4 lety +17

      this is a big L and a small R for the audio

  • @philipc7273
    @philipc7273 Před 5 lety +1576

    My left ear really enjoyed this video...

    • @noah-jazz
      @noah-jazz Před 5 lety +45

      I thought my headphones were busted

    • @cruz.c
      @cruz.c Před 5 lety +31

      guess i just wore these backwards

    • @INADRM
      @INADRM Před 5 lety +11

      I uploaded a fixed version

    • @carstenjarocki7779
      @carstenjarocki7779 Před 5 lety +1

      xD

    • @BradsGonnaPlay
      @BradsGonnaPlay Před 4 lety +1

      INADRM thanks for the warning, didn’t have to waste anymore than 2 minutes on this

  • @stevonico
    @stevonico Před 5 lety +760

    "Manifestations of the platonic ideal of G Maj7"
    -Adam Neely in a single quote

  • @eliyahfranson
    @eliyahfranson Před 5 lety +842

    He did not just play the lick on Ted Talks

    • @lifeontheledgerlines8394
      @lifeontheledgerlines8394 Před 5 lety +21

      He did.

    • @eliyahfranson
      @eliyahfranson Před 5 lety +15

      LifeOnTheEdge I don’t know if I should be shaking my head or very proud

    • @lifeontheledgerlines8394
      @lifeontheledgerlines8394 Před 5 lety +35

      @@eliyahfranson Franky, I'm just sad nobody laughed.

    • @eliyahfranson
      @eliyahfranson Před 5 lety +9

      LifeOnTheEdge clearly they have never seen an Adam Neely video or know much about jazz

    • @lifeontheledgerlines8394
      @lifeontheledgerlines8394 Před 5 lety +11

      @@eliyahfranson Agreed. Seems like a bit of a tough audience. Maybe it's just the audio.
      I doubt that it's a musical audience though, so that's probably why.

  • @conorreedR2C
    @conorreedR2C Před 5 lety +317

    The absolute madlad played the lick while saying "lick," what a legend

  • @wave9142
    @wave9142 Před 5 lety +574

    I don't think it's a tough crowd, I think it's just the way the audio is mixed. At 11:19 Adam says "thank you", suggesting that the crowd did clap there but we can't hear it here.

    • @helicopter_traffic
      @helicopter_traffic Před 5 lety +99

      Wave the crowd must have been clapping in the right channel...😢

    • @poacher5131
      @poacher5131 Před 5 lety +46

      What we're hearing is a direct out from Adam's head set, I think. Very directional, and low gain, since it's so close-mic'd.

    • @RetroPlus
      @RetroPlus Před 4 lety +8

      If you turn your volume all the way up you can very faintly hear clapping in the background

    • @MrDamojak
      @MrDamojak Před 4 lety

      Kata E

    • @mccookies3664
      @mccookies3664 Před 4 lety +10

      You can also tell when he asks for a key and you can’t hear the person saying F but he can

  • @EmmanuelOga
    @EmmanuelOga Před 4 lety +38

    "If you think about the music that means the most to you personally chances are it is because it has help you find a certain clarity in yourself, that language alone has not been able to provide". This is such a great quote.

  • @SimoneDePascalis
    @SimoneDePascalis Před 5 lety +241

    Everybody losing their minds for the lick at 8:26 but how about 9:19

  • @farivarsabzavi9817
    @farivarsabzavi9817 Před 5 lety +552

    8:26 Oh no he didn't just play the lick!

    • @AJJohnMusic
      @AJJohnMusic Před 5 lety +16

      SLICKKK HAHAHAHA

    • @dwightbrady5599
      @dwightbrady5599 Před 5 lety +31

      Glad I wasn't the only one who picked up on it. I love how he says it as well without breaking stride.

    • @BensRightBrain
      @BensRightBrain Před 5 lety +3

      I was waiting for it!

    • @TRUETOILETTENPAPIER
      @TRUETOILETTENPAPIER Před 5 lety +14

      and he played it right when he was saying "licks". good god what a man

    • @SomeoneSomewhere42069
      @SomeoneSomewhere42069 Před 5 lety +7

      And not even a chuckle from the crowd xD that's how I know his subs weren't there

  • @KristianGravdahl
    @KristianGravdahl Před 4 lety +34

    Newest Adam Neely q+a.. "as i said in my TED Talk"... And now I'm here

  • @prodevus
    @prodevus Před 4 lety +229

    Adam Neely at a wedding:
    “Merriam webster defines wedlock as a bond between two people”

    • @TheIvasyl
      @TheIvasyl Před 3 lety +6

      Merriam webster defines wedding as the fusing of two metals with a hot torch

    • @dankmemesdeaddreams2309
      @dankmemesdeaddreams2309 Před 3 lety +1

      Omg it's the real robert frib

  • @Anthony-cn8ll
    @Anthony-cn8ll Před 4 lety +22

    For Android users:
    Settings > General > Accessibility > Hearing > Audio channel to Mono

  • @SamParnin
    @SamParnin Před 5 lety +57

    I see you Adam, subtly plugging those wedding gigs.

  • @forrcaho
    @forrcaho Před 4 lety +35

    13:05 Dammit Neely, you never resolved that phrase!

  • @bman3977
    @bman3977 Před 5 lety +143

    I’ve been searching for this video everywhere ever since I heard Adam did a Ted Talk... and only now does it show up into my CZcams feed... THANKS CZcams ALGORITHM

    • @sandwichgames8122
      @sandwichgames8122 Před 5 lety +3

      same, it didn't even pop up when I searched adam neely ted talk

    • @mademsoisellerhapsody1868
      @mademsoisellerhapsody1868 Před 5 lety +3

      and the sound volume is too low to hear without straining

    • @Philrc
      @Philrc Před 5 lety +1

      it's easy enough to find. All I did was type in " adam neely ted talk" and there it was.

    • @blapis89
      @blapis89 Před 3 lety

      Now, enjoy this top 10 houses made only with a spoon

  • @philipplauter8716
    @philipplauter8716 Před 5 lety +52

    Love you for sneaking the lick in there at 8:26

  • @CabelCabelCabel
    @CabelCabelCabel Před 5 lety +4

    There was literally no facial reaction on his face after playing the lick, but when 1 minute later he ended up on the same frets of the bass as when playing the lick, you can almost see him smile. :D

  • @TheBlackKnight1o1
    @TheBlackKnight1o1 Před 5 lety +9

    My left ear really enjoyed Adam Neely's bass lesson.

  • @gxexrxmxaxnx
    @gxexrxmxaxnx Před 5 lety +7

    For those not enjoying the left-only audio: If you go to audio settings on windows, you can turn mono audio on (and also turn your volume up a lot).

  • @videogiuoco2055
    @videogiuoco2055 Před 5 lety +45

    I'm Italian and sorry for my bad English, I try to explain myself at the best of my possibility...Beautiful explanation about music as a language, it means a lot if we think that our understand of the world is based on communication and social interaction, how can we express a meaning in different languages to have a better idea of the fact that we try to explain? And how we should approach a new concept trough different lenguages, it's the same if we think about different vocabulary in different lenguages, some lenguages explain something better than other lenguages, I think at Arabic or Chinese sentences that I cannot translate perfectly whit my Italian vocabulary! I think is pretty the same and Music is another way to express ourself powerfully and go beyond our lenguages obstacles. Music is a way to understand and feel something that we can't explain with ours lenguages. And it means a lot thinking about what, as Humans, we can't experience in our world.

    • @Jolgeable
      @Jolgeable Před 11 měsíci

      Sometimes I find phrases in other languages and there's not similar construction in my language. I think it's like listening to a kind of poetry, something that we understand, but also something that I would not think of speaking in my original everyday language.

  • @blocky333
    @blocky333 Před 5 lety +9

    hes so good he makes me wanna cry

  • @grimaceknowswhatyoudid
    @grimaceknowswhatyoudid Před 4 lety +6

    Hey.... ya boi made it to the Big Time!
    ..... IF ONLY I COULD HEAR IT!!!!!

  • @TMmodify
    @TMmodify Před 5 lety +71

    He tried so hard to make them laugh
    I found this as hilarious as it was instructional, as I'm used to Adam's humor, but the people seemed ice cold

    • @helicopter_traffic
      @helicopter_traffic Před 5 lety +18

      Ilian Petit crowd mics are lost in the right channel 😢

    • @DreadKyller
      @DreadKyller Před 4 lety +21

      A bit late, but the audio we hear is from his mic, which is an extremely directional mic often used on stages for that exact reason, the volume of crowds, the mics are designed to be very sensitive to a small area and dropoff in response very fast to anything off-axis. Because of this we don't hear the crowds much, however there are parts where you can hear them quietly, there was definitely a lot of clapping, but also the people at TED talks tend to be respectful and not make tons of noise all the time and delay the presentation.

  • @TheRastaDan
    @TheRastaDan Před 4 lety +12

    After 13:09 my inner voice just screams: PLAY THE GODDAMN LAST NOTE GODDAMMIT... NO YOU DON'T DARE TO PUT THAT BASS AWAY NOW!!

  • @codyziebko7713
    @codyziebko7713 Před 5 lety +25

    Up there with his comfort bass guitar. You killed it Adam! :D

  • @Dowlphin
    @Dowlphin Před 3 lety +1

    I expected him to close by trying to musically express the feeling he had back then when he was 14 and witnessed the jazz duo.

  • @jazzturtle2508
    @jazzturtle2508 Před 3 lety +3

    This had me thinking that we have a similar challenge in expressing emotions through language. While many reduce emotions to simple words like anger, fear, happiness, etc. many tend to agree that emotions like music are so much more nuanced and complex than these words would have us believe and there is a certain ineffable aspect to emotion that words fall down in describing. In fact often poets, artists and musicians do better than psychologists, neuroscientists and doctors at capturing some of this.

  • @cranebenson7506
    @cranebenson7506 Před 4 lety +5

    8:27 ohhhhh he did it

  • @thegreatgambeeno
    @thegreatgambeeno Před 5 lety +52

    "what do you think I'm thinking about..." THE LICK! You were thinking of playing the lick, you can't deny this, Adam.

  • @heymusiclovers8361
    @heymusiclovers8361 Před 4 lety +5

    Literally screamed when I saw this video "Adam was on Ted Talk?!!" 😍😍

  • @ivyssauro123
    @ivyssauro123 Před 5 lety +1

    That is also why music and taste in music is so subjective, easy categories like realism(that can be applied to visual art which is more often than not representative of real life objects) is thrown out the window and all that matters is that clarity of emotion that it brings upon yourself, and that will change drastically and seemingly randomly from one another.

  • @MrDannyg77
    @MrDannyg77 Před 4 lety +4

    Loved it. Explained many things I’ve often pondered about how improvisation is created. How strange that I could only hear it with my left ear.

  • @kronus4915
    @kronus4915 Před 5 lety +3

    Adam Neely is a genius change my mind!!!!

  • @chiefindisguise
    @chiefindisguise Před 5 lety +7

    Adam on TED super cool congratulations!!!

  • @jubnx2781
    @jubnx2781 Před rokem

    Adam has come a long way

  • @oskarholm9351
    @oskarholm9351 Před 5 lety +3

    If you’re on iOS, go to general -> accessibility and put the sound in mono. Ur welcome.

  • @bokajllensch661
    @bokajllensch661 Před 4 lety +1

    The audio is not bad! just activate mono mode on you device and turn up the volume. its still super clear without any noise! It sounds very good.

  • @BobbyJCFHvLichtenstein
    @BobbyJCFHvLichtenstein Před 4 lety +2

    Wow. I never knew Adam had his own Ted Talk

  • @adamjohnson1722
    @adamjohnson1722 Před 5 lety +61

    You can tell he's a jazz musician because when was switching the chords he played a 1-2-5

    • @erpaloinen
      @erpaloinen Před 5 lety +17

      Adam Johnson 1-2-5 is the greatest musical tension and resolve there is.
      C-Dm7-G7, nothing soothes me more than that smooth resolve, mmm...

    • @carsontanner966
      @carsontanner966 Před 5 lety

      erpaloinen lol

    • @jaredfieseler6654
      @jaredfieseler6654 Před 4 lety +12

      You mean a 2 5 1 right...

  • @timelkin838
    @timelkin838 Před 3 měsíci

    Music is a profound concept into the point or meaning of exsistance. The universe is vibration. Are bodies are The instruments that create the beat of the heart with the flow of the blood.

  • @lorenzocoracin522
    @lorenzocoracin522 Před 5 lety +4

    I already knew what he were about to say because I follow his channel a lot, and I understand perfectly every topic he talked about.
    Someone said that if you can't explain something you don't know it well enough, and I think that being clear and able to express something is really one the few things that matter a lot in life,
    and it's been so great that Adam made some clarity, and even explained - clarity.
    There are few people on earth good as him I guess.

  • @ALF8892
    @ALF8892 Před 3 lety

    I love Adam. He is the king of youtube if the people in the audience didn't know.

  • @akhilsankar
    @akhilsankar Před 4 lety

    adam neely, his best insights into why we have music inside us, and why its dfficult to take out to express. nice..
    obvious neely presentation. loved it.

  • @retroretro8467
    @retroretro8467 Před 5 lety +10

    Super low audio; super glad I usually have mono audio cause apparently its only one channel. Great talk but but the audio guys really messed this one up lol.

  • @samo_benko_
    @samo_benko_ Před 5 lety +3

    Yeeeeah Adam got his own Ted talk!!

  • @jennivivelopez3420
    @jennivivelopez3420 Před 5 lety +1

    Victor wooten did a similar talk about music as language. Both awesome!

  • @daveBignoseA
    @daveBignoseA Před 5 lety

    Great work Adam! Thanks.

  • @ruchirsajwan
    @ruchirsajwan Před 5 lety

    Good to see you here Adam

  • @mummyman2115
    @mummyman2115 Před 5 lety +5

    i really needed this now, this really helped some things click for me

  • @ayylmao6199
    @ayylmao6199 Před 5 lety +12

    Hey could you please make the audio a little quieter? It really hurts my ears

  • @gregrice1354
    @gregrice1354 Před 3 lety +2

    Another fine presentation by Adam, of well composed insights to help share the beauty and truth of Music. This material should be of value and interest to poets, dancers, actors and even to visual artists who seek to create patterns that may reach or communicate as directly to human emotions, as music does.
    A lot of wisdom, experience and mastery of Music concepts and practice, condensed to only about 1/4 hour.

  • @dutchdykefinger
    @dutchdykefinger Před 4 lety +1

    language and music mix very well
    repeating the word hippopottamus is amazing for keeping track in 5/4 beats :D

  • @jonathanhilliard9772
    @jonathanhilliard9772 Před 5 lety +187

    No joke, I thought my headphones were broken so I took it apart and brought out my soldering gun but the next video played and I realized it was fine. Pls fix

  • @DOIRONchannel
    @DOIRONchannel Před 4 lety

    I enjoyed that, thanks Adam!

  • @timothywhite8932
    @timothywhite8932 Před 5 lety

    Awesome Ted talk

  • @bencoulcher9507
    @bencoulcher9507 Před 5 lety

    hey Adam Neely.
    in regards to 13:30.
    I personally believe that in regards to language person one is speaking in regards to the filtration of how he experienced it and his vocabulary to then reach person two and be filtered through their visual and auditory perception then in relation to their experiences through the process is most likely reenacted in their mind to understand the portrayed message. And then with music is giving off a mathematically sound vibration which is happening and being expressed an experience in the present moment by person 1 and experienced by person 2 aswell. seems as if you were to put it into an equation the perception of music has less factors/filters to work through.

  • @p7dickens23
    @p7dickens23 Před 2 lety

    Mind blown!!!

  • @martinkent_
    @martinkent_ Před 4 lety +13

    Yo what? Adam Neely did a Ted Talk? Since when?? Why am I only seeing this now?

  • @markaitkenguitar
    @markaitkenguitar Před 5 lety

    I liked it! Well thought out. Nice job man.

  • @nathanmilner4966
    @nathanmilner4966 Před 5 lety +5

    9:20 the liccc

  • @Brian-sh5ne
    @Brian-sh5ne Před 5 lety +1

    That was really good! I can’t believe Adam said he wouldn’t recommend it.

  • @lfox02
    @lfox02 Před 5 lety +2

    *I've been waiting for this moment*

  • @zandyknope2907
    @zandyknope2907 Před 4 lety +1

    1:56 question and answer time in adam’s ted talk...ya

  • @TheDiamondTardis
    @TheDiamondTardis Před 3 lety +1

    13:26 Repetition Legitimizes
    Repetition Legitimizes

  • @mwangimacharia861
    @mwangimacharia861 Před 5 lety +31

    At 8:27 when all @adamneely fans know what he pulled😂

  • @franciscamafouana52
    @franciscamafouana52 Před 5 lety

    FINALLY TEDx!!!!!!!!!

  • @artietrasshko7141
    @artietrasshko7141 Před 5 lety +7

    Can ted talks reupload this video but with a “the lick” counter?

  • @gumiero7701
    @gumiero7701 Před 3 lety +1

    I'm watching repeatedly, because repetition legitimizes

  • @paragsatyal2330
    @paragsatyal2330 Před 4 lety

    extemporaneous, new vocab addition, win!

  • @lj.youtube0901
    @lj.youtube0901 Před 4 lety +2

    The audio bloody scared me. I thought my headphones were dying

  • @LurkTheDarK
    @LurkTheDarK Před 4 lety

    I was on my way to get new headphones when I realized the video audio here is what's broken, I'm so sorry Adam, can't believe they've done this.

  • @garyreidmusic
    @garyreidmusic Před 3 lety

    I had to buy new earphones to listen to this Tedtalk about music...

  • @PlayLikeTheGreatscom
    @PlayLikeTheGreatscom Před 5 lety +1

    I am _sooo_ gonna transcribe this in a Soundslice! :D

  • @thankyou8622
    @thankyou8622 Před 5 lety +67

    somebody rip this and boost the audio, even cheaply done, it would be better than this lol!

    • @helicopter_traffic
      @helicopter_traffic Před 5 lety +3

      Randy Fulgham if you’re wondering still, someone further up the comments did it

  • @captainkiwi77
    @captainkiwi77 Před 4 lety

    For everybody saying the audio is terrible, just switch to mono audio, it’s infinitely better

  • @grigno97
    @grigno97 Před 4 lety +2

    8:26 you did it, you crazy son of a bit*h, you did it

  • @johannes4922
    @johannes4922 Před 5 lety

    Yess

  • @dylandecker_music
    @dylandecker_music Před 4 lety +3

    When did I miss this!?

  • @musiclearning
    @musiclearning Před 5 lety +16

    Ted talk please fix audio issue. Playing on phone speaker is fine but over ear phones won't come out. It's a basic audio engineering mishap. It's ironic to the topic of this talk.

    • @INADRM
      @INADRM Před 5 lety

      I fixed it and uploaded it

  • @almightytreegod
    @almightytreegod Před 5 lety +12

    Love this talk but kinda makes it even harder to write lyrics for my stuff. Haha

  • @SomeoneSomewhere42069
    @SomeoneSomewhere42069 Před 5 lety +9

    Was the audio this bad in person? 😅 because I feel like Ode to Tedx would sound WAYY better with proper audio 😂

  • @aelspecto
    @aelspecto Před 5 lety +22

    Can someone normalize this video and upload it again at an audible level?

  • @hannahwilkinson1085
    @hannahwilkinson1085 Před 5 lety +4

    What did you guys think of the actual presentation (other than the shotty audio)?
    I feel that it was easily relatable, and it expressed clearly, something any musician would already understand, but I’d be interested to see if a non-musician would find it more or less insightful.

    • @beeklein1126
      @beeklein1126 Před 5 lety +1

      Same here, as a musician I loved it and felt that Adam expressed all the things I feel about music suuuuupper well, he always does. I just wonder how people less familiar with music theory and how it feels to play an instrument feels about this.

  • @Caleb-lw1rc
    @Caleb-lw1rc Před 4 lety

    8.30 cheeky lick

  • @themandownstairs4765
    @themandownstairs4765 Před 4 lety

    Great TED Talk. Now only if the audio was synced to the video and in both ears

  • @Lopro94
    @Lopro94 Před 4 lety

    You go man! Nicely brought your point across! You're on the right track.

  • @koalanectar9382
    @koalanectar9382 Před 5 lety +5

    I like that shave and a haircut reference, it's straight out of Who Framed Roger Rabbit

  • @iamalpharius9483
    @iamalpharius9483 Před 4 lety +1

    Adam, a long as I've been watching your stuff I've had a much better time playing.

  • @Ben-wo9ne
    @Ben-wo9ne Před 5 lety

    ADAM!!!!

  • @Mario-ij5vc
    @Mario-ij5vc Před 3 lety

    Pls upload this again with higer volume

  • @zoidburger4839
    @zoidburger4839 Před 4 lety

    Great talk! I think that both language and music are symbolic systems, and so they stand in the same relationship to reality. But they are not the same, and music is not language proper. In language you may express statements about the world that may be true or false. In music you may express, well, something else. Feelings, perhaps, or maybe *yourself*. In both cases, music and language, we have symbolic representations, but of different varieties. They seem kind of tricky to outright conflate, I think. And then how about visual art, dance and all the rest of the arts, are they all language too? They are all symbolic and can all be used for expression, but at the same time they are all quite different, from each other and from language, and need to be understood on their own terms.
    I studied philosophy a long time ago and I also play music (!BASS!), and have tried to think about these things from time to time. Most of what I found most useful in aestethics I got from Nelson Goodmans Languages of Art, I guess that is where my view on music and the arts are coming from. It is a great book, I guess maybe you have read it? Anyway, thank you for an interesting and thought provoking talk!

  • @sebcmc
    @sebcmc Před 4 lety

    cool adam neely

  • @AmandaKaymusic
    @AmandaKaymusic Před 5 lety

    @TedXTalks you could really do better with the audio. Why not repair this? Adam Neely is worth listening to. This is a great talk. It is about the ability and effect of hearing...Decent sound quality playback for the clip would be worth the edit time and even uploading again.

  • @professorquinsonsnib
    @professorquinsonsnib Před rokem +1

    8:26 we just got lick rolled

  • @delicate1318
    @delicate1318 Před 3 lety

    Had to download an audio panner just to listen to this

  • @6stringstorulethemall967

    Finally!

  • @mothhh2114
    @mothhh2114 Před 5 lety +7

    I love how this comment section is filled with people who know this guy saying "HE PLAYED THE LICK!!!"

  • @riccracc6547
    @riccracc6547 Před 5 lety

    VSauce4 gave a really good TedTalk!