Yo-Yo Ma Discusses Neuroscience, Philosophy, Education and More
There are few musicians today who live larger than Yo-Yo Ma. On top of the cello world for over thirty years, his name has become synonymous with the instrument, classical music, and everything in between. In addition to his busy career on the concert circuit, Ma takes on several projects that reach beyond the scope on mainstream classical music, ranging from his adventurous Silk Road Ensemble to a new CD of bluegrass collaborations.
Yet when he sat down to talk with Philip Ball of Financial Times magazine last week, Ma decided that the focus of the interview would be, of all things, neuroscience. Apparently, the cellist has a new found interest in the field and has been reading about how its study can lead us not only to revelations about ourselves as artists, but as human beings in general:
For Ma, the work of neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, a professor at the University of Southern California, reveals something of where these creative impulses come from. Damasio is interested in homeostasis – the tendency of all living things to maintain the internal conditions necessary for their continuation. He considers all non-conscious aspects of this self-preservation to be forms of emotion, whether they are basic reflexes, immune responses or feelings such as joy. “Life forms are always looking for homeostasis, equilibrium,” says Ma.
Ma’s intrest in musicians as human beings is fascinating. In a profession where many of us can feel bogged down in the details of crafting a perfect performance, some can fail to see the numerous connections our music can make with other disciplines. Here, Ma discusses the idea that emotions are part our biological constitution, and that these non-conscious reflexes are vital for our creative output. Understanding the desire for homeostasis deepens understanding of ourselves as well as our music. A constant search for homeostasis is the foundation of western music: the movements of chords away from and back to a tonal center is the drama of our art and a mirror image of the principle of homeostasis.
In connection with his fascination with the science of the brain, Ma segues into a discussion about the relationship between the body and the mind. On the idea that the self cannot have meaning unless it is connected to a body, he recognized that this creates issues for the musician as well as our current music education system:
He concurs and suggests that the role of tactility in our mental wellbeing is under-appreciated: “That’s our largest organ.” Ma sees this separation of intellect and mechanism, of the self and the body, as pernicious. “We’ve based our educational system on it. At the music conservatory there’s a focus on the plumbing, not [on the] psychology. It’s about the engineering of sound, how to play accurately. But then, going to university, the music professor would say ‘you can play very well, but why do you want to do it?’ Music is powered by ideas. If you don’t have clarity of ideas, you’re just communicating sheer sound.”
In his mind, our society needs to be creatively based in addition to being knowledge based. Education and culture need to be linked, which is an idea that any musician can agree with. Society does not exist on reason alone and, as Ma discusses in the interview, passion is actually a powerful andnecessary force in decision-making. A mixture of art and science, culture and education into a cohesive whole is not a new concept (Plato insists in his Republic that an education should be one half gymnastics for the body and the other half music for the mind), but one that might not be getting enough modern attention. Our world needs less polarization and more unification, and Yo-Yo Ma is a shining example how rewarding that can be.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/af5633c4-de78-11e0-a2c0-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1YeaYWV5z
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