Learn · TED

Talk11 min

The wiggly wonder of music

Jacob Collier · TED

Watch At TED

About

Grammy-winning musician Jacob Collier has a name for the feeling that moves through a great piece of music: the wiggle. Watch him break down the idea into its three parts — melody, rhythm and harmony — with nothing but his own voice, a grand piano and Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Turns out life, like music, was never made to run in straight lines.

The talk

  1. The wiggly wonder of music 11 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TED2026
Speaker
Jacob Collier
Year
2026
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Music
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed