Yo-Yo Ma Completes GSE Residency

Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma ’76 and his non-profit organization, known as the Silk Road Project, received the inaugural Thelma E. Goldberg Arts in Education Award yesterday at the culmination of a three-day residency at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The award—created by Harvard Business School professor Ray A. Goldberg ’48—was given to Ma’s organization for innovation, artistry, and commitment to education.

The Silk Road Project, a non-profit organization founded by Ma in 1988, aims to connect artists across the globe through musical performances, workshops, and educational programs.

In 2005, the Silk Road Project implemented five-year residencies at Harvard and the Rhode Island School of Design to promote musical education and appreciation.

During their stay at the GSE, Ma and the Silk Road Project hosted music workshops, performed with students, and discussed their new Silk Road Connect program.

Silk Road Connect was created to forge a more engaging and interdisciplinary learning experience for middle school students.

In its pilot year, Ma said, Silk Road Connect integrated the historical, scientific, and cultural significance of the indigo plant into the sixth grade curriculum at five New York City middle schools.

Ma also emphasized a “deep parallel” between music and teaching in that both seek to make lasting impressions.

“I try to make something as ephemeral as music memorable to people,” he said. “I want it to live long enough inside of them to inspire action—then my job as a performer is done. I feel that it’s the same with teaching.”

As a part of the Silk Road Project’s residency, the Graduate School of Education also hosted several roundtable discussions with professors, GSE students, and members of Project Zero, a School of Education initiative devoted to the study of the development of learning.

Allison K. Ross, a student in the Arts in Education Program at the GSE, said Ma’s innovative vision of music and education attracted her to the talks.

“As an artist, I was curious how Ma’s artistry led him to be an educator,” she said.

In keeping with the Silk Road residency’s theme of “inspiring passion-driven education,” Ma also led an interactive workshop featuring performances from Harvard College musicians.

The students had little time to rehearse their pieces before the workshop with Ma on Tuesday, but Ma said that spontaneity was part of the workshop experience.

“As Harvard students, they’re virtuosos at cramming,” Ma said, laughing.

He surprised the students by asking them to sing, rather than play, their Mozart piece.

He then encouraged them to maintain the “merry” and ”whimsical” aspects of the piece when they played, moving closely between the musicians on stage and encouraging them to “show off and have fun.”

He also advised the students to keep in mind what motivates them to play music, whether these motivations come from the “head, heart, ear, or the people around them.”

Keir D. Gogwilt ’13, one of the students who participated in the coaching session, found Ma’s approach enlightening.

“As a musician, I’ve been thinking about all of these ideas a lot, and Yo-Yo articulated them perfectly,” Gogwilt said. “It’s great to know that other musicians think about these things as well.”

The Silk Road Project’s residency concluded last night with a concert at Memorial Church, featuring performances from college students, Ma, and the Silk Road Ensemble, as well as a poetry reading from professor Homi K. Bhabha.

“I loved the innovation in all the pieces,” Keith W. Grubb ’13 said.

“They did things you’d almost consider absurd for classical music,” he added. “But once you hear it, you realize it’s actually brilliant.”

Ma said that he hoped that “inspiration” and “passion” were communicated as the central undercurrents informing the Silk Road Project’s residency at the GSE.

“Music involves thinking on every level,” he said. “You must hold in your head a number of different states of mind, you must have the big picture and also be incredibly precise.”

“Things start to sing when you hold these two moments,” he added.

The events at the GSE this week marked the first time the Silk Road Project has held a residency at a Harvard graduate school. Ma’s group has held events at the College for the past four years.

“Through disciplined imagination, and through passion, one makes the leap to developing an empathetic understanding of the world,” Ma said.