Yo-Yo Ma on Playing for President Kennedy at Age Seven

[@oldcougar65]

with a voice like that, he should be narrating documentaries.

[@katebrookman2955]

My thoughts too-mellifluous!

[@jonmars9559]

Listening to Yo-Yo Ma speak, I find him a remarkable human being.

[@mbords01]

Oh my gosh......he was born blessed and more blessed.....

[@teawithtams6596]

Even though he is soft spoken his voice holds such a command that you want to quiet everything and everyone around you so you can listen to what he is saying.

[@jeyauritt1107]

What's truly remarkable, given the level of talent and public exposure at an early age, is that YoYo Ma developed into such a compassionate human.

[@lainpadang8033]

Even at the age of 7, he already looked so composed, so confident yet humble.

[@oumsu1162]

I met Yo-yo ma once. He is such a down to earth person. A wonderful human being.

[@janelleyao]

I was so shocked when I got the opportunity to watch him live! He is a truly incredible person, and a very talented cellist

[@berenscott9347]

@@janelleyao As a cellist myself, I always take issue with the word "talent." Yo-Yo Ma had parents who pushed him very firmly to practise and repeat and listen correctly over and over and over again. Childhood plasticity in the brain does the rest of the work.. Almost all of us can speak fluently so why not master an instrument fluently as well? He is certainly an inspiring, well centred man with a wealth of experience. You can tell he took Casal's "Human first" to heart.. You can see it in his smile and deep connection with the audience when he plays.

[@lisalim4322]

Yo-Yo Ma is our generation’s wise man/ancient sage. Such wise words and questioning of the reporter’s definition of achievement: “Where do we place our identity? For guys often it’s what do you do, what’s your profession. Most people think of me as a cellist, but the human being part, for Casals, was the most important thing. And that was something I ALWAYS thought about.” Such wisdom Casals gifted Yo-Yo Ma with, who is now gifting it to us. It’s a true gift/treasure, especially as a child, to have such a wise elder that you look up to/respect, who sees you for who you are and guides you to place your identity in who you are as a human being first. For children growing up in a cruel world, this wisdom is what truly protects them and guides them to true achievement. Who you performed for or the fact that you are a prodigy cellist, maybe even one of the greatest in century - that is “very good” but it may be an empty achievement if you are not careful and remember to “also ALWAYS go play baseball.” Yo-Yo Ma heeded wise Casals words and has become a remarkable human being, and he is also the greatest cellist of his time. But it’s not the essential thing in his life. He has chosen, like Casal, to see beyond what the world sees (“may people think of me as a cellist”), but what he values - that he advises us to always go play baseball too - that he sees a person for who you are as a human being, beyond awards/accolades, being “better” at something that others, how you make money or how much money you make first - that is not where he places the definition of his achievement in the first, it’s not essential to who he is, while a renowned cellist - if you see his achievement as being a cellist first, you may be missing his true achievement -thank you so much for sharing this illuminating beautiful story and for imparting such wisdom that I now seem to be fascinated by and will have to always think about. Yo-Yo Ma speaking has Socrates vibes - like an ancient sage/wise man/masterful wisdom. This wisdom is TREASURE but also what we do desperately need in our destructive and inequitable world. if we heed these words, we could save the world.

[@jimvandemoter6961]

His comments on Pablo Casals telling him to play baseball is interesting. I taught guitar over twenty five years and I always told my students music is a toy, that's why we say we 'play' music. We don't 'work' music, we 'play.' Don't take it too seriously, and don't forget to have fun.

[@dt6822]

I think that applies to everything.

[@swarzeoz2550]

Wait, what???? Music is a toy? Yikes! I am a musician, and while it is fun, it take it pretty seriously. Wouldn't have made my living by being one if I thought it was not something to be taken seriously. I teach also, and I always have fun with my students, too, but if they want to take it to another level, we get pretty serious.

[@mayaparamita2254]

Thank you 🙂

[@aswomebro2601]

@@swarzeoz2550 yeah being serious can be fun too

[@mockingbird187]

Sounds a lot like Alan Watts.

[@dt6822]

Yo Yo Ma is an inspiration and a truly wonderful human being.

[@yaliemaggie5414]

Never, ever, never no cellists like YoYoMa in the future ! Long live YoYoMa ! I love your playing cello so much !

[@wandaloskot]

Oh PLEEEEEEZE! Never ever never? Relax. Of course never ever another like YoYoMa or Cassals. Or you never ever another like you, or me. Everyone is unique, one of a kind. But there will be always amazing musicians - like right now Stjepan Hauser is absolutely the best and sorry to say but left YoYo Ma in the dust behind.

[@yaliemaggie5414]

@@wandaloskotthank you for ur comment but, Here, YYM 's channel. And I am a BIG Fan of YoYoMa. So... that I said he was the best of best is right . And I know who your favorite cellist is. but I am sorry to say that ... his playing is not good in my ears. Everyone has one's best thing. And YoYoMa's playing is so to me.

[@Magnetron33]

Yo Yo Ma is truly one of the great people of the planet

[@美智子渡辺-u3q]

YOYO-Maの7歳の時のチェロの演奏白黒テレビ📺だったのが時代を感じますね‼️😍💕今年でちょうど６０年になりますね❣️😊💕🎻💗素晴らしいです❣️🤗🫶💗

[@publicalways]

"first, as a human being..." thank you for that reminder

[@anawiseman]

He has such an amazing sense of humor! Love that.

[@johnbarnett6924]

Thank You, Mr Ma❤ For Your Light, And Art, and Honest Truth❤ John W Barnett aka Dobie.Wan Kanobie revisited November 2033

[@purplepenguin2969]

When I was very young, I would listen to Yo-Yo Ma, along with eating an oatmeal cream cookie, and drinking apple juice. Every morning, I would ask my mother to put classical music on the computer, I would listen to it for some time; When I say young, I was around the age of 4 and 6.

[@iisan7]

why did you stop?

[@salmanahjum-mathee9055]

Just watched that performance in front of JFK and it is a masterpiece

[@nancydemoss8421]

Yo-Yo Ma is such a soft spoken humble man.

[@kateharlech2451]

I met Yo-Yo Ma in Stockholm a private performance he gave at the Canadian embassy.

[@naiyasoetan6855]

I met an accomplished violinist in college (I was in engineering, but the music school was a top 20 music school in the US). I find it interesting that Ma’s instructor told him to play baseball, but that this woman avoided most sports for fear of breaking her violinist’s fingers.

[@berenscott9347]

There's a nice story in Casals biography where he described rockclimbing. A rock fell on his hand and his first thought was 'Thank god, I never have to practise again'. Thankfully he recovered. But Casals was always a firm proponent of living life to the fullest; Otherwise how can we as musicians share the full range of emotion in our playing, if we're sequestered away practising 8 hours a day?

[@mayaparamita2254]

@@berenscott9347 nice way to put it 👍👏👏

[@lourdesarlinmateo-casanova9942]

Beautiful interview

[@willettej7988]

I love this man!

[@caseykunz7800]

What a great statement.... very very cool

[@elainesmith7512]

Very interesting. I have always admired his "humanness", and I didn't know he was Chinese. I thought he was of Korean origin.🤦‍♀️🤔 Brilliant, talented AND with a seemingly kind nature.👏👍

[@willengel2458]

the Ma family came from France to America. Bernstein was half right, Yo Yo Ma was French of Chinese descent.

[@joyceroberts6979]

I watched him on KZbin playing with his eyes closed! He was born a musical genius. I always wonder how children come into the world already knowing!! It's a mystery.

[@chibichrist89]

Joyce Roberts kzbin.info/www/bejne/m2GoYYhjbr2Cqpo if you see the full interview, might help answer a bit.. one aspect, having a good teacher.. with every “genius”, there’s always an excellent teacher..

[@berenscott9347]

Raw intelligence is a plus, but hours and hours and hours and hours of listening, practise with careful methodical teaching and dedicated, disciplined parents who set them on the journey from birth.

[@obscureorca]

I love how David in the beginning was like "cut the fake humble bullshit yo yo" 😂

[@jasonlovi8745]

This is very profound

[@dantescave1]

Beautiful!

[@MoonlightNothing]

So likeable. I wish you could sit with me and help me play the violin and not be so unprepared, afraid and confused.

[@palm6007]

I wonder if Yo Yo Ma managed to learn baseball 🤠

[@pluck593]

I think President Kennedy went up to him after the performance and said "Er-a, young man, do you know any Led Zeppelin?"😊

[@linwooddaughtrey8035]

This is what we are talking about,YO YO Ma,years old,it took Jessye Norman acclaim in Europe and 18 yes to get to the Metropolitan Opera and we have been in this country 401 yrs. HE IS 7YRS OLD .

[@amandawilcox9638]

Linwood Daughtery: Having his talent recognized and being befriended and promoted by the most important and loved cellist in the world (Casals) may have helped a bit.

[@poetmaggie1]

They had been living in France. he was French, until he became US

[@elly_angelic]

i wish they learned to think of humanity and then artistry and then idol first in k-pop culture as well as other subcommunities>< would do alot of good for the society and for the young people who are under so much critique of the public eye , , , but just in general it would make the world and esp social media a better place~~

[@allen9818]

Vision!!!

[@ACoustaDC]

And now we know.... Yoyo was not just a stage name.

[@kb26inla]

Yo! Yo! MAAAA!!!!!!!!

[@raquelaguillon5336]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@jenniferfar]

God. Seriously.

[@TonyMusicArts]

💓

[@user-ok2yb5zi2g]

Identity and finding ones identity that grew up in communism from everyone that I talked to that grew up in communism that left it still speaks of how great communism is but if it was so great why did so many people flee counteries that were communist countries. One must ask themselves. Communism and the concept idea of communism strips the individual of their self identity for the greater of the whole unit and or for the rest of their country. This is why when anyone seeks to find their own individual self they first need to expirence freedom from communism in order to be able to compare other systems to that one then as they navigate through that they will find what works for them and what doesn't and within that they will find their identity and sometimes freedom. I am for peoples sovereignty from whatever they consider to be hindering them wheather its communism, a marriage, a bad boss. All are applicable just different subjects.

[@stickanims99]

yoyoyoyoyoyoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooooo mama!!!!! yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa classic

[@yowisho8973]

Yo yo mama

[@loverofthemilf]

Wow! Kennedy was president at age seven? He really WAS the youngest president ever.

[@r13hd22]

Ugh, you just showed one of the reasons why the American school system is failing...the title is worded correctly, please learn how to read.

[@mrwilliam109]

@@r13hd22 You imbecile that was a joke

[@mrwilliam109]

@@r13hd22 Please learn how to take a joke

[@orangepotato862]

William Bleach Well it wasn't funny

[@pauljordan4452]

It's like the nine year old child psychologist!