This anecdote is about the cellist Yo Yo Ma. First of all, I need to state that I have always been a fan of Yo Yo Ma and his extraordinary artistry. He is truly one of the greatest musicians of all time. The first time I heard him was the summer of 1967, when he played for student assembly at the Usdan Center for the Arts in Long Island. He was wearing shorts and had a bowl cut haircut but in no way was he a “child playing the cello”. He was clearly far be yond even the best child prodigy and had international management by the great Sol Hurok to show for it! Before I go on, I want readers to know that the campers at Usdan were pretty amazing themselves. They included my brother Bernard, Erica Kiesewetter, Dennis Parker, Fred Fehleisen, Marc Rudoff and many others. To give you some idea, those ”kids” were worki ng on the Schubert C major Quintet back then! Getting back to my story, I got to meet Yo Yo when he served as principal cello in the 1971 Christmas String Orchestra. I was very intimidated by him but also liked him and was dazzled by his brilliant playing. He had a name for me, “Professor Joe” - which I still don’t comprehend. More importantly, he let me play his priceless Domenico Montagnana cello. That was a real treat! Yo Yo was clearly the “star” in our midst and all the other students were drawn to him. He once threw a party in his enormous hotel room at the Hotel Lancaster and practically the whole orchestra showed up. I was a “wallflower” so I asked Yo Yo if I might play his cello. He said yes and I retreated into my corner playing his Montagnana. I was having a great time and was pretty focussed on the Bach suite I was trying to play but something absolutely “grabbed” my attention. Yo Yo was on the hotel phone talking with his mother in Chinese. I do not speak any Chinese but every now and then there were words that I understood. These were expletives like “F - ck you mother” and others - far worse! I asked another player in the ensemble why Yo Yo was speaking to his mother like that. He said, “Oh that’s just Yo Yo - that’s his way.” I didn’t understand that explanation but retreated back to my cello playing. Eventually, I grew tired from inhaling the fumes from the strange cigarettes people were smoking and so I stood Yo Yo’s cello up in the corner and retreated to another chair on the opposite side of the room.
Behind me was a large window that led directly to a narrow ledge extending around the 11th floor circumference of the Lancaster Hotel. A boy and a girl who were older than me and way “hipper” asked me very politely if I might open that window so that they could both traverse around the circumference of the building. I said, “No way! That’s dangerous and you could get killed!” The boy said, (remember that we were barely out of the 1960’s) “Hey man you are a beautiful cat. You care about us and that’s very cool.” We went back and forth like that but finally I relented. While the two were walking around the building I waited in mortal terror. I thought that if anything were to happen to them this would certainly be my fault. Then in my imagination I saw tomorrow’s h eadline in the Long Island paper Newsday. Printed in big block letters I see- TEENS PLUMMET TO DEATH IN MIDTOWN HOTEL! (then underneath in smaller fonts) 16 year old boy who opened the window for them explains, ‘They were older and way cooler than me’. Charges are still pending for the Northport High School senior. (Story continues on page 7) I waited for the longest five minutes known to mankind but the two eventually returned from their trip. I thanked God for that but I had more than enough excitement for one evening and went back to my hotel room- which I shared with fellow student participant violinist William Hayden. About two years later, when I was at Juilliard, cellist Channing Robbins invited me to be his assistant teacher at the Usdan Center for the Arts in Long Island. Channing was the assistant to Leonard Rose at Juilliard in the 1970’s. Leonard Rose toured exte nsively with his trio during that time period (the Stern, Rose Istomin Trio). He was so often “on tour” that for all intents and purposes Channing taught Rose’s students almost full time. Channing told me this story about going out to eat with Yo Yo and his mother after a Juilliard lesson. They went to one of those Greek diners on Broadway and the 70’s. They sat down at one of those “booths” with connected seating like the back of a car. As Channing explained it, Yo Yo was seated on the left, Channing was in the middle and Yo Yo’s mom was to his right.
Yo Yo’s mom had a question for Channing. She said, “Professor Robbins I am working on my English. I know my Yo Yo is a very good boy but sometimes he uses words that I do not understand. For example he says often to me, ‘F - ck you, Mother’. Professor Robbin s, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” The next moment Yo Yo was tapping his teacher’s foot with his shoe in a cautionery manner. Channing Robbins answered Mrs. Ma’s question very nervously, “Oh yes, Mrs. Ma. Good thing! Ve—— - ry good thing!” Incidentally, five years later Mr. Ma wrote one of those booklets they used to sell at Patelson’s. Hers was entitled, “My Son Yo Yo Ma”. I had to peek inside it. Since I didn’t buy the booklet I have to paraphrase it. She wrote, “My son Yo Yo was always re spectful and polite to me as a teenager. He was a model son”. I think she figured out what he was saying.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3Made with FlippingBook. PDF to flipbook with ease