a snare drum at nine o'clock or so in the morning.

But anyway, it's just great to see such a full theater,

and really I must thank Herbie Hancock

and his colleagues for such a great presentation. (Applause)

One of the interesting things,

of course, is the combination of that raw hand on the instrument

and technology, and of course what he said about listening to our young people.

Of course, my job is all about listening,

and my aim, really, is to teach the world to listen.

That's my only real aim in life.

And it sounds quite simple, but actually it's quite a big, big job.

Because you know, when you look at a piece of music -- for example,

if I just open my little motorbike bag -- we have here, hopefully,

a piece of music that is full of little black dots on the page.

And, you know, we open it up and I read the music.

So technically, I can actually read this.

I will follow the instructions, the tempo markings, the dynamics.

I will do exactly as I'm told.

And so therefore, because time is short,

if I just play you literally the first maybe two lines or so. It's very straightforward.

There's nothing too difficult about the piece.

But here I'm being told that the piece of music is very quick.

I'm being told where to play on the drum.

I'm being told which part of the stick to use.

And I'm being told the dynamic.

And I'm also being told that the drum is without snares.

Snares on, snares off.

So therefore, if I translate this piece of music, we have this idea. (Music)

And so on. My career would probably last about five years.

However, what I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music.

Everything that there isn't time to learn from a teacher,

or to talk about, even, from a teacher.

But it's the things that you notice when you're not actually with your instrument

that in fact become so interesting, and that you want to explore

through this tiny, tiny surface of a drum.

So there, we experience the translation. Now we'll experience the interpretation. (Music) (Applause)

Now my career may last a little longer!

But in a way, you know, it's the same if I look at you and I see

a nice bright young lady with a pink top on.

I see that you're clutching a teddy bear, etc., etc.

So I get a basic idea as to what you might be about, what you might like,

what you might do as a profession, etc., etc.

However, that's just, you know, the initial idea I may have that we all get

when we actually look, and we try to interpret,

but actually it's so unbelievably shallow.

In the same way, I look at the music; I get a basic idea;

I wonder what technically might be hard, or, you know, what I want to do.

Just the basic feeling.

However, that is simply not enough.

And I think what Herbie said -- please listen, listen.

We have to listen to ourselves, first of all.

If I play, for example, holding the stick -- where literally I do not let go of the stick --

you'll experience quite a lot of shock coming up through the arm.

And you feel really quite -- believe it or not --

detached from the instrument and from the stick,

even though I'm actually holding the stick quite tightly.

By holding it tightly, I feel strangely more detached.

If I just simply let go and allow my hand, my arm, to be more of a support system,

suddenly I have more dynamic with less effort. Much more.

And I just feel, at last, one with the stick and one with the drum.

And I'm doing far, far less.

So in the same way that I need time with this instrument,

I need time with people in order to interpret them.

Not just translate them, but interpret them.

If, for example, I play just a few bars of a piece of music

for which I think of myself as a technician --

that is, someone who is basically a percussion player ... (Music)

And so on. If I think of myself as a musician ... (Music)

And so on. There is a little bit of a difference there that is worth just -- (Applause)

-- thinking about.

And I remember when I was 12 years old,

and I started playing tympani and percussion, and my teacher said,

"Well, how are we going to do this? You know, music is about listening."

And I said, "Yes, I agree with that. So what's the problem?"

And he said, "Well, how are you going to hear this? How are you going to hear that?"

And I said, "Well, how do you hear it?"

He said, "Well, I think I hear it through here."

And I said, "Well, I think I do too -- but I also hear it through my hands,

through my arms, cheekbones, my scalp, my tummy, my chest, my legs and so on."

And so we began our lessons every single time tuning drums --

in particular, the kettle drums, or tympani --

to such a narrow pitch interval, so something like ...

that of a difference. Then gradually ... and gradually ...

and it's amazing that when you do open your body up,

and open your hand up to allow the vibration to come through,

that in fact the tiny, tiny difference ...

can be felt with just the tiniest part of your finger, there.

And so what we would do is that I would put my hands on the wall

of the music room, and together we would "listen" to the sounds of the instruments,

and really try to connect with those sounds

far, far more broadly than simply depending on the ear.

Because of course, the ear is, I mean, subject to all sorts of things.

The room we happen to be in, the amplification, the quality of the instrument,

the type of sticks ... etc., etc.

They're all different.

Same amount of weight, but different sound colors.

And that's basically what we are. We're just human beings,

but we all have our own little sound colors, as it were,

that make up these extraordinary personalities

and characters and interests and things.

And as I grew older, I then auditioned for the Royal Academy of Music in London,

and they said, "Well, no, we won't accept you, because we haven't a clue,

you know, of the future of a so-called 'deaf' musician."

And I just couldn't quite accept that.

And so therefore, I said to them, "Well, look, if you refuse --

if you refuse me through those reasons,

as opposed to the ability to perform and to understand and love

the art of creating sound --

then we have to think very, very hard about the people you do actually accept."

And as a result -- once we got over a little hurdle, and having to audition twice --

they accepted me. And not only that --

what had happened was that it changed the whole role

of the music institutions throughout the United Kingdom.

Under no circumstances were they to refuse any application whatsoever on the basis of

whether someone had no arms, no legs --

they could still perhaps play a wind instrument if it was supported on a stand.

No circumstances at all were used to refuse any entry.

And every single entry had to be listened to, experienced and then

based on the musical ability -- then that person could either enter or not.

So therefore, this in turn meant that there was an extremely interesting

bunch of students who arrived in these various music institutions.

And I have to say, many of them now

in the professional orchestras throughout the world.

The interesting thing about this as well, though --

(Applause) --

is quite simply that not only were people connected with sound --

which is basically all of us, and we well know that music really is our daily medicine.

I say "music," but actually I mean "sound."

Because you know, some of the extraordinary things I've experienced

as a musician, when you may have a 15-year-old lad

who has got the most incredible challenges,

who may not be able to control his movements,

who may be deaf, who may be blind, etc., etc. --

suddenly, if that young lad sits close to this instrument,

and perhaps even lies underneath the marimba,

and you play something that's so incredibly organ-like, almost --

I don't really have the right sticks, perhaps --

but something like this. Let me change. (Music)

Something that's so unbelievably simple --

but he would be experiencing something that I wouldn't be,

because I'm on top of the sound.

I have the sound coming this way.

He would have the sound coming through the resonators.

If there were no resonators on here, we would have ... (Music)

So he would have a fullness of sound that those of you in the front few rows

wouldn't experience, those of you in the back few rows wouldn't experience either.

Every single one of us, depending on where we're sitting,

will experience this sound quite, quite differently.

And of course, being the participator of the sound,

and that is starting from the idea of what type of sound I want to produce --

for example, this sound.

Can you hear anything?

Exactly. Because I'm not even touching it.

But yet, we get the sensation of something happening.

In the same way that when I see tree moves,

then I imagine that tree making a rustling sound.

Do you see what I mean?

Whatever the eye sees, then there's always sound happening.

So there's always, always that huge --

I mean, just this kaleidoscope of things to draw from.

So all of my performances are based on entirely what I experience,

and not by learning a piece of music, putting on someone else's interpretation of it,

buying all the CDs possible of that particular piece of music, and so on and so forth.

Because that isn't giving me enough of something that is so raw and so basic,

and something that I can fully experience the journey of.

So it may be that, in certain halls, this dynamic may well work. (Music)

It may be that in other halls, they're simply not going to experience that

at all and so therefore, my level of soft,

gentle playing may have to be ... (Music)

Do you see what I mean? So, because of this explosion in access to sound,

especially through the deaf community,

this has not only affected how music institutions,

how schools for the deaf treat sound -- and not just as a means of therapy --

although of course, being a participator of music,

that definitely is the case as well.

But it's meant that acousticians have had to really think about the types of halls

they put together. There are so few halls in this world

that actually have very good acoustics,

dare I say. But by that I mean where you can absolutely do anything you imagine.

The tiniest, softest, softest sound to something that is so broad,

so huge, so incredible! There's always something --

it may sound good up there, may not be so good there.