The philosopher Plato once said, "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." Music has always been a big part of my life. To create and to perform music connects you to people countries and lifetimes away. It connects you to the people you're playing with, to your audience and to yourself. When I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm bored, when I'm stressed, I listen to and I create music.
哲學家柏拉圖說: 「音樂給予宇宙一個靈魂、 給予心靈一對翅膀、 給予想像飛翔的能力、 給予萬物生命。」 音樂一直是我人生中 很重要的一部份。 創造和表演音樂, 能將你與不同國家、 不同時代的人們連結。 它能將你與一同演出的人連結、 與你的觀眾連結、 與你自己連結。 當我開心時、當我悲傷時、 當我無聊時、當我有壓力時, 我會聽音樂、創作音樂。
When I was younger, I played piano; later, I took up guitar. And as I started high school, music became a part of my identity. I was in every band, I was involved with every musical fine arts event. Music surrounded me. It made me who I was, and it gave me a place to belong.
比較年輕時,我彈鋼琴; 後來,我喜歡上吉它。 當我進入高中時, 音樂成了我身份的一部份。 我隸屬每個樂團, 我參與每個音樂藝術活動。 音樂圍繞著我。 它造成了那時的我, 它給了我一個歸屬。
Now, I've always had this thing with rhythms. I remember being young, I would walk down the hallways of my school and I would tap rhythms to myself on my leg with my hands, or tapping my teeth. It was a nervous habit, and I was always nervous. I think I liked the repetition of the rhythm -- it was calming.
我向來都對節奏很感興趣。 我記得年輕時, 我會走在學校裡的走廊上, 我會用我的手拍大腿來打拍子, 或輕敲我的牙齒。 那是種緊張時的習慣動作, 而我總是很緊張。 我想,我喜歡節奏的重覆性── 它能讓人平靜下來。
Then in high school, I started music theory, and it was the best class I've ever taken. We were learning about music -- things I didn't know, like theory and history. It was a class where we basically just listened to a song, talked about what it meant to us and analyzed it, and figured out what made it tick. Every Wednesday, we did something called "rhythmic dictation," and I was pretty good at it. Our teacher would give us an amount of measures and a time signature, and then he would speak a rhythm to us and we would have to write it down with the proper rests and notes. Like this: ta ta tuck-a tuck-a ta, ta tuck-a-tuck-a-tuck-a, tuck-a. And I loved it. The simplicity of the rhythm -- a basic two- to four- measure line -- and yet each of them almost told a story, like they had so much potential, and all you had to do was add a melody.
在高中, 我開始修音樂理論, 那是我上過最棒的課。 我們學習音樂相關的內容── 我不知道的東西,像理論和歷史。 在那堂課,基本上 我們就只是聽一首歌, 談論它對我們的意義, 並分析它, 找出是什麼讓它能起作用。 每週三,我們會做 所謂的「節奏聽寫」, 這是我很擅長的。 我們的老師會給我們很多小節, 和一個拍子記號, 接著他會對我們說一個節奏, 我們得用適當的休止符 與音符把它寫下來。 像這樣: 答、答、答卡答卡、答, 答、答卡答卡答卡、答卡。 我很愛做這練習。 節奏的簡明── 基本的二到四小節線── 但它們又幾乎各自說自己的故事, 好像它們如此有潛力, 你需要做的,只是加上旋律。
(Guitar)
(吉它)
Rhythms set a foundation for melodies and harmonies to play on top of. It gives structure and stability. Now, music has these parts -- rhythm, melody and harmony -- just like our lives. Where music has rhythm, we have routines and habits -- things that help us to remember what to do and to stay on track, and to just keep going. And you may not notice it, but it's always there.
節奏為加在上面的 旋律及和聲奠定了基礎。 它提供了結構和穩定性。 音樂有這些組成成份: 節奏、旋律、和聲, 就像我們的人生一樣。 音樂有節奏, 而我們有慣例和習慣, 這些事項協助我們記住 要做什麼、並順著軌道走, 就一直走下去。 你可能不會注意到它, 但它總是在那裡。
(Guitar)
(吉它)
And it may seem simple, it may seem dull by itself, but it gives tempo and heartbeat. And then things in your life add on to it, giving texture -- that's your friends and your family, and anything that creates a harmonic structure in your life and in your song, like harmonies, cadences and anything that makes it polyphonic. And they create beautiful chords and patterns.
它可能看似很簡單, 單獨看它可能覺得很乏味, 但它能給予拍子與心跳。 你人生中的事物接著被加在上面, 產生了織體── 也就是你的朋友和家人, 以及任何在你的人生中、 你的歌曲中, 創造出和諧結構的事物, 就像和聲、 終止式、 任何讓它複音的東西。 它們會創造出美麗的 和弦和節奏模式。
(Guitar)
(吉它)
And then there's you. You play on top of everything else, on top of the rhythms and the beat because you're the melody. And things may change and develop, but no matter what we do, we're still the same people. Throughout a song melodies develop, but it's still the same song. No matter what you do, the rhythms are still there: the tempo and the heartbeat ... until I left, and I went to college and everything disappeared.
接著,還有你。 你在所有事物之上演奏, 在節奏與拍子上演奏, 因為你就是旋律。 事物可能會改變、會發展, 但不論我們做什麼, 我們還是同樣的人。 一整首歌曲中,旋律會發展下去, 但它仍然是同一首歌。 不論你做什麼, 節奏仍然在那裡: 拍子,以及心跳…… 直到我離開, 我去上大學, 一切都不見了。
When I first arrived at university, I felt lost. And don't get me wrong -- sometimes I loved it and it was great, but other times, I felt like I had been left alone to fend for myself. It's like I had been taken out of my natural environment, and put somewhere new, where the rhythms and the harmonies and the form had gone away, and it was just me --
當我初次到達大學, 我覺得很迷失。 別誤會我──有時 我很愛大學,它很棒, 但其他時候, 我覺得我被丟下, 完全靠自己。 就像是我被帶出了我的自然環境, 放到一個新地方, 在那裡,節奏與和聲, 以及形式都不在了, 只有我──
(Guitar)
(吉它)
silence and my melody. And even that began to waver, because I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't have any chords to structure myself, or a rhythm or a beat to know the tempo.
寂靜,以及我的旋律。 但就連那些也開始搖擺, 因為我不知道我在做什麼。 我沒有任何和弦可以構建出我自己、 或是一個節奏、 或一個拍子,來讓我知道節拍。
(Guitar)
(吉它)
And then I began to hear all these other sounds.
接著我開始聽見其他的聲音。
(Guitar)
(吉它)
And they were off-time and off-key. And the more I was around them, the more my melody started to sound like theirs. And slowly I began to lose myself, like I was being washed away. But then the next moment --
它們的時間不準、 音調不準。 我越是在它們的附近, 我的旋律聽起來就越來越像它們的。 慢慢地,我開始失去我自己, 好像我被沖走了。 但,下一刻──
(Guitar)
(吉它)
I could hear it. And I could feel it. And it was me. And I was here. And it was different, but not worse off. Just changed a little.
我能聽到它了。 我能感覺到它了。 它就是我。 而我在這裡。 它很不同, 但不是每況愈下, 只是稍稍改變。
Music is my way of coping with the changes in my life. There's a beautiful connection between music and life. It can bind us to reality at the same time it allows us to escape it. Music is something that lives inside of you. You create it and you're created by it. Our lives are not only conducted by music, they're also composed of it.
音樂是我用來應對人生改變的方式。 音樂與人生之間,有著美麗的連結。 它將我們與現實結合, 同時又允許我們逃離現實。 音樂是存在於你的內在的。 你創造它,你被它創造。 音樂不只是扮演我們人生中的指揮, 也是我們人生的作曲家。
So this may seem like a bit of a stretch, but hear me out: music is a fundamental part of what we are and of everything around us. Now, music is my passion, but physics also used to be an interest of mine. And the more I learned, the more I saw connections between the two -- especially regarding string theory. I know this is only one of many theories, but it spoke to me. So, one aspect of string theory, at its simplest form, is this: matter is made up of atoms, which are made up of protons and neutrons and electrons, which are made up of quark. And here's where the string part comes in. This quark is supposedly made up of little coiled strings, and it's the vibrations of these strings that make everything what it is.
這或許聽起來有些誇張, 但聽我說完: 音樂是我們、及我們週遭一切, 根本的一部份。 現在,音樂是我的熱情, 但過去,物理也曾是我的興趣。 我學習越多, 我就越能看見兩者見的連結── 特別是關於弦理論。 我知道它只是許多理論之一, 但它會對我說話。 所以,弦理論的一個面向, 最簡單的形式就是這個: 物質是由原子構成, 原子是由質子、中子、電子構成, 這些又是由夸克構成的。 這就是和弦有關的部份了。 夸克應該是由小小的、 盤繞的弦所構成, 是這些弦的振動,構成萬物的本質。
Michio Kaku once explained this in a lecture called, "The Universe in a Nutshell," where he says, "String theory is the simple idea that the four forces of the universe -- gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the two strong forces -- can be viewed as music. The music of tiny little rubber bands." In this lecture, he goes on to explain physics as the laws of harmony between these strings; chemistry, as the melodies you can play on these strings; and he states that the universe is a "symphony of strings." These strings dictate the universe; they make up everything we see and everything we know. They're musical notes, but they make us what we are and they hold us together. So you see, everything is music.
加來道雄曾經在一場叫做 「深入淺出談宇宙」的演講中, 解釋過這一點, 那場演說中,他說: 「弦理論是個很簡單的想法, 宇宙的四股力量── 引力、電磁力、和兩股強核力── 可以被視為是音樂。 小小橡皮圈的音樂。」 在這場演說中,他接著解釋, 物理就是這些弦之間的和諧定律; 化學就是你可以用這些弦 來彈奏的旋律; 他說,宇宙是「弦的交響樂」。 這些弦支配著宇宙; 它們組成我們所見、所知的一切。 它們是音符, 但它們造成了我們, 讓我們能連結在一起。 所以, 一切都是音樂。
(Guitar)
(吉它)
When I look at the world, I see music all around us. When I look at myself, I see music. And my life has been defined by music. I found myself through music. Music is everywhere, and it is in everything. And it changes and it builds and it diminishes. But it's always there, supporting us, connecting us to each other and showing us the beauty of the universe.
當我看向這個世界, 我看到我們身邊都是音樂。 當我看向我自己, 我看到音樂。 我的人生被音樂給定義。 我透過音樂找到我自己。 音樂無所不在, 它在萬物當中。 它會改變,它會建造, 它會縮減。 但它永遠都在那裡, 支持著我們, 將我們彼此連結在一起, 讓我們看見宇宙之美。
So if you ever feel lost, stop and listen for your song.
所以如果你感到迷失, 停下來,注意聽聽你的歌曲。
Thank you.
謝謝。
(Applause)
(掌聲)