TEDxGreenville Open Blog Post by: Despina Yeargin

The power of music to integrate and cure. . . is quite fundamental. It is the profoundest non-
chemical medication. — Oliver Sacks

I think music in itself is healing. It’s an explosive expression of humanity. It’s something we are
all touched by. No matter what culture we’re from, everyone loves music. — Billy Joel

Music has a great power for bringing people together. With so many forces in this world acting
to drive wedges between people, it’s important to preserve those things that help us experience
our common humanity. — Ted Turner

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I’ve always found music to be healing. It can help when I’m feeling blue, when I need to relax,
when I’m looking for energy and it helps when I’m looking for inspiration. I’ve seen music
calm a crying baby, I’ve seen it bring people together in difficult times and I’ve experienced it at
almost every important celebration in my life. Music is a magnetic force!

In this TED talk, L.A. Philharmonic first violin, Robert Gupta, shares his story of how music
connected him to the now well-known schizophrenic musician, Nathaniel Ayers. Nathaniel
is the gifted cellist and former Juilliard student found homeless on the streets of Los Angeles
by LA Times columnist, Steve Lopez. Lopez wrote many of his columns about Nathaniel and
eventually a book (The Soloist) about their friendship and how it healed them both. Steve tells
us in the book, that the one thing that kept Nathaniel Ayers motivated during his most troubled
times was music. It helped him escape and it kept him alive. Music is sanity!

Robert Gupta, a graduate of Juilliard and TED Senior Fellow, was introduced to Nathaniel to
give him violin lessons. Coincidentally, Gupta’s undergraduate degree is in biology. During
his undergrad studies, he worked on several research projects in neuro- and neurodegenerative
biology. Besides his LA Philharmonic work, Gupta also serves as director of a non-profit that
brings live music performances to homeless and disadvantages audiences. Music is medicine!

If you watch this to the end, you’ll see Gupta’s beautiful performance of his own transcription of
the prelude from a popular Bach cello sonata.

Related Links:
• For a little more healing, you can watch another Robert Gupta TED performance with
Joshua Roman on the cello.
• Renowned neurologist and author, Oliver Sacks, talks about his book, Musicophilia. In
the short video, he discusses the neurological condition, Synesthesia, which is close to

home in the work of Greenville artist, Ric Standridge. Ric has Synesthesia and uses it in
his work as a visual artist.

This is Despina Yeargin’s favorite TED or TEDx video of the moment. What’s yours? Click here to find out how to share it on the TEDxGreenville Open Blog!