A special evening with Yo-yo ma

On Monday, October 26th, 2009 My parents and I were three of the 2,400 guests attending Guilford College's Bryan Music and Lecture series for a night of Yo-yo Ma. The special guest Lecturer and solo-performer Yo-yo Ma is a world renown cellist who has single-handedly overtaken the whole of the classical cello forum by storm.

His website says this about the cellist:

The many faceted career of cellist Yo-yo ma is testament to his continual search for new ways to communicate with audiences and to his personal desire for artistic growth and renewal. Ma maintains a balance between his engagements as a soloist worldwide and his recital and chamber music activities. His discovery includes over 75 albums including 16 Emmy award winners. One of Ma's goals is the investigation of music as a means of communication and as a vehicle for the migration of ideas; in 1998 he established the sillk-road project to promote study of artisitic and intellectual traditions along the silk-road trade routes. Ma was born in Paris to chinese parents who later moved to New York. He began to study cello at the age of 4. Attended Julliard school and graduated from Harvard University in 1976. He has recieved numerous awards including the 1978 Fisher prize, the 1999 Glenn Gould prize, the 2001 National medal of Arts, the 2006 Sonning award. In 2006 he was designated the United Nations' messenger of peace by Secretary-general Kofi Annan. In 2007, secretary-general Bankai-moon extended his appointment. In January 2009 at the invitation of President elect Barack Obama, Ma played in the quartet performance of John Williams "Air and Simple Gifts" at the 56th Inaugural ceremony. (yo-yoma.com)

The program began with Ty Buckner the Associate vice President for Communications and Marketing who introduced the Bryan series followed by Yo-yo Ma's introduction given by Kent Chaborot the President and professor of Political Science.

When the cellist came onto the stage, he was greeted by a resounding applause. He stood for a moment. Thanked the crowd. And began to play.

As my parents and I were entering the auditorium, I couldn't help but lament that I hoped Yo-yo ma would play something I've not heard and give me a chance to hear something outside of my normal repertoire. As a cellist, it's very easy to become too familiar with Bach's cello suites: essentially the most well-known, overplayed cello pieces in the history of cello repertoire. So, as one can imagine, I would have been rather upset if he had started off the evening with Prelude from Suite No. 1. Which he did.

His playing was absolutely astounding, he had a very clean tone, very crisp notes, and a very clear sense of expressionism. Though I was disappointed that he had in fact played the very last thing I wanted to hear, I was contented in the fact that he gave a wonderful performance. He did not, however, just play it once, but rather multiple times throughout the evening. Throughout his lecture, he related his life as a musician back to this piece. As a 4 year old starting out on the cello, he began his training playing the prelude. Every day he was taught one measure. Until after playing every measure, he could play the entire piece. "There was nothing that was unplayable for a 4 year old," he stated, "but some days were much harder than others." As he aged and advanced, so did the Prelude.

Once Ma was in college, studying every aspect of music and cello playing, a teacher gave him a rude awakening stating, "You play the instrument very well, but you haven't found your voice." This began Ma's journey to finding his voice. Up until that time, Ma would play the notes and express them as he saw fit, but after the confrontation with his teacher, he realized that his job as a musician was not so much to play for himself, but to play for the composer. He realized that to become a great musician, it wasn't his duty to showcase his talent, but to use music as a way of communicating a thought, a feeling, and a way of life that was written on a page centuries ago.



It was after this realization that he began the silk-road project. The silk road project sent Yo-yo Ma around the world, finding artists in every corner of the globe. By interacting with them, he began to understand different techniques such as the importance of a drone or pedal note, and this is what he says keeps music fresh even after 50 years.
Despite the fact that Yo-yo ma has essentially taken the fame of many cellists, and despite that he had performed that night a piece of music that is so overdone, I was thankful that I was given the opportunity to hear his lecture. It opened my eyes to the world of music making and even gave me a new found appreciation for my own work as a cellist.