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

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  • Опубліковано 11 лип 2017
  • Jul.12 -- World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma tells financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein about performing for President John F. Kennedy as a 7-year-old immigrant. They speak on "The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations."

КОМЕНТАРІ • 81

  • @oldcougar65
    @oldcougar65 4 роки тому +336

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

  • @jonmars9559
    @jonmars9559 4 роки тому +317

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

    • @mbords01
      @mbords01 4 роки тому

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

  • @jeyauritt1107
    @jeyauritt1107 4 роки тому +112

    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.

  • @teawithtams6596
    @teawithtams6596 3 роки тому +53

    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.

  • @lainpadang8033
    @lainpadang8033 4 роки тому +127

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

  • @oumsu1162
    @oumsu1162 4 роки тому +108

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

    • @janelleyao
      @janelleyao 4 роки тому +3

      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
      @berenscott9347 3 роки тому +5

      @@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.

  • @jimvandemoter6961
    @jimvandemoter6961 4 роки тому +100

    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
      @dt6822 4 роки тому +3

      I think that applies to everything.

    • @swarzeoz2550
      @swarzeoz2550 4 роки тому +1

      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
      @mayaparamita2254 3 роки тому

      Thank you 🙂

    • @aswomebro2601
      @aswomebro2601 2 роки тому

      @@swarzeoz2550 yeah being serious can be fun too

    • @mockingbird187
      @mockingbird187 2 роки тому

      Sounds a lot like Alan Watts.

  • @lisalim4322
    @lisalim4322 3 роки тому +13

    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.

  • @dt6822
    @dt6822 4 роки тому +18

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

  • @Magnetron33
    @Magnetron33 4 роки тому +13

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

  • @publicalways
    @publicalways 3 роки тому +6

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

  • @user-rz1si5qf9b
    @user-rz1si5qf9b 2 роки тому +1

    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❣️🤗🫶💗

  • @yaliemaggie5414
    @yaliemaggie5414 4 роки тому +15

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

    • @wandaloskot
      @wandaloskot 3 роки тому

      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
      @yaliemaggie5414 3 роки тому

      @@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.

  • @anawiseman
    @anawiseman 4 роки тому +16

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

  • @salmanahjum-mathee9055
    @salmanahjum-mathee9055 2 роки тому +12

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

  • @johnbarnett6924
    @johnbarnett6924 8 місяців тому +1

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

  • @kateharlech2451
    @kateharlech2451 4 роки тому +11

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

  • @purplepenguin2969
    @purplepenguin2969 7 років тому +46

    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
      @iisan7 6 років тому +3

      why did you stop?

  • @willettej7988
    @willettej7988 4 роки тому +3

    I love this man!

  • @caseykunz7800
    @caseykunz7800 4 роки тому +3

    What a great statement.... very very cool

  • @naiyasoetan6855
    @naiyasoetan6855 3 роки тому +5

    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
      @berenscott9347 3 роки тому +4

      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
      @mayaparamita2254 3 роки тому

      @@berenscott9347 nice way to put it 👍👏👏

  • @nancydemoss8421
    @nancydemoss8421 3 роки тому +4

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

  • @dantescave1
    @dantescave1 2 роки тому

    Beautiful!

  • @elainesmith7512
    @elainesmith7512 4 роки тому +16

    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
      @willengel2458 2 роки тому +1

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

  • @obscureorca
    @obscureorca 2 місяці тому

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

  • @joyceroberts6979
    @joyceroberts6979 4 роки тому +11

    I watched him on UA-cam 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
      @chibichrist89 4 роки тому +2

      Joyce Roberts ua-cam.com/video/e0E0U-9XOt8/v-deo.html 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
      @berenscott9347 3 роки тому +2

      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.

  • @jasonlovi8745
    @jasonlovi8745 4 роки тому +6

    This is very profound

  • @allen9818
    @allen9818 3 роки тому

    Vision!!!

  • @MoonlightNothing
    @MoonlightNothing 4 роки тому +26

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

  • @elly_angelic
    @elly_angelic 3 роки тому +1

    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~~

  • @raquelaguillon5336
    @raquelaguillon5336 Рік тому

    ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

  • @palm6007
    @palm6007 3 роки тому +5

    I wonder if Yo Yo Ma managed to learn baseball 🤠

  • @kb26inla
    @kb26inla 4 роки тому +1

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

  • @TonyMusicArts
    @TonyMusicArts 3 роки тому

    💓

  • @linwooddaughtrey8035
    @linwooddaughtrey8035 4 роки тому

    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
      @amandawilcox9638 3 роки тому

      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.

  • @pluck593
    @pluck593 3 місяці тому

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

  • @poetmaggie1
    @poetmaggie1 4 роки тому +11

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

  • @ACoustaDC
    @ACoustaDC Рік тому

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

  • @stickanims99
    @stickanims99 4 роки тому

    yoyoyoyoyoyoyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyoooooooooooooo mama!!!!! yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa classic

  • @jenniferfar
    @jenniferfar Рік тому

    God. Seriously.

  • @user-ok2yb5zi2g
    @user-ok2yb5zi2g Рік тому

    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.

  • @yowisho8973
    @yowisho8973 3 роки тому

    Yo yo mama

  • @loverofthemilf
    @loverofthemilf 4 роки тому +9

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

    • @r13hd22
      @r13hd22 4 роки тому +5

      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
      @mrwilliam109 4 роки тому +3

      @@r13hd22 You imbecile that was a joke

    • @mrwilliam109
      @mrwilliam109 4 роки тому +2

      @@r13hd22 Please learn how to take a joke

    • @orangepotato862
      @orangepotato862 4 роки тому +2

      William Bleach Well it wasn't funny

    • @pauljordan4452
      @pauljordan4452 3 роки тому

      It's like the nine year old child psychologist!