Many of us have probably never heard of Robert Gupta. Probably even fewer of you know the name Nathaniel Ayers. Truthfully, neither had I, until a chance meeting between a reporter and a brilliant musician may have made it possible for some of us to be reminded of the power that lies in our gifts as musicians, singers or creative people.
I like log on to a very special website I found some years ago called TED.com. On this site, offered free of charge, you can find recordings of some of the most influential, motivational and informational presentations that you will probably find anywhere else on the Internet. TED, which started as a conference that brought together experts and speakers from three different worlds (Technology, Entertainment and Design), has evolved into a global phenomenon that has millions of people attending the annual conferences held all over the world. The great thing about TED is that is has also turned into a free source of ideas, inspiration and motivation in the form of videos on just about any subject you can think of. The videos show presentations and speeches from some of the most influential, motivational and interesting people delivering speeches that are sure to leave you with…something! The other great thing is that these presentations are not like the ones we sat through in school or during those staff meetings that we all “had” to go to. These “TED talks” are, well, interesting.
Ok, let me get back to Robert Gupta. He is a violinist with the LA Philharmonic who often speaks about the healing powers of music. Mr. Gupta, has a very unique interest in this subject, you see. This native New Yorker graduated from college with a pre-med biology degree at the age of 17, graduated Yale with a master’s in music just two years later and has done research at Harvard studying Parkinson’s, spinal cord regeneration and the effects of pollution on the brain. Unique to say the least.
In this TED talk, Robert Gupta talks about when he had the opportunity to give a lesson to a brilliant, but troubled musician by the name of Nathanial Ayers. Many years ago, Gupta began, a reporter named Steve Lopez was walking along the streets of Los Angeles,California, when he heard beautiful music. This music, as he found out, could be traced to a homeless man named Nathaniel Ayers. Ayers, the brilliant musician that he was, was playing a violin that only had two strings. How good of a player do you have to be to stop someone who would otherwise not pay any attention to you at all? Especially with only two strings?
Nathaniel was a classically trained cellist whose career was cut short by his terrible bouts with paranoid schizophrenia. A paranoia that was so crippling, he dropped out of the famed Julliard School and in the span of 30 years, found himself living on the streets of Los Angeles. A chance meeting turned into a series of columns in the Times, a book written by Lopez and later a movie starring Jamie Foxx as Nathaniel Ayers and Robert Downey, Jr. as the writer called “The Soloist” in 2008.
The reason I love this short speech is because it touches on a few different aspects of my personal views about music. I believe that we are very fortunate people as “creatives.” We are able to take the things that mean most to us, or emotions, and funnel them through a medium that brings them to life. Something you can see, something you can hear and most definitely, something you can actually feel. Where a system of cruel, painful and even unnecessary treatments that failed him, Nathaniel was able to find some stability in life in the “escape” that music brought to him. So many years on the street brought Mr. Ayers to the brink of loosing it all. If this had been the case, and music was not the only link to humanity this musician had, then Mr. Lopez would probably never noticed, or given much notice to Nathaniel Ayers, as he continued to live his life as a homeless person.
I encourage you to take the time to listen to this young man. He speaks from a wisdom that is far beyond his years.
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