[Applause]
hi my name is Nick Williams and was
mentioned I am currently a student at oh
you law and I’m also a musician and so
whenever people ask me what it is that I
do I usually like to color in the answer
by saying I live a pretty Bruce
wayne/batman lifestyle law student by
day musician by night and it may seem
like these two worlds really don’t have
much to do with each other but it’s
actually the blending of them that gave
rise to the idea that led me to this
stage today
you see studying the law in its
development is basically a constant
assessment of perspectives different
from your own you’re only able to really
understand what you think and what you
believe on certain issues when you
analyze them from different perspectives
when you realize where you’re not and
you’re only able to understand the
strengths in the substance of your
beliefs when you place them alongside
others and music actually offers a
pretty similar opportunity in a lot of
ways musics been called the one
universal language that we have the one
form of communication that we just
inherently know simply by being human
and I started thinking about that in
regards to the context of all these
perspectives that the law tries to
incorporate and I started wondering
whether music given its inherent
universal thread between all of us
whether it offers the opportunity for
our shrinking and diversifying world the
best live in harmony with itself because
it seems like finding a harmony between
different people in different groups is
more imperative today than ever today
when agreeing on a set of facts seems to
be more difficult than what finding them
out in the first place used to be
centuries ago and it all reminds me of
this statement that Krista Tippett the
radio broadcaster once said in an
interview she said that I can disagree
with your opinion but it turns out that
I can’t disagree with your experience
and so I think music offers a really
promising opportunity in a lot of ways
in this respect and this is because of
three main patterns that I saw through
looking deeper on the subject and the
first is that music offers an expression
of a feeling and experience for people
and also an ability within the listener
to understand that music has developed
to be a means of communication between
people that much has always been
understood but what’s even more
interesting is that
there’s actually a lot of scientific
research that explains why that is
psychologists have recently been able to
document via cerebral scans how music
triggers parts of the brain that are
most responsible for empathy and
understanding the motives behind people
and also music has been documented to
release oxytocin in the brain which is a
chemical that plays a vital role in the
bonding and trusting processes between
people so with this in mind I started
wondering whether there were certain
kinds of songs that best represent this
expressing and understanding between
people and this is one of the first ones
that I came across
how many roads must a man walk down
before you call him man but how many see
this must the white touch soon before
she sleeps in the same
and how many rows and balls fly before
the dead forever dance he answer my
friend is blowing
yes sir this blows
[Music]
a blowin in the wind was written by Bob
Dylan and is perhaps the most emblematic
song of the folk movement this movement
that put the concerns and the feelings
of many rural Americans on the forefront
of the nation’s consciousness for one of
the first times an interesting fact
about Bob Dylan is that he was most
influenced and most idolized in Oklahoma
native a man by the name of Woody
Guthrie and Woody Guthrie was a man who
lived through both the Great Depression
as well as the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma it
was probably the first known focusing or
songwriter that gave an expression to
rural Americans uniquely their own and
so when I sit down and listen to Bob
Dylan’s music especially as folk tunes I
can hear the dusty roots and the
struggles of the earlier man that gave
this form of expression to experiences
that I myself never have endured but can
nonetheless understand through his songs
that he wrote and also inspired another
artist and other songs that represent
this expressing and understanding
between people include white Christmas
the classic Bing Crosby tune that really
resonated with American World War two
soldiers these men and women who were
dispersed across the globe who were
longing for home and longing for a more
peaceful world that they were fighting
for as well as what’s going on by Marvin
Gaye which is this tune that gave a new
accessible voice to many inner-city
Americans who had felt marginalized
leading up to the civil rights era in
which the tune came out now the second
pattern that I found within looking
deeper on musics ability to connect
people is how music naturally blends
cultures this guitar itself is a
representation of that with its wood and
steel string from different parts of the
world as well as a few cracks that the
rushed lifestyle of a millennial like
myself can inflict upon it but artists
have taken this kind of instrument and
which has typically been identified with
Western society but utilized it to give
voice to experiences and stories from
all across the globe and on the topic of
different parts of the globe perhaps no
band is better known than knitting
together diverse cultures than the act
behind this next song
[Music]
words are flowy love flag can this rain
into a paper cup they see the wow they
pass they slip away across the universe
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
that song across the universe was
written by probably the biggest act in
Western society the Beatles and the
chorus line there Jack Gurudeva is
actually a Sanskrit phrase that means
glory to the shining remover of darkness
which really helps me understand the
chorus line the next line nothing’s
gonna change my world because the first
time that I listened to that song
especially coming from a Western mindset
it gave me this feeling of powerlessness
and hopelessness but actually taking
that line into consideration with the
other songs lyrics in context I think
what John Lennon was referencing was
that unchangeable unending light that
dwells within him
and that dwells within each of us now
the Beatles released that song during
their experiences of Asian and Indian
culture which played a part in the
influx of those cultures within our own
American way of being and just looking
around the heartland of America here you
can find yoga centers and lessons
sprinkled throughout and actually
Oklahoma may be the one place so you’ll
find a guy with a trucker hat walking
outside of a yoga Center but an another
interesting dinner-party fact about that
song is that it was actually broadcast
into space on the coinciding anniversary
of NASA’s founding as well as the songs
recording I guess broadcast in the space
just in case we may encounter a
different group of beings that we need
the forms
a sort of social connection with but
other artists that have been doing this
weaving of diverse cultures together
include Coldplay the massive band that’s
been known to incorporate healthy doses
of Japanese and Indian culture within
their songs like lovers in Japan or
Charlie Brown and another artist that’s
recently intrigued me is a man by the
name of Ibrahim Maloof who’s a jazz
artist from Beirut who interestingly
enough utilizes classical Western
instruments to give voice to distinctly
Middle Eastern sounding music that he
grew up with and also just in her was
who was the composer for the blockbuster
hit and 3-second oscar-winning best film
la-la-land he really invigorated and
brought some new life and the old jazz
tunes that my grandparents grew up with
and fell in love listening to and
dancing with which leads me to my last
pattern that I found within looking
deeper into this and it’s how music
offers itself for a narrative and moving
a narrative and story forward that
brings people together music was
designed not solely to be a singular
experience but also to be an engagement
of people and between people and no
genre really exemplifies this in my
opinion better than a genre that’s
typically been most loved of older
generations like my parents and my
grandparents until recently as it’s seen
this resurgence of interest in my
generation and younger generations and
that’s the genre of musicals and songs
within musicals are explicitly made to
move a story forward which gives them
this really interesting explanatory and
descriptive lyrical structure and new
works like Hamilton which paints a
portrait of one of our founding fathers
and waitress which tells the story of a
struggling waitress fighting for meaning
in her life they’re really doing this
interesting bridging of the gap
generation wise between the older and
the newer and the next song that I’m
gonna play comes from one of the more
recent hits on Broadway that tells the
story of just a young kid struggling
through anxiety and the other trials
that many of our younger teenagers are
dealing with growing up in today’s
society
[Music]
I’ve learned the slam on the brake
before I even turn the key before I make
the mistake before I lead with the worst
of me
give them no reason to stand no slipping
up if you slip away so I’ve got nothing
to share
now I’ve got nothing to say step by step
out of the Sun if you keep it burn
step back step out of the Sun because
you’ve learned because you burn on the
outside always looking in where I ever
be more than I’ve always been cuz I’m
tap tap tapping on the glass I’m waving
through window oh wow yeah try to speak
but nobody can you so I wait around for
an answer to appear while I’m watch
watch watching people I’m waiting
through window can anybody see is
anybody waiting
get me that song came from the musical
dear Ivan Hanson as you see in as this
perfect example of how songs offer
themselves up to stories stories that
can touch anyone from any part of life
at any point on the globe and so really
my takeaway for you all today is really
just to have an awareness of the music
that you’re listening to and be aware of
these three abilities within music that
how they’re able to express and convey
understanding between people and also
how music naturally blends cultures and
thus blends different people together
and finally how music offers itself up
to stories that as humans were
inherently drawn to and also one final
thing is really just a call to have a
heightened awareness of the music that
you’re listening to listen deeper to the
songs that you’re listening to be more
inquisitive about the tunes that you put
on
I wonder why those songs came to be and
what kind of other artistic influences
gave rise to them and followed those a
little bit further put on a tune that
you wouldn’t normally listen to it might
not only lead to a better understanding
of people very different from yourself
but also give you a better understanding
of who you are and where you fit
alongside them thanks for listening
[Applause]
hi my name is Nick Williams and was
mentioned I am currently a student at oh
you law and I’m also a musician and so
whenever people ask me what it is that I
do I usually like to color in the answer
by saying I live a pretty Bruce
wayne/batman lifestyle law student by
day musician by night and it may seem
like these two worlds really don’t have
much to do with each other but it’s
actually the blending of them that gave
rise to the idea that led me to this
stage today
you see studying the law in its
development is basically a constant
assessment of perspectives different
from your own you’re only able to really
understand what you think and what you
believe on certain issues when you
analyze them from different perspectives
when you realize where you’re not and
you’re only able to understand the
strengths in the substance of your
beliefs when you place them alongside
others and music actually offers a
pretty similar opportunity in a lot of
ways musics been called the one
universal language that we have the one
form of communication that we just
inherently know simply by being human
and I started thinking about that in
regards to the context of all these
perspectives that the law tries to
incorporate and I started wondering
whether music given its inherent
universal thread between all of us
whether it offers the opportunity for
our shrinking and diversifying world the
best live in harmony with itself because
it seems like finding a harmony between
different people in different groups is
more imperative today than ever today
when agreeing on a set of facts seems to
be more difficult than what finding them
out in the first place used to be
centuries ago and it all reminds me of
this statement that Krista Tippett the
radio broadcaster once said in an
interview she said that I can disagree
with your opinion but it turns out that
I can’t disagree with your experience
and so I think music offers a really
promising opportunity in a lot of ways
in this respect and this is because of
three main patterns that I saw through
looking deeper on the subject and the
first is that music offers an expression
of a feeling and experience for people
and also an ability within the listener
to understand that music has developed
to be a means of communication between
people that much has always been
understood but what’s even more
interesting is that
there’s actually a lot of scientific
research that explains why that is
psychologists have recently been able to
document via cerebral scans how music
triggers parts of the brain that are
most responsible for empathy and
understanding the motives behind people
and also music has been documented to
release oxytocin in the brain which is a
chemical that plays a vital role in the
bonding and trusting processes between
people so with this in mind I started
wondering whether there were certain
kinds of songs that best represent this
expressing and understanding between
people and this is one of the first ones
that I came across
how many roads must a man walk down
before you call him man but how many see
this must the white touch soon before
she sleeps in the same
and how many rows and balls fly before
the dead forever dance he answer my
friend is blowing
yes sir this blows
[Music]
a blowin in the wind was written by Bob
Dylan and is perhaps the most emblematic
song of the folk movement this movement
that put the concerns and the feelings
of many rural Americans on the forefront
of the nation’s consciousness for one of
the first times an interesting fact
about Bob Dylan is that he was most
influenced and most idolized in Oklahoma
native a man by the name of Woody
Guthrie and Woody Guthrie was a man who
lived through both the Great Depression
as well as the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma it
was probably the first known focusing or
songwriter that gave an expression to
rural Americans uniquely their own and
so when I sit down and listen to Bob
Dylan’s music especially as folk tunes I
can hear the dusty roots and the
struggles of the earlier man that gave
this form of expression to experiences
that I myself never have endured but can
nonetheless understand through his songs
that he wrote and also inspired another
artist and other songs that represent
this expressing and understanding
between people include white Christmas
the classic Bing Crosby tune that really
resonated with American World War two
soldiers these men and women who were
dispersed across the globe who were
longing for home and longing for a more
peaceful world that they were fighting
for as well as what’s going on by Marvin
Gaye which is this tune that gave a new
accessible voice to many inner-city
Americans who had felt marginalized
leading up to the civil rights era in
which the tune came out now the second
pattern that I found within looking
deeper on musics ability to connect
people is how music naturally blends
cultures this guitar itself is a
representation of that with its wood and
steel string from different parts of the
world as well as a few cracks that the
rushed lifestyle of a millennial like
myself can inflict upon it but artists
have taken this kind of instrument and
which has typically been identified with
Western society but utilized it to give
voice to experiences and stories from
all across the globe and on the topic of
different parts of the globe perhaps no
band is better known than knitting
together diverse cultures than the act
behind this next song
[Music]
words are flowy love flag can this rain
into a paper cup they see the wow they
pass they slip away across the universe
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
that song across the universe was
written by probably the biggest act in
Western society the Beatles and the
chorus line there Jack Gurudeva is
actually a Sanskrit phrase that means
glory to the shining remover of darkness
which really helps me understand the
chorus line the next line nothing’s
gonna change my world because the first
time that I listened to that song
especially coming from a Western mindset
it gave me this feeling of powerlessness
and hopelessness but actually taking
that line into consideration with the
other songs lyrics in context I think
what John Lennon was referencing was
that unchangeable unending light that
dwells within him
and that dwells within each of us now
the Beatles released that song during
their experiences of Asian and Indian
culture which played a part in the
influx of those cultures within our own
American way of being and just looking
around the heartland of America here you
can find yoga centers and lessons
sprinkled throughout and actually
Oklahoma may be the one place so you’ll
find a guy with a trucker hat walking
outside of a yoga Center but an another
interesting dinner-party fact about that
song is that it was actually broadcast
into space on the coinciding anniversary
of NASA’s founding as well as the songs
recording I guess broadcast in the space
just in case we may encounter a
different group of beings that we need
the forms
a sort of social connection with but
other artists that have been doing this
weaving of diverse cultures together
include Coldplay the massive band that’s
been known to incorporate healthy doses
of Japanese and Indian culture within
their songs like lovers in Japan or
Charlie Brown and another artist that’s
recently intrigued me is a man by the
name of Ibrahim Maloof who’s a jazz
artist from Beirut who interestingly
enough utilizes classical Western
instruments to give voice to distinctly
Middle Eastern sounding music that he
grew up with and also just in her was
who was the composer for the blockbuster
hit and 3-second oscar-winning best film
la-la-land he really invigorated and
brought some new life and the old jazz
tunes that my grandparents grew up with
and fell in love listening to and
dancing with which leads me to my last
pattern that I found within looking
deeper into this and it’s how music
offers itself for a narrative and moving
a narrative and story forward that
brings people together music was
designed not solely to be a singular
experience but also to be an engagement
of people and between people and no
genre really exemplifies this in my
opinion better than a genre that’s
typically been most loved of older
generations like my parents and my
grandparents until recently as it’s seen
this resurgence of interest in my
generation and younger generations and
that’s the genre of musicals and songs
within musicals are explicitly made to
move a story forward which gives them
this really interesting explanatory and
descriptive lyrical structure and new
works like Hamilton which paints a
portrait of one of our founding fathers
and waitress which tells the story of a
struggling waitress fighting for meaning
in her life they’re really doing this
interesting bridging of the gap
generation wise between the older and
the newer and the next song that I’m
gonna play comes from one of the more
recent hits on Broadway that tells the
story of just a young kid struggling
through anxiety and the other trials
that many of our younger teenagers are
dealing with growing up in today’s
society
[Music]
I’ve learned the slam on the brake
before I even turn the key before I make
the mistake before I lead with the worst
of me
give them no reason to stand no slipping
up if you slip away so I’ve got nothing
to share
now I’ve got nothing to say step by step
out of the Sun if you keep it burn
step back step out of the Sun because
you’ve learned because you burn on the
outside always looking in where I ever
be more than I’ve always been cuz I’m
tap tap tapping on the glass I’m waving
through window oh wow yeah try to speak
but nobody can you so I wait around for
an answer to appear while I’m watch
watch watching people I’m waiting
through window can anybody see is
anybody waiting
get me that song came from the musical
dear Ivan Hanson as you see in as this
perfect example of how songs offer
themselves up to stories stories that
can touch anyone from any part of life
at any point on the globe and so really
my takeaway for you all today is really
just to have an awareness of the music
that you’re listening to and be aware of
these three abilities within music that
how they’re able to express and convey
understanding between people and also
how music naturally blends cultures and
thus blends different people together
and finally how music offers itself up
to stories that as humans were
inherently drawn to and also one final
thing is really just a call to have a
heightened awareness of the music that
you’re listening to listen deeper to the
songs that you’re listening to be more
inquisitive about the tunes that you put
on
I wonder why those songs came to be and
what kind of other artistic influences
gave rise to them and followed those a
little bit further put on a tune that
you wouldn’t normally listen to it might
not only lead to a better understanding
of people very different from yourself
but also give you a better understanding
of who you are and where you fit
alongside them thanks for listening
[Applause]
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