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When people ask me how they should approach performance, I always tell them the professional musician should aspire to the state of the beginner.
Yo-Yo Ma
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Yo-Yo Ma
Age: 68
Born: 1955
Born: October 7
Actor
Cellist
Composer
Music Pedagogue
Musician
Paris
France
Yo Yo Ma
YoYo Ma
Asks
Beginner
State
Beginners
Tell
Aspire
States
Professional
Always
Performance
People
Performances
Musician
Approach
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I think that peace is, in many ways, a precondition of joy.
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Sharing is a much better way to communicate than proving.
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When you learn something from people, or from a culture, you accept it as a gift, and it is your lifelong commitment to preserve it and build on it.
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I love grocery shopping when I'm home. That's what makes me feel totally normal. I love both the idea of home as in being with my family and friends, and also the idea of exploration. I think those two are probably my great interests.
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My involvement in the political arena is to make sure there's a place for culture.
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As a musician I'm kind of nomadic, Waldo-like. I show up in different places, and I'm witness to unbelievable things.
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I learn something not because I have to, but because I really want to. That's the same view I have for performing. I'm performing because I really want to, not because I have to bring bread back home.
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I don't always have a five-year plan. One thing you must do in life is keep your learning curve as high as possible.
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You must have a reason to be in the places to which you go, and you must do only things that you really care about.
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Passion is one great force that unleashes creativity, because if you're passionate about something, then you're more willing to take risks.
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I think of a piece of music as something that comes alive when it is being performed, and I feel that my role in the transmission of music is to be its best advocate at that moment.
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I think one of the great things about being a musician is that you never stop learning.
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