TED Talks Daily - All you need is an orchestra — and some magic | Jacob Collier and VSO School of Music Orchestra

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

Jacob Collier walks onstage to conduct an orchestra ... but none of the musicians know what song they're about to play. In a joyful experiment in live music-making, Collier pieces together an iconic song with the VSO School of Music Orchestra (and a little help from the audience in the TED Theater). Turns out, all you need is some improvisational magic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. 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 is 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 of 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 forgetting 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. is one of those times.

Are you ready? Are you ready? It'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 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 of 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. G.

Can you try tremolando? It's fun, isn't it? Back to Arco. No, tremolando is better. Cool. Harp. Actually, 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, ever you guys keep playing. This is the tempo. And we're going to go, you just can play every beat. So it's going to go,

D-don, don't, beautiful. Okay, harp. G major, we do a glissando from the bottom to the top of the harp. And one, two, And again? Isn't that nice?

One, two. Vibraphone, could you put a note on 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.

You two 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, R code, it's going to be G, F sharp, E.

Like that, can you do that? That's so lovely. And again? Flute, can you play? You're going to go. Three, go. Try it, octave lower. Go.

That's lower. And again. Okay, you two stop. Everyone else keep going. You're going to 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, cell. clarinet and the bass you're going to play down the G major scale starting on a on the G string yeah exactly so you're going to go do keep going D C B do a do and G okay still that's wonderful it's superb so all the way down do do do do do do you know clarinet can you do the same thing but starting on C concert C there so That makes sense, yeah? And I'd like you to play just, D, then that just goes through the whole thing.

Can I hear the note? Exactly, yeah. Okay, so you know what to do? So, A, Sala, C, D. One, two, three, go. That's lovely, that's all that. Beautiful, beautiful work. So, I mean, it's pretty good.

Okay, 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. loops around. Does that make sense? So, do you go 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 you can get the way through this. So one, two, one, two. Okay, give these musicians around and applause. Come on now. Fantastic. So that will be our verse. But every good song needs the chorus. So this would 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 symbol. 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, G, A, D.

Or in trombone that's... Is that right? Let's hear it? Exactly right. Trumpet, your part is... G... Yeah? And horn, your part is B, C sharp D.

Right? So... That's in horn. Yeah. Do do do, da-da-do. Can I hear it? Two, three. Go!

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 symbol at the same time.

Can you just do that by yourself? So do the snare drum roll on beat three to Lanier 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 really loud. Like louder than it is responsible for the TED Theater. Okay, ready? So, one, two, and... Was that loud enough for you? Just about. Okay, so the second half of the chorus is, who's left?

Tuber, trombone, trumpet. Tuba, can you play seven notes? but don't worry, they're like in the 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.

It's so great. I love to you. It's good. It's good vibes. Trombone. Could you go B, A, G, G, C, C, B. It'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... Do, do 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, 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 I 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 at the end of the song and then we'll be the end. That'll be sad. So we'll do violins and then violas and harp vibes and then cello flute, clarinet, chero bass, chorus, audience, chorus.

Okay, great. I think we're ready. Is everybody ready? Yes. It's the correct answer. Okay, violins, you ready? There's nothing you can do that can be dark. You can sing. There can be song.

There's nothing you can see, but you can learn how to play the game. It's easy. Oh. There's nothing you can make the con be made. Nothing you can save. The con be saved. Yeah, yeah. There's nothing you can do,

but you could learn how to be you in time. You see, you see. All your love is all your name. Keep saying that. 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 Tobner, and Tonzica, Sungmar Narnivong. Additional support from Daniela Ballerazo, Christopher Faisi Bogan, Valentina Bohanini, Ban Ban-Chang, Brian Green, and Laney Latt. Learn more at podcasts.com.com. I am Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feet. Thanks for listening.