Yo-Yo Ma and Civic Engagement

For those of you who do not know, Yo-Yo Ma is a world recognized Cello player. Some would consider him the number one Cellist in the world. So why would he be at a music school giving a lecture? Some might say for the money that they paid him if he was paid. A lecture I can agree with the response of doing it for the money. This is not the only thing that Yo-Yo Ma did for the university. He sat in with the orchestra and tutored individual students while he was there. The whole two days that he was there was spent with the students to help them better themselves not only as players, but also in the way that they think about music.

 The link to YouTube shows parts of both the lecture and also his interaction with the students. Unlike some musicians where you can see that their reactions are not genuine and they wish they were somewhere else, Yo-Yo Ma is fully engaged with them and looks to enjoy every second of it.

Yo-Yo Ma explains that the concept of music is not only to read the notes on the page and enjoy playing them as a musician, but also to be able to be so in tune with the music that you can make it live in others heads. That sentence in particular stuck with me because to be a great musician you have to have people want to recognize your music or say that it sounds like someone great’s music such as Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Frederic Chopin.

Yo-Yo Ma could sit around and do nothing for the community and just enjoy his fame, but he takes the time to talk and help students instead. Yo-Yo Ma is an inspiration and someone who I believe is a great example for not only the ideal musician, but also an ideal human being.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAy0Hx85FlE