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I'm your host, Elise Hu.
What I'm about to do with the musicians on stage is to create a piece of music for which we have had no rehearsal.
There was no sheet music.
We have had no plan or prior discussion of any kind.
So none of you know what's about to happen.
None of you have any idea what's about to happen.
That's Jacob Collier, seven-time Grammy winner, multi-instrumentalist, and a hugely joyful force in music today.
He's known for finding music in places most people wouldn't think to look and for getting everyone who's in the room with him to participate in collective music making.
What you just heard isn't a description of a concept.
It's actually what happened live on the TED stage with the VSO School of Music Orchestra.
Collier is known for walking into a theater full of strangers and with a little conducting.
Making them sound like they've always been part of the same choir.
He's done it with audiences of thousands.
He's done it in concert halls around the world.
And somehow, every time, it works.
This is one of those times.
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
That's the correct answer.
It's coming up right after a short break.
What I'm about to do with the musicians on stage is to create a piece of music for which we have had no rehearsal
There is no sheet music.
We have no plan or prior discussion of any kind.
So none of you know what's about to happen.
None of you have any idea what's about to happen.
And without further ado, let's begin.
Are you ready?
Are you ready?
It's the correct answer.
Let's start with the violins.
I'd like for you to play a D. That one up there.
Perfect.
Keep playing that.
Can you play an A next door?
Could you play a G?
That's the one.
And a D. Perfecto.
Gorgeous.
Can you try Tremolando?
It's fun, isn't it?
Back to Arco.
No, tremolando's better.
Cool.
Heart.
Actually, no, before I get to you, violas.
Violas.
Could you play a G?
And you play a D.
Okay, stop playing for a second.
This is the tempo.
Everyone, you guys keep playing.
This is the tempo.
And we're gonna go... You're just gonna play every beat.
So it's gonna go...
Perfect.
Beautiful.
Okay, harp.
G major, we do a glissando from the bottom to the top of the harp.
And one, two.
That's lovely.
And again.
Isn't that nice?
One, two.
Here.
And again.
Vibraphone.
Could you put a note at the top of that?
Try a G. What's the highest G on the vibraphone?
That's a good one.
Can you play that and the G above it?
Even louder.
One, two.
I love that.
Could you stop for a second?
Everyone else keep going.
So, cello and flute.
Let's see.
Could you play three notes?
And you play three notes.
So, your three notes are arco.
It's going to be G, F sharp, E. Like that.
Can you do that?
That's so low.
And again.
Flute, can you play?
No, you're going to go.
B, A, G. Look at that.
Three.
Go.
Try it opposite lower.
Go.
Now slowly.
And again.
Go.
Okay, you two stop, everyone else keep going.
You're gonna be going for a while, I'm sorry.
So that happens two times, two times.
And the second half of the, this is the verse by the way, second half of the verse is bass, cello, clarinet.
And the bass, you're gonna play down the G major scale, starting on A, doo on the G string.
Yeah, exactly.
So you're gonna go...
Keep going.
D, C, B, A, and G. Okay, stop.
That's wonderful.
That's superb.
So all the way down.
Yeah?
Okay.
Clarinet, can you do the same thing but starting on C?
Concert C there.
So...
That make sense?
Yeah?
And I'd like you to play just... Then let's go through the whole thing.
Can I hear the note?
Exactly, yeah.
Okay.
So you want to do... One, two, three, go.
That's lovely.
That's so bad.
Beautiful, beautiful work.
I mean, it's really good.
Okay.
Keep playing, keep playing.
So when you land on that G, when they land on the G, then you two start again.
So it kind of loops around.
Does that make sense?
So like that.
And that whole thing happens twice.
So let's try the whole thing.
Let's try the verse all the way through.
We're going to add some harp at the beginning.
So play on my signal.
And let's see if we can get all the way through this.
So one, two, one.
And stop.
OK. Give these musicians a round of applause, everybody.
Come on down.
Fantastic, fantastic.
So that will be our verse.
But every good song needs a chorus.
So this will be our chorus.
Brass, are you with me?
Okay, sweet.
We've got tuba, trumpets, trombone, horn.
Have you got a snare drum?
Yeah, you've got a snare drum and a kick drum and a cymbal.
You're on double duty today.
Okay, fantastic.
So for the chorus, I want to start with trombone one, trumpet one, and horn.
And you have three notes each, and you play those three notes twice each.
So trombone, you go... Or in trombone, that's... Is that right?
Did you hear it?
Exactly right.
Trumpet, your part is...
G, G, F sharp.
And horn, your part is B, C sharp, D. That's in horn.
Can you hear it?
Two, three.
And again, two, three, go.
That sounds lovely.
That sounds really great.
So I have two changes I want to make to that.
The first change is I want you to do it five times louder.
And the second change, I want to add some percussion.
So could you play a snare drum roll?
So it's like... And then hit the kick drum and the cymbal at the same time.
Can you just do that by yourself?
So do the snare drum roll on beat three to landing on beat one.
So it goes one, two, three, and...
There you go.
It's pretty good, eh?
It's like I told a joke, but I couldn't think of one.
Okay.
So you're going to do that and land on this brass thing, and you're going to do that thing twice.
So let's just try that.
Let's try that with drums and, like, really loud.
Like, louder than is responsible for the TED Theatre.
Okay, ready?
So, one, two, three, and...
Was that loud enough for you?
Just about?
Okay.
So the second half of the chorus is, who's left?
Tuba, trombone, trumpet.
Tuba, can you play seven notes?
But don't worry, they're like in a sequence.
You're going to go G, F sharp, E, D, C, which is all the G major scale, and then D, G. So it's like, do, do, do, do, do, do, do.
You got it?
Two, three, go.
.
Yeah, let's do it.
Tubers are so great.
I love tubers to death.
It's good.
It's good vibes.
Trombone.
Could you go B, A, G, G, C, C, B, right?
Do, do.
He's good.
He's good.
And then trumpet, could you play chromatic?
So it starts on D. And he goes, it's a sneaky little part.
It goes... Like that.
Does that make sense?
Starting on D up to F and back to D.
Pristine.
Can you do octave lower, though?
Octave lower.
And let's hear everyone together.
Three of you together.
So, one, two, three, go.
That's totally my bad.
Half speed trumpet.
Half speed.
Yeah?
Okay.
One, two, three.
That's gorgeous.
That's lovely.
You're doing so well.
You're doing so well.
So that whole thing happens twice as well.
So the verse happens twice and then the chorus happens twice.
And the drums are only that first time.
And on the repeat of the chorus,
Don't do the drum roll.
But do do the hit and the...
Does that make sense?
Okay.
She's amazing.
So, okay, that makes sense.
And after that, we're going to go straight back to the violins.
So be ready.
Yeah.
Does everyone have something to do?
Okay.
Well, you don't have something to do.
You should have said, no.
Okay, so I'm going to give you a part.
Your part is really simple.
It goes... Can you hear that?
Much louder than that.
Go.
You're doing it more drunkenly.
Ready?
And... That's exactly the vibe.
That's the vibe I'm talking about.
So on my signal, you go... Sublime.
Right.
Now, I have a part too, but you don't know that part yet.
But we're going to go from the top of the song, and then you're going to do your part, and we'll get to the end of the song, and then we'll be at the end.
That'll be sad.
So we'll do violins, and then violas, and harp, vibes, and then cello, flute, clarinet, trombone, bass, chorus, audience, chorus, audience.
Okay, great.
I think we're ready.
Is everybody ready?
It's the correct answer.
Okay, violins, ready?
One, two, three, go.
Violins, two, three, go.
One, two, three, go.
There's nothing you can do that can't be done
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung
There's nothing you can sing But you can learn how to play the game
It's easy
There's nothing you can make that can't be made
Nothing you can save that can't be saved There's nothing you can do But you can learn how to be you in time It's easy All you need is love All you need is love
All you need is love love love is all you need again one two three go all you need is love go all you need is love yeah all you need is love love
Love is all you need one two three
Love, love, love.
Ready?
Love, love, love.
Yeah, keep singing that.
Love, love, love.
Sing.
One, two, three.
That was Jacob Collier and the VSO School of Music Orchestra at TED 2026.
If you're curious about TED's curation, visit TED.com slash curation guidelines.
And that's it for today.
TED Talks Daily is a podcast from TED.
This episode was fact-checked by the TED research team and produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Lucy Little, Emma Taubner, and Tansika Sangmarnivong.
Additional support from Daniela Balarezo, Christopher Faisy-Bogan, Valentina Bohannini, Banban Chang, Brian Green, and Lainey Lott.
Learn more at podcasts.ted.com.
I am Elise Hu.
I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed.
Thanks for listening.
