I was a music student when he was at UCSD- I remember the pretentiousness being real but a lot of it is due to him being an incredible musician and working on a level I could not appreciate. I sang in a group on one of his early choral compositions under his direction and it was strange stuff but he obviously knew exactly what he wanted out of us and it wasn't random sounds to him- there was definite order to his apparent chaos. He kept up with Ed Harkins, Phil Larson, Bert Turetzky, George Lewis, and Vinny Golia in improvisations I witnessed at UCSD and that's a tall order. Sometimes this kind of music is like modern art where it looks crazy simple or absolutely random but you realize that the performer/artist can do incredibly crafted conventional pieces- but they choose to do what they do for reasons most don't understand. I think it is funny that he followed the standard "weird music" concert format where the performer/composer/group comes out and crushes a standard (ie his Beethoven piano playing) then does their weird sounding stuff afterwards as a "proof" they're not just bad at playing. It's like a very early realist Picasso being displayed next to his late work.

This is earth radio, and now, "human music"...

This man structured his TED talk about music into verses and choruses. Beautiful.

2:47 is phenomenal, I find myself listening to it multiple times each time I revisit the video

For anyone that is having trouble understanding the way he is relating his message. I believe he is saying: "Don't worry about the way other people think of your ideas. Do what is interesting to you."

He is obviously a very talented person. One thing I admire is his extraordinary commitment to seeing his projects to completion. 180 page musical score, 72 feet of musical hieroglyphics that he invented, subway map, watch faces, who knows how many other instruments he invented and actually built. How many of us have an idea and never execute? Or start something and never finish it? Not only has this man encouraged me to think about questions in my own discipline, but he’s also inspired me to have enough confidence in my own ideas to execute them to completion. I think it’s better to have a shelf full of failed ideas/inventions than an empty shelf.

Is Mayonnaise an instrument? Yes Patrick, yes it is.

He's right about the florist making it better! I usually invite a florist over when I'm playing the carrots!

"It's good to have an open mind, but not so open that your brains fall out." I find this quote fits here quite well.

The most interesting part to me is that regardless of where our creativity takes us, we question its validity and relevancy the whole way. Just bc of where it started/the point of origin. It started at playing notes on a piano. Ended at creating movements illustrating strange sounds. But creativity is all encompassing. There is no real divide between visual, musical, theatrical or performance art. It’s free expression. And we shouldn’t feel limited by what we know. The exploration is what art is.

This dude just impressed an entire crowd full of people with industrial dance hand movements paired with some music a child wrote with a bop it

I love this guy. It's music in the form of mad sounds. Seems quite tongue-in-cheek. I'm glad these kind of crazy experiences exist.

Three conductors with no players is my favorite piece of his

Personally I thought the psychology behind the idea is the greatest muse behind all of this. If your a creative person, it's good to not just think outside the box but to walk away from the box all together for awhile. Yes,some of what he did was odd but honestly the evolution of sound and instruments over the years absolutely teaches us that creative progressive ideas is key for music and art. Can you imagine what musicians in the 1400s would think of what's on the radio now? It's no different than DNA strands constantly changing and adapting.

I like the idea that "the ear" is both a shared as well as a singular sense and point of interpretation of music. Applebaum as a composer, inventor, interpreter, etc. occupies the role of Active Ear as well as Passive Ear, whereas the listener or audience while also active in interpreting his work, is passive in that adaptation and and assessment of sound comes to a terminus after the intellectual and emotional impact is received. Besides the training of learning to identify music and how to notate that music for the purposes of recreating it either digitally or live is the composer's use of the medium which comprises of both his/her ear as well as the projected outcome of music/sound on the listener's. This is a complex route to follow. Mark Applebaum explores that route even further beyond the beaten path of known quantity tonality and pattern and in doing so he expands the medium, albeit perhaps incrementally but importantly.

this guy has talent.. I can see his point. breaking the mold in music, at first as in most things is laughed at. then respected and desired. the human brain and body can and will need more than sound to increase the musical disire

this is kinda cool, even though I did have a hard time enjoying the sounds I was hearing, in the end you understand that what he's doing isn't about "liking" what you hear, it's about defining what YOU and ONLY YOU think is interesting in various areas and concepts. In this case, the guy is a composer (whether he is talented or not, you can't really tell from this video, but its not the point!) and he often does works of traditional composing and playing conventional instruments, as he mentioned. He has experience with it, and this experience has made him bored, also mentioned. So, HE tried to define what HE thinks is interesting for HIM AS A COMPOSER. Ultimately, what he was trying to say isn't "This is what music and talent sounds like!!!" as many of you commenting seem to think, but rather "look at what you are doing, see if you like it, and if you don't like it, find ways to change it so that you DO like it." THAT's the entire point of this.

I'm don't like / understand all of these modern arts, but the moral of this speech is very valuable.

This man performs with the quiet confidence that comes with knowing that nobody but him can understand why he's doing what he's doing

What a great avant-garde master. Very inspirational. I'm serious. This is great stuff!

I'll never get sick of great jazz piano improv

I like to think of this as a conscious, meta talk on the inherent narcissism and pretentiousness of giving a TED talk, barely veiled as something about musical theory.

turning a blind eye to mediocre comments...this is refreshing! i love it! very inspiring!

Once while curled up in a corner on a overwhelming mushroom trip. All the sounds of the world around me formed into the most beautiful chaos I must imagine that has ever been heard by a human. Every sound blended into a mindtwisting melody. For a moment in my time everything had its perfect place in the universe. I saw it. I heard it. I was it. So fleeting.

i bet, if you gave him mayonnaise, he would have played it.

His main art, here, is describing his art so artfully as to make it seem like it's really art. It actually is but your mind isn't really convinced. Very clever....

sounds like he got so bored of the piano that he just became an alien

8:40 FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE I need to see and hear this !!!!!!!! This must be a permanent thing !! I'd travel there only for that !

Interpretive artists are typically legends in their own minds and the audience is left wondering wtf they just endured but applaud anyway because everyone else did.

oh. when he drilled through the book i cried.

Zappa explored like this and did similar work, but it was more cohesive.

I appreciate how he pulled me in the beginning by jazzing the heck outta some Beethoven! To me, that was incredibly interesting. The fact that he changed the entire question from “is it music, to is it interesting” is the very theme and variation. Mutation. What is my purpose/do I care once I find out? BRAVO

homie sweatin bullets

People need to understand that by Mark saying it was "boring" to him is a personal opinion. If you play one song over and over again eventually you will stray and find something else to play. And why may that be? Because its no longer a challenge for you and you don't receive the same creative challenge that you used to gain from that piece. Which means it is boring to play in comparison to learning something new. Improvisation is the first step to learning how to create your own pieces and explore ideas. It is a simple creative process. Which is why he showed how he would change the piece to interest him more. He then moved on to creating and inventing even more extensions of his musical knowledge by turning it into something that breaks the rules of music as we know it. I think if you are offended by such a way of expression, then you're simply just as close minded as the categories we are placed in, defining who we are and the extent as to which we do things. Fantastic Presentation Mark.

I've now watched this twice and adore the curiosity and joy found here. Lovely talent and remarkable endeavors! It would have been nice to see him reference the other composers who were in many ways made firsts into these formats like Harry Partch (self made instruments) Bussotti (graphic scores) , George Brecht (performance pieces) and most importantly Richard Maxfield with electronic music. The paradox of parenthetically referencing both narcissism and schizophrenia makes we wince a bit, as many composers suffered from these paradigms of mind and didn't make it.

He *is* right about the florist. It adds... something.

Wtf is up with the comment section? He's definitely a talented artist, I'd even call him a genius at what he does. Not only is he talented at playing musical instruments, but he is driven by the necessity to create art, new sounds, complex designs and musical instruments. Also he's really intelligent, you can tell by his humour. I loved this video, glad this guy is around.

This concept has been around in music for years already and is still worth exploring because obviously it's still controversial. He's just continuing what John Cage started

He is thinking so far out of the box...he's in space. But not space as you know it.

Me at start of this video: Hmm I hope I'll become smarter and learn some "essence" of music watching TED video. Also me watching this video at 14:39 : LOOOOL, Mooomm come here!!

but does it djent

And yet, not a single cowbell.

This is my number one favorite person I have see on TED. Priceless

sounds exactly like what i hear when im in a quiet room on acid lol

This guy did music for so long he went crazy

Opposite of most of the comments on here, I think this guy is great! He’s funny and creative. I can appreciate being inventive. He’s having fun. I applaud his courage for being an individual.

There are not many music comedians around. I can only remember Victor Borge, Frank Zappa and then a few more from the past. This Mark Applebaum I never heard about. I'm very happy to once again be both entertained and educated by this rare genre.

This is like when Ross was trying to make "music" on Friends

Many people missing the point. His experimental stuff is for his own interest regardless of whether it's music or not. Watch the ending before you decide that this "isn't music". Negative comparisons to "successful experimental bands/artists that stayed down-to-earth" are entirely irrelevant; he mentions his creativity being his guide so why does it matter so much what he's doing?

I like this video, as is demonstrates what 20th Century classical music is about. Most mainstream public haven't even reached the interpreter level, but they are all of the sudden knowledgable in judging and criticizing classical musicians' performances and their music. That's the problem I find with today's society and that's why Justin Bieber is smart enough to ploriferate on such crowd.

I love that so much, "is it music? Maybe thats not the right question maybe the right question is, is it interesting?"

Class: *is quiet* My Stomach: 5:47

I really like 'outside of the box' thinking, pushing challenging and questioning creative potential.

its certainly more interesting than what they play on radio these days .

Excellent vid. I love TED for providing a platform where I can discover people and concepts like this. Riveting

To simply put, a fucking GENIUS.

3 conductor & no players!! LOL! Genius!

three conductors and no musicians is the best thing I've ever seen I'ma search it up to see more xD

I do not gravitate towards TED style talks. Prefer the drawn out talks and discussions that many channels on this platform are hosts to. Okay. Enough of my brouhaha. I loved watching this. Mark's artistry brough me back to the mid to late 80s when a co-worker, a co-worker who soon after became an artist that I worked with, would take me to Concordia University's Atonal concerts which where held in the basement of an old church on Concordia's school grounds. I left feeling like the composers set fire to my love for sounds/soundscapes. 🌺

Fantastic! knowledgeable confused perspective all in harmony!

music isn't just sound like this guy is saying, music is a way to see into the soul of the artist. And as a listener to connect that sound to a certain event or emotion

He's not making Pop music you guys (popularly enjoyed music), he's breaking the walls of sound so people know they can use anything as an instrument (especially using a digital sampler), it's not supposed to sound harmonious, ESPECIALLY when he's playing NON-HARMONIC pieces. As in, pieces with no scale or key. You can use everything he used to make "mad scientist" music and repitch everything to C and make a pop song out of it. He just went so left field because he wanted to move past the question of "is it music" to instead challenge people to make what they think is interesting. rather than follow the model that every other non-experimental artist has followed.

Thank you for sharing. This guy is such an inspiration. I love making whacky sound art and sculptures.

Three Conductors and No Players is fucking perfect and hilarious. Papa Haydn would be proud. Mark, Applebaum, I'm so glad I was introduced to bith your Music AND you. People may admire viruosic talent, but they CONNECT with a Human. Your wit and presentation match your Musical chops, and your Jazz over the Beethoven changes was so Musical, so THANK YOU.

Bet he can't do guitar hero on expert though.

Is there any way to tell if he’s actually really pretentious or just being really self-aware

this is what my anxiety sounds like

My most Favorite part of this video is 1:31 to 3:29! Amazing piano work!

Being an artist you have to stand firm next to your vision and Mark stands very strongly next to his . All artist do. And by him doing so puts him out there to be judged and criticized by other artists . How narcissistic and egotistical to gang up against him and say he's wrong . If you don't agree then just do that and move on. Maybe I'm just a more accepting person of be and let be . I definitely do not judge people who are brave enough to vocalize their perspective especially if they're vocalizing it for for everybody to hear. Thank for reading my opinion and respecting the fact that's just what it is my opinion

This cat seems to have found Frank Zappa's compass and maps to creativity land! Back in 1963 Frank Zappa was on the Steve Allen show playing a bicycle with the shows orchestra in a loose improve piece that FZ had composed. You can find it right here on youtube and I strongly suggest you do. I dig the 3 conductors and no players and the hand choreography the best!

The notation around 8 minutes is FANTASTIC

This video keeps making more and more sense as the years go by.

The number of people whinging that this music doesn't appeal to them... pretty sure he said he makes this music to keep *himself* interested...

I love this guy. He's bold, he knows what he wants, and he goes for it. Forget the detractors, they're not doing anything unique with their lives.

When I was at El Prado, and I saw the sketches Picaso had made for Guernica, I though "But, he DID know how to paint!!". This somehow made me rethink the idea that his work was just a great joke on everybody, some version of the emperor's new clothes hoax. Today I heard Applebaum play that piece of Beethoven, and I thought "Wow, he really knows how to play!!". But the same I couldn't shake my feeling about Picaso, I cannot possibly shake it with him. I understand what he says. My mind gets it. But to me, art is about aesthetics as well, and I cannot for my life find the aesthetics in this. It is expression though, no argument about that. Anyway, since this is not science, where there cannot be dissent and everything must be precise and everybody must strive to solve controversy, that's just my view and everybody else can keep their own.

I love it how he explains the music industry xD... genious

Not "Is it interesting?" but the question should be "Does it stay interesting?" No.

For the non-likers out there, open your mind just a little. It helps if, instead of feeling pain at the thought of labeling this gentleman's creations 'music', think of it as 'musical sounds'. He holds a Ph.D in Composition, has toured world-wide as a jazz pianist, and been commissioned to compose for numerous organizations in America and Europe, so I believe he's entitled to have his opinion on ANYTHING involving music be given some serious consideration. If it's different, that's good. Through change comes growth.

If life gives you lemons, stick a copper wire in it, plug it in a synth and play it. I am not yet inspired by him, but it's these mavericks who suddenly discover or come up with something very brilliant.

This feels like the next phase of the group "Stomp" Loved it

Wow, what a great lesson of music, he is genius... I love it....keep your good work....😍💐💚

Anyone notice his shirt getting progressively saturated with sweat?😂 lol

Wow! The Glass Bead Game started and no one told me! Just in time. Wonderful work!

GREAT ADVICE IN THE CONCLUSION! CONGRATS! And thank you!

The reason people like music a certain way is because it is pleasing to our brains in certain ways and not in others. If regular music isn't pleasing to this particular man's brain, then I don't think there's something wrong with the rest of us.

Guy: "Don't be afraid to take risks and explore ideas you find interesting which may fall outside of the conventional scope of your field." KZfaq commenters: "Different! DIFFEREEEEENT!!!"

Oh man, Zappa would have loved this guy's instrument.

I just heard him talk about how good he is and then he played a childs toy from a dr suess book

14:39 sums up this whole video. Thank me later

This man is absolutely fucking insane. I love it. He also has way too much time on his hands.

I really want him to come out with a full song of his interpretation/version of Beethoven at 2:50

2:47 to 3:25 was genius.

Dude needs to add "undershirt consumer" to his credentials.

Frank Zappa was doing this kind of stuff in his compositions. Listening to Zappa's material as a musician you think he is just making it up on the spot until you go and see him live then you realise that every sound is part of the composition. What's challenging as a musician regarding Franks material is that you cant rely on the regular song structures and you have to learn and rehearse every piece of his songs. I am amazed how his musicians know exactly where they are in a piece of music. The avant garde thing seems to be an extension of Franks style taken one step further.

He's amazing!

Just incredible! You're amazing!!!!

He is fundamentally just honest in recognizing and then combating boredom.

Have no fear, the Horror Movie Sound Composer, is here.

Masterful on several different levels!

hes so kind