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You Know This Song (but the Orchestra Doesn’t) | Jacob Collier & VSO School of Music Orchestra | TED

TED14:26Added Aug 30, 2026

Jacob Collier walks onstage to conduct an orchestra ... but none of the musicians know what song they're about to play. In a joyful experiment in live music-making, Collier pieces together an ic

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Contributed by 刘嘉琪

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Transcript format
  1. 00:04What I'm about to do with the musicians on stage
  2. 00:06is to create a piece of music for which we have had no rehearsal.
  3. 00:09There was no sheet music,
  4. 00:11we have no plan or prior discussion of any kind.
  5. 00:13So none of you know what's about to happen.
  6. 00:16None of you have any idea what's about to happen.
  7. 00:18And without further ado, let's begin.
  8. 00:20Are you ready?
  9. 00:22Audience: Yes!
  10. 00:23Jacob Collier: Are you ready?
  11. 00:24Audience: Yes!
  12. 00:25(Cheers)
  13. 00:27JC: It’s the correct answer.
  14. 00:29Let's start, hi, everybody.
  15. 00:30Let's start with the violins.
  16. 00:33I'd like for you to play a D.
  17. 00:35That one up there.
  18. 00:37Perfect, keep playing that.
  19. 00:38Can you play an A next door?
  20. 00:41Could you play a G?
  21. 00:43That's the one.
  22. 00:44And a D.
  23. 00:46Perfecto.
  24. 00:48Gorgeous.
  25. 00:49Can you try Tremolando?
  26. 00:52It's fun, isn't it?
  27. 00:53(Laughter)
  28. 00:55Back to Arco.
  29. 00:57No, Tremolando is better.
  30. 00:59Cool.
  31. 01:00Harp.
  32. 01:02Actually, before I get to you, violas.
  33. 01:03Violas.
  34. 01:06Could you play a G,
  35. 01:08and you play a D?
  36. 01:11OK, stop playing for a second.
  37. 01:13This is the tempo -- I want you guys to keep playing.
  38. 01:15Here's the tempo.
  39. 01:16And we're going to go --
  40. 01:18You're just going to play every beat.
  41. 01:19So it's going to go (Vocalizing).
  42. 01:22(Musicians playing)
  43. 01:25Perfect, beautiful.
  44. 01:28OK, harp.
  45. 01:30G major into a glissando from the bottom to the top of the harp.
  46. 01:34And one, two.
  47. 01:38That's lovely.
  48. 01:39And again.
  49. 01:42Isn't that nice?
  50. 01:44One, two --
  51. 01:46Yeah.
  52. 01:50Vibraphone.
  53. 01:52Could you put a note at the top of that?
  54. 01:54Try a G.
  55. 01:55What's the highest G on the vibraphone?
  56. 01:59That's a good one.
  57. 02:01Can you play that and the G above it?
  58. 02:04Even louder.
  59. 02:05One, two.
  60. 02:08I love that.
  61. 02:12You two stop for a second, everyone else keep going.
  62. 02:14So, cello and flute.
  63. 02:18Let's see.
  64. 02:19Could you play three notes and you play three notes?
  65. 02:23So your three notes are arco.
  66. 02:26It's going to be G, F-sharp, E, like that.
  67. 02:31Can you do that?
  68. 02:35That's so lovely. And again.
  69. 02:39Flute, can you play --
  70. 02:40You're going to go B, A, G.
  71. 02:45Three, go.
  72. 02:48Try octave lower. Go.
  73. 02:53That's lovely. And again.
  74. 02:55Go.
  75. 02:58OK, you two, stop.
  76. 03:00Everyone else, keep going.
  77. 03:01You're going to be going for a while, I'm sorry.
  78. 03:04So that happens two times.
  79. 03:06Two times.
  80. 03:07And the second half -- this is the verse, by the way.
  81. 03:09Second half of the verse is bass, cello, clarinet.
  82. 03:13And the bass, you're going to play down the G major scale
  83. 03:16starting on A on the G string.
  84. 03:20Yeah, exactly.
  85. 03:21So you're going to go (Vocalizing).
  86. 03:29Keep going.
  87. 03:30D, C,
  88. 03:32B
  89. 03:33A
  90. 03:34and G.
  91. 03:36OK, stop, that's wonderful, that's superb.
  92. 03:38So all the way down --
  93. 03:41Yeah?
  94. 03:44OK.
  95. 03:45Clarinet, can you do the same thing but starting on C,
  96. 03:49constant C there?
  97. 03:52That makes sense?
  98. 03:53And I'd like you to play just D then just goes through the whole thing.
  99. 03:58Can I hear the note?
  100. 03:59Exactly, yeah, OK.
  101. 04:01So you know what to do.
  102. 04:04One, two, three, go.
  103. 04:17That's lovely, now stop that.
  104. 04:19Beautiful work.
  105. 04:22I mean, it's really good.
  106. 04:23(Applause)
  107. 04:25Keep playing.
  108. 04:26So when you land on that G, when they land on the G,
  109. 04:29then you two start again.
  110. 04:30So it kind of loops around.
  111. 04:31Does that make sense?
  112. 04:34And that whole thing happens twice.
  113. 04:35So let's try the whole thing.
  114. 04:37Let's try the verse all the way through.
  115. 04:39We're going to add some harp at the beginning.
  116. 04:41So play on my signal and let's see if we can get all the way through this.
  117. 04:44So one, two, three.
  118. 05:05And stop.
  119. 05:07OK.
  120. 05:08Give these musicians a round of applause, everybody.
  121. 05:11(Applause and cheers)
  122. 05:13Fantastic, fantastic.
  123. 05:14(Applause)
  124. 05:17So that will be our verse.
  125. 05:19But every good song needs a chorus.
  126. 05:20So this will be our chorus.
  127. 05:22Brass, are you with me?
  128. 05:23OK, sweet.
  129. 05:25We've got tuba, trumpets,
  130. 05:27trombone, horn.
  131. 05:29Have you got a snare drum?
  132. 05:31You've got snare drum and a kick drum and a cymbal.
  133. 05:33You're on double duty today.
  134. 05:35OK, fantastic.
  135. 05:36So for the chorus, I want to start with trombone one,
  136. 05:40trumpet one and horn.
  137. 05:43And you have three notes each.
  138. 05:46And you play those three notes twice each.
  139. 05:48So trombone, you go G, A, D,
  140. 05:52or in trombone, that's --
  141. 05:53(Vocalizing trombone)
  142. 05:55Is that right?
  143. 06:01Exactly right.
  144. 06:02Trumpet, your part is ...
  145. 06:06G, G, F-sharp.
  146. 06:10And horn, your part is B, C-sharp, D, right?
  147. 06:16(Vocalizing horn)
  148. 06:18That's in horn.
  149. 06:20Yeah
  150. 06:22(Vocalizing)
  151. 06:23Can you hear it?
  152. 06:24Two, three. Go!
  153. 06:28And again. Two, three.
  154. 06:29Go!
  155. 06:34That sounds lovely.
  156. 06:35That sounds really great.
  157. 06:37So I have two changes I want to make to that.
  158. 06:40The first change is I want you to do it five times louder.
  159. 06:43And the second change, I want to add some percussion.
  160. 06:46So could you play a snare drum roll?
  161. 06:48So it's like (Vocalizing)
  162. 06:51And then hit the kick drum and the cymbal at the same time.
  163. 06:53Can you just do that by yourself?
  164. 06:55So do the snare drum roll on beat three landing on beat one.
  165. 06:58So it goes one, two, three.
  166. 06:59And there you go.
  167. 07:02It's pretty good, eh?
  168. 07:03It's just like I told a joke
  169. 07:04but I couldn't think of one.
  170. 07:06So you're going to do that and land on this brass thing
  171. 07:09and you're going to do that thing twice.
  172. 07:11So let's just try that
  173. 07:12with drums and like, really loud,
  174. 07:14like, louder than is responsible for the TED theater.
  175. 07:17OK, ready?
  176. 07:18So one, two, three, and.
  177. 07:24Two, three, go!
  178. 07:29Was that loud enough for you?
  179. 07:31Just about?
  180. 07:33So the second half of the chorus is --
  181. 07:35Who's left?
  182. 07:36Tuba, trombone, trumpet.
  183. 07:39Tuba, can you play seven notes?
  184. 07:43But don't worry, they're like in a sequence.
  185. 07:45You're going to go G, F-sharp, E, D, C,
  186. 07:48which is all the G major scale and then D, G.
  187. 07:51So it's like (Vocalizing).
  188. 07:55You got it?
  189. 07:56Two, three, go!
  190. 08:06Yeah!
  191. 08:07(Applause)
  192. 08:09Tubas are so great.
  193. 08:10I love tubas to death.
  194. 08:12It's good vibes.
  195. 08:13Trombone, could you go --
  196. 08:16B, A, G, G, C, C, B, right?
  197. 08:29He's good, he's good.
  198. 08:31And then trumpet, could you play chromatic
  199. 08:35so it starts on D and it goes --
  200. 08:37it's a sneaky little part --
  201. 08:39It goes (Vocalizing) like that.
  202. 08:43Does that make sense?
  203. 08:44Starting on D up to F and back to D.
  204. 08:49Can you do an octave lower, though?
  205. 08:51And let's get everyone together, three of you together.
  206. 08:54One, two, three, go.
  207. 08:58Now stop for one sec.
  208. 08:59That's totally my bad, half speed trumpet.
  209. 09:03Yeah? OK.
  210. 09:04One, two, three.
  211. 09:14That's gorgeous.
  212. 09:15That's lovely.
  213. 09:16(Applause)
  214. 09:17You're doing so well.
  215. 09:19So that whole thing happens twice as well.
  216. 09:21So the verse happens twice and then the chorus happens twice.
  217. 09:24And the drums are only that first time.
  218. 09:28And on the repeat of the chorus, don't do the drum roll,
  219. 09:32but do do the hit and the --
  220. 09:34Does that make sense?
  221. 09:35She's amazing.
  222. 09:37So OK, that makes sense.
  223. 09:38And after that, we're going to go straight back to the violins,
  224. 09:41so be ready.
  225. 09:44Does everyone have something to do?
  226. 09:46(Laughter)
  227. 09:48Well, you don’t have something to do.
  228. 09:49You should have said "No."
  229. 09:51So I'm going to give you a part.
  230. 09:52Your part is really simple.
  231. 09:54It goes (Vocalizing).
  232. 09:56Can I hear that?
  233. 09:57(Audience vocalizing)
  234. 09:59Much louder than that, go!
  235. 10:00(Audience vocalizing louder)
  236. 10:02You do it like, more drunkenly, ready?
  237. 10:04(Audience vocalizing loudly)
  238. 10:06That's exactly the vibe, that's the vibe I'm talking about.
  239. 10:09So, on my signal, you go.
  240. 10:11(Audience vocalizing loudly)
  241. 10:13Sublime.
  242. 10:15Now I have a part too, but you don’t know that part yet.
  243. 10:18Jethro the crocodile, by the way, does not have a part.
  244. 10:20He's just listening today.
  245. 10:22But we're going to go from the top of the song,
  246. 10:24and then you're going to do your part, and we'll get to the end of the song,
  247. 10:28and then [that’ll] be the end.
  248. 10:29That'll be sad.
  249. 10:30So we’ll do violins and violas and harp, vibes and then cello,
  250. 10:34flute, clarinet, cello, bass, chorus, audience.
  251. 10:36OK, great.
  252. 10:37I think we're ready.
  253. 10:38Is everybody ready?
  254. 10:40It's the correct answer.
  255. 10:42OK, violins, you ready?
  256. 10:45One, two, three, go.
  257. 10:51Violas. One, two, three, go.
  258. 11:00Harp, one, two.
  259. 11:11(Singing) There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
  260. 11:15Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
  261. 11:20There's nothing you can see, but you can learn how to play the game.
  262. 11:23It's easy.
  263. 11:28There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
  264. 11:32Nothing you can save that can't be saved.
  265. 11:35Yeah, yeah.
  266. 11:37There's nothing you can do.
  267. 11:38But you can learn how to be you in time.
  268. 11:41It's easy.
  269. 11:46All you need is love.
  270. 11:50All you need is love.
  271. 11:53And -- all you need is love.
  272. 11:57Love.
  273. 11:59Love is all you need.
  274. 12:00And again, one, two, three, go.
  275. 12:04All you need is love.
  276. 12:06(Audience vocalizing)
  277. 12:08All you need is love.
  278. 12:10(Audience vocalizing)
  279. 12:13All you need is love.
  280. 12:15Love.
  281. 12:17Love is all you need.
  282. 12:19One, two, three.
  283. 12:38Love, love, love.
  284. 12:42Ready?
  285. 12:43Audience: Love, love, love.
  286. 12:46Keep saying that.
  287. 12:47Love, love, love.
  288. 12:52Audience: Love, love, love.
  289. 12:57Love, love, love.
  290. 13:01Audience: Love, love, love.
  291. 13:06Love, love, love.
  292. 13:10Love, love, love.
  293. 13:14Love, love, love.
  294. 13:19Love, love, love.
  295. 13:24Love, love, love.
  296. 13:28Love, love, love.
  297. 13:33Love, love, love.
  298. 13:39Love, love, love.
  299. 13:49(Music crescendos)
  300. 13:57(Music ends)
  301. 13:59(Cheers and applause)
  302. 14:11(Cheers and applause continue)
  303. 14:23Thank you, everybody.