Yo-Yo Ma Quotes & Sayings (Page 4)

“Sound is ephemeral, fleeting, but some sort of a physical manifestation can help you hold on to it longer in time. I'm sure of this; I've always thought the sound that you make is just the tip of the iceberg, like the person that you see physically is just the tip of the iceberg as well.”

“The thing that I've always been slightly frustrated with, was that the idea of a CD is kind of confined to a material possession that you can put on a shelf. And the idea of music, for me, is always about both the communication and the sharing of content. And so the interactive part is missing.”

“The tradition of classical music and the opera is such that it used to be the place where social intercourse could take place between all parts of society: politicians, industrialists, artists, citizens, etc. That tradition, I think, still exists, but it's much, much more diluted.”

“I really would like to be involved in things and to understand things, and in some ways you've got to be careful what you wish for because I feel very, very blessed to have such an interesting life and to be able to have little snapshots of lives of people from many different parts of the world.”

“You know, you can have someone who's the very best at something, but if there's not that kind of chemistry, collaborating is not going to amount to anything.”

“The role of the musician is to go from concept to full execution. Put another way, it's to go from understanding the content of something to really learning how to communicate it and make sure it's well-received and lives in somebody else.”

“People will ask, 'Are you famous?' And I always answer, 'My mother thinks so.'”

“One of the things I love about music is live performance.”

“As a musician I'm kind of nomadic, Waldo-like. I show up in different places, and I'm witness to unbelievable things.”

“I think anybody who goes away finds you appreciate home more when you return.”