Yo Yo Ma showed 1,000 children some engaging musical attitude at the Royal Conservatory yesterday

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10/16/2010Yo Yo Ma showed 1,000 children some engaging musical attitude at the Royal Conservatory yesterday
Yo Yo Ma at Koerner Hall on Friday morning. Photo: John Terauds

I was lucky enough to get invited to the first of this year's four Learning Through the Arts events at the Royal Conservatory of Music, where students from primary schools are connected to something or someone special in the world of music.

As part of his gorgeous solo recital on Thursday night, Yo Yo Ma agreed to speak to more than 1,000 kids on "The Power of Music Education" on Friday morning. At least that's what the printed programme said.

But instead of a lecture or a class, Ma persuaded the kids on stage with him to step out of their comfort zones and pushed them to open up to the message of the music they were making.

An Orff-method group from the Claude Watson School did an beautifully polished job with text, song, percussion and dance in two poems by Chief Dan George. Ma thanked them, then, with the help of a visiting Korean drummer acting as impromptu facilitator, asked everyone present to improvise something.

While this would make most adults freeze in terror, the singers, dancers, xylophonists and even the audience gamely got in on it.

With actions instead of words, Ma showed everyone in Koerner Hall that the first thing you need to make music happen is be open to possibilities.

Then, with an older group -- 21 teenagers and 20-somethings (as well as a couple of teachers) from the RCM's various programmes -- Ma tried to tease out something magnetic from the first movement of J.S. Bach's Concerto for Two Violins (BWV 1043).

Essentially, he used various intrusive means -- poking, making faces and asking seemingly silly questions -- to snap the musicians out of being concentrated on the score into a zone where they are focused on communicating the music to the audience.

In the end, he forced the little orchestra to move forward to the edge of the stage. When he asked the kids in the audience what they thought, they overwhelmingly preferred the more in-your-face performance.

Most inspiring for me was being reminded of the message rather than the medium. It's too easy to get caught up in the details of overcoming technical hurdles and crafting a polished interpretation, at the expense of remembering what the magic of a great concert is really about.

And if the person making the music is open, the listener is going to be more receptive in return.?That's why we all gave Ma a rapturous standing ovation on Thursday night.

As a sweet little extra, here is Ma in concert with bassist Edgar Meyer, in a live performance of Meyer's Duet for Cello & Bass (they recorded it together for the Appalachian Journeys CD back in 2000):

Posted by John Terauds at 05:50:00 AMin Canada, Cello, Choral, Crossover, Current Affairs, Music, Overheard

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So did anyone video the event for all of us who could not be there?

Posted by:Paul |10/17/2010 at 11:16 AM

Hi Paul,
Some of the teachers were capturing bits of the event on their cameras, but making a public video of the event would mean getting permissions from the parents of all the children as well as consent from all the adults on stage -- not something we can take for granted.
Since I've started my blog, I've twice been asked to remove videos I've made of professional musicians at work in workshop situations, who felt that they were not being shown at their very best. Whether you or I agree with that or not, it is their prerogative.

Posted by:John Terauds |10/18/2010 at 08:05 AM

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Sound Mind:
A Classical Music Blog

John Terauds started at the Toronto Star as a freelance writer in 1988, and has been on staff since 1997. He began writing on classical music in 2001, and has been the full-time classical music critic since 2005.

He is also the organist and choir director at St. Peter's Anglican Church, a parish founded in 1863 in downtown Toronto.

If he's not listening to, writing about or playing music, it means he's either asleep, unconscious, walking his dog -- or all of the above. Subscribe to this blog's feedFollow him on TwitterRead more by John TeraudsRecent CommentsJohn Terauds on Yo Yo Ma showed 1,000 children some engaging musical attitude at the Royal Conservatory yesterdayPaul on Yo Yo Ma showed 1,000 children some engaging musical attitude at the Royal Conservatory yesterdayClassical BlogsAlex Ross: The Rest Is Noise
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