SKF NOTE: I was in my home office, Yo-Yo Ma was on tv, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. I wasn’t familiar with Ma or his music. But after a few seconds of only half-listening to the sound he produced on his cello, I left my office to see who was this amazing musician.

That was in the early 1980s. I’ve been a Yo-Yo Ma fan since. In recent years I have especially admired Yo-Yo Ma’s adventures in music; his willingness to travel untested musical roads with uncommon musicians from many different musical genres.

Watching this trailer to Yo-Yo Ma’s Master Class, I loved his view of “human expression vs. human perfection.”

A good lesson, if you ask me, for all musicians. Including drummers.

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At one point I had the audacity to think I could play a perfect concert.

I was in the middle of a concert and I realized everything was going perfectly.

And I was bored out of my mind.

That was the moment that I made a fateful decision that I was actually going to devote my life to human expression versus human perfection.

Music connects people. You’re sharing something with others. You’re almost like the scientist for the inner soul.

Source: Yo-Yo Ma, Master Class Official Trailer