Cheng Saechao/UC Davis photos unless otherwise noted; produced by Susanne Rockwell
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Undergrad cellists perform for Yo-Yo Ma
As a music major here at UC Davis, the most spectactular activity that I've had the privilege to participate in recently was a master class at the Mondavi Center with Mr. Yo-Yo Ma, the extensively recorded, world-famous cellist.
The program began with three young cellists from the San Francisco Conservatory and winners of the Mondavi Center Young Artists Competition, ages 11, 12 and 13; each played a solo piece, followed by some intensive work with Mr. Ma. Just viewing this master class would have been one of the highlights of my experience as a cello player.
Mr. Ma has a fantastic feel for teaching, and a very warm, comfortable, and yet persistent way of getting students to adjust their playing without feeling intimidated in the slightest way.
Expression and grace
I learned quite a lot about expression and grace on the cello just by watching him work with little technical problems the first three students were having, enough to make the experience incredibly educational, aside from the excitement and good music.
However, I did not only get to see Mr. Yo-Yo Ma work with others: I got to play for him myself.
An octet of eight students of UC Davis Applied Music Professor Susan Lamb Cook, myself included, went on stage as the last item on the program.
We played a beautiful piece by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, which went wonderfully (or at least it seemed so to me-we’ll see what my teacher thinks at my next lesson).
One thing that struck me about Mr. Ma was how generous and selfless he was; he took the time to shake hands with each of us and chat with us a little after our piece, even finding out which of us were music majors and what the rest of us were studying.
Moved a piano, arranged stands
He was even helping out with moving a piano and getting music stands in the right arrangement, which is unheard-of for someone as famous as he is.
Another part of the experience that stands out was how inspiring Mr. Ma was in person. I was impressed by how he was so unassuming and laid-back, yet completely passionate about what he did and why he did it.
One of my favorite comments from the whole afternoon, something that will stay with me for quite a while, was when Mr. Ma explained earnestly that although sometimes we practice because others expect us to do well, that shouldn’t be our primary motivation.
“You should play not because you want to be good, but because you need to make a sound,” the great cellist told us.