As children we love to “make things up”, be it stories or songs or friends… our imaginations are limitless. Why do we stop that? When are we told that is unacceptable? Why do we need to RE-learn this gift? Chris’s talk gave me such insights into our education system and the way we teach children; and even the way we, as a culture, repress so many of our natural instincts. What would education in America look like if we fostered...

We are fortunate to have a host of very talented industrial designers in the region. Dave and Jim were our first two person bandy-back-and-forth talk, which is not typical on the TED stage. When I met the two and discovered their interesting notions on the relationship between music, specifically jazz, an industrial design, I had to see if they would speak as a duet. They shine light on the interesting relationship between music and design...

An accomplished musician, composer and author, Ramon Ricker is Senior Associate Dean for Professional Studies, Director of the Institute for Music Leadership and Professor of Saxophone at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York; where he has been a faculty member since 1972. Throughout his long and varied career, Dr. Ricker has straddled the chasm between the “Ivory Tower” of academia and the “Real World”; building a...

Petar’s guitar interlude was a welcome respite from the day’s events. He gives a wonderful and funny intro to his music and then proceeds to play. The notes washed over us and really eased us into the second half of the event as we were all simultaneously relaxed and invigorated by Petar’s playing. His style is Brazilian, which he tells us is often confused for a variety of styles as it’s both influencer and...