Lets make it count. Woman would y your tie, please . David well, people wouldnt recognize me if my tie was fixed, but ok. Just leave it this way. All right. David i dont consider myse a journalist. And nobody else would consider myself a journalist. I began to take on the life of being an interviewer even though i hava a day job of running private equity firm. How do you define leadership . What is it that mas somebody tick . Thank you very much for coming here today. Were at the kennedy center. Youve played here many times, i assume . Yoyo um,e or twice. David well, im very honored to be interviewing you, because im the chairman of the kennedy center, and we gave and youve also been the recipient of the president ial ve medal of freedom and other award one can get. You traveling around e country, around the world all the time. What drives you so much at this point when youre already so successful . I way wife to approve of me. David tha yeah, that could be, you know, the ultimate prize. Yoyo well, i that probably drives me is i want to be useful. So, i play the cello, and, you know, people like me to play. But maybe something you dont know is that my great passion through playing the cello, through doing musi is the fact im incredibly passionate about people. David well, i do know tha in part, because when i first met you, you didnt want to shake hands. You like to hug. Yoyo so im a hugger. David youre a huand so that shows youre passionate. En did you adopt the hugging technique . Did you always have that . Yoyo well, in franceyou . David oh. So hugging is yoyo no, no, hugging is just like. sits less, right . David right. Yoyo you kiss on both cheeks. Ow, in the united states, we shake hands. Ok. So yoyo so i did someicing kind of midatlash. David ok, so you adopted that, ok. Woyss out well, and im alwa happy to be hugged by you. Ok, great. David you were born in france, your native language was mandarin or chinese . Chinese and french. Yeah. And then french . David so you didnt speak english fr when you were living ice. No. Cant you tell . David well, its perfect. Yoyo well, you know, some people say yes. David so, you had an older sister and have an older sister. And she was playing the violin, and so your father said he was a music teacher why dont yy the violin as well . So why did you not become a violinist . Yoyo wirst of all, my sister played much better than i did. D theres actually something, i think, in each person that is innate in terms of the kinds of sounds you like. You know, um, so, for example, i somehow didnt think i could make a good sound on the violin, and, but, so i didnt play any other instrum dt for a while untilnt even do hear the sound of a le bass, but i saw one and i thought as a 4yeard, thats a big, big giant instrument. I want to play it, as 4yearolds might do. David and thought yoyo and so i started saying, please give me a double bass. There was no doue bass i could play. Cello was the next best instrume. David so you started playing, and did you notice other children your age were out aying while you were practicing, and did that concern you . Yoyo well, i didnt practice a lot. W i had a father w a very gifted teacher and who thought a lot about things, and one ofhe things he thought about was efficient practicing. So for example, the first piece of music i played was is piece. [playing Classical Music] yo ok. Sounds a little like. Its kind of fast, there are lots of notes, but can we make it simpler . David well, im sure you can. Yoyo no, but im sure you can. Because whats the first note . Its this. [playing low note] right . And then the send note is this. [playing higher note] the third note is this. [playing higher note] and then [playing lower note] oknow this is the first four notes. W now lets listen t happens. [playing four notes] four notes, and then the next four notes are [playing two notes twice] yoyo wait a minute. Ive heard those notes before. That was the third note, and this was the second note. So basically, if i know how to play the first four notes. [playing four notes] its just a permutation of. Two of those notes. David you make it sound easy, but its not tt easy. Yoyo no, but, you see, anybody can do that. Well. Yo. Yoyo well do that later. David lets go back to your situation. You go to new york. Your father is trying to talk his brother ouis t moving back to china. Yep. David but at that time, your fathe bsaid, geez, this miga better place for my son to learn how to play the cello. What happened was that it. By total coincidence, my sister, who played very well violin, piano, and we did a small performance someplace in manhattan on our last stop. And this francoamerican lady who had founded an Elementary School in new york was looking for a music teacher, hadeard about this person, dr. Ma, and said, im kind of terested. She came to the concert, and then decided on the spot to ask him to teach at her school. And so had we not met this lady, we would have gone back to france, and i would have,u know david you might be in private equity. Yoyo or i would be kissing you on both cheeks. David you have an unusual first name. As i understand it, when you were rn, your mother gave you and your father gave you the name ernest. Yoyo right. A nice frencme. Yoyo absolutely. So you know how that happens. David tell me the story. I dot remember. Yoyo well, this is actually a crosscultural result because there are many, many saints and saints days in france. So anybody born on a certain day usually, very often, gets the nameof that saint. So i was born on october 7th, but november 7th was the feast of ernest. Now, why november h . Because infant mortality was so high that in china and many other places, that many children would not get named until they were a month old. David right. So, hence, on november 7th, rvived the first month. So you became erne yep. And you think you would be as successful you have become if your name was ernest ma . Yoyo well, i would be so l because you know the importance of being ernest earnest. dad right. Absolutely. So explain to people who are watching how erneame yo, and then yoyo. Which, um. Many families have and i dont know exactly why this hpens, but for every generation, people from that family legislat and for my generatio it was yo. So my sisters name is yeoucheng, and my name is yoyo because my parents couldnt think of david another name, so they just but yo means friendly in it mea friend, yeah. David so, they thought friendlyfriendly ma. Ok. Ir you were already accomplished. Now, because were in the kennedy yoy depends on how you complished. David well, by almost any normal standards, you were already veryellknown because you had already met pablo casals, the greatest cellist of the 20th century. At least the first half of the 20th century. How did you meet pablo casals, and what did he think of your playing as a young boy . Yoyo well, i think i was taken to play for him at age 7, and i have him, you know, writinsomething in my autograph imok, and i played for d he said, mmm, very good, and he says, but you should always also go play baseball. Which was very interesting, because casals, at that time he was in his upper 80s, probably, and one of the things i remember his saying, maybe in that autobiography or in an interview, he said, you know, i think of myself as a human being first, a musician second, and a cellist third. And i thought that was really interesting because, you know, what, where do we place our identity . For guys, often its what do you do . Right . Whats your profession . Andbut the fact that he. Yok know, most people th me as a cellist, andbut the human being partfor casals, i waysught about. David and he recommended you to Leonard Bernstein event in washington . There has come to us this year a young man aged 7, bearing the name yoyo ma. Now here is a cultural image for you to ponder as you listen a 7yearold chinese cellist playing old french music for his new american compatriots. Welcome, yoyo ma and oucheng ma. [applause] [playilassical tune] david you performed at the age of 7 in fron of a live tv audience, but also president kennedy was there. Yoyo well, we were newly arrived people, immigrants, and, so, i think, for a 7yearold, you know, did i know exactly who president kennedy was . Probably not. Did i know he was an incredibly important person . Yes. And did i think about this for the rest of my life about who this person was . Absolutely. David so, youre at juilliard. Youre playing with other people, and then you decide ultimately to go to college at harvard. Yoyo the fields i was most interested in were anthropology and archaeology. And you may ask why. David becauseechey both start with aau you liked the as or exactly before getting to the bs, there was, you knowso. Youo clever and so, the thing is, i was a very confused child cause when you move, you know, everything all the things that you hold to be sort of solid and true visualu know, emotionally, often, but certainly in terms of habitsnd people, it all changes. You know, the rules are dierent. People say different things. And so it was, you know, a lot of our french friends couldnt understand why we would move and certainly, a lot of americans thought, you know, this is the best country in the world. My parents kept telling me, Chinese Culture so incredibly important. So i was kind of befuddled, because, you know, nobody can be you know, not everybody can be right all the time. But anthropology gave me the way of studying values wh and cultures thae slight shifts in values create tpr society and becomes sive in their arts, as well as in all of their various when you get to harvard expressions. You realize there are a lot of smart people there. Yeah. David but were there many of em who said, i want to be th wleading cellist in tld . Were you unique . There werent that my cellists in your class . O i dont even know that anybody or, myself included, wanted to be Something Like that. There was noti mean, one thing thats interesting in music is that mastering an instrument is there to serve the purpose of expression. And the purpose of doi something in music is to our voice. So in music, there is no such thing as this is the greatest anything, beits about learning forever and finding the most. Conce way of expressing something as precisely as possible. David you began a career as a leading cellist and played for symphonies and on your own and so forth. As youve done that, youve now recorded, i think, 90some albums or maybe more than that. I dont know. An enormous number. Youve0some grammys or Something Like that. So youve become the dominant figure, the most wellknown figure in the Classical Music world. So does that put a lot of pressure on you to perform up to the highest standard every single time, or can you ever relax a little bit . You know the phrase that youre only as good as your last performance, right . And someat is true because i think what youre lking about. And i dont want to belittle that, is external recognition and facts. Being a musician is internal development, is sort ofyou know, theres a tremendous emphasis to say you collect art. What makes one person that artist and nobody else . What makes you David Rubenstein and nobody else . What makes the sounds that i make only pes tble because of some wish to hear certain sounds and i think thats what i spend my life on. And so winning awards is fabulous because it gives you more chances to do something that you might wish to do. Versus internal satisfaction and fulfillment, the Different Levels of pleasure. Right . And i think the levels of deep fulfillment and this is where, you know the loose term im gonna use c comes along, because you do things in arts and sciences in culture, your wish is to build someing thils strong enough, a ng block that someone else can build on top of. Today, you have a life of playing around the world. So how do you pick where to go every year . How far in advance is your schedule set . I dont mind what i play and where i play, but i care aut how i play and who i play for and with. So, you know, ive kind of decided early on that whether play, you know, in new york or jakarta or peoriardoesnt matter, or in waco, texas, the most importanttohing i can do is tostlly present and totally engaged. Theres nothing more important. And so, its the fus that is there, and what that means is not being present in that im delivering a package and heres the package, but more like saying, ok. [playing upbeat tune] if i play for a group of people, whether its kindergartners or innercity schoolwhite house, it is. You think about what youre trying to say, who youre ly saying it to, but th thing thats important is that they remember something that will make them make perform an action afterwards, so its living material. David do you everouave that problem thate thinking about one thing when youre playing a piece . Yoyo when m playing, its about absolute concentration. Nothing david you dont have any mental lapses . Youre playing yoyl, i can sometimes feel mental lapses coming on. David do yoceever forget a piei mean, u forget the notes . Yo for example, when play, you dont use music. Yoyo i do sometimes, and sometimes i dont. And what i tell people is if you want to memorize pieces, do that before youre 21 years old, because whatever you learn before 21, you remember forever. Afteyoure 40, forget it. David harder. What about where you play . I mean, is there one music hall that you think is better than the other for acoustics or your so, again, yoyo some people say, ok, this is the greatest hall, therefore it must be fantastic to play. Yes, that gives a certain amount of pleasure, e greater pleasure is the energy in the audience. Again, were talking about who youre playing for. You dont have to be there. I dont have to be there. Ether,were gonna spd time t lets make it count, because if it doesnt count, if you forget what you did today, tomorrow, and if i forget what i did today, tomorrow, what is the purpose of doing it . David so you obvioun y made a decisionur career to do more than Classical Music. Yoyo music to me is expression of ids, thoughts, and feelings, spatial structures in sound. I do not think of Classical Music as separate from. Th of the world. I would like to think that Classical Music is part of world music, which it is not thought of as world music, but i think that Classical Music is one of the best things the world has invented, and, so to make that category different really upss me. [drums beating rhythmically] yoyo wted as an idea, a group of musicians getting together and seeing what might happen. David the silk road eavemble and the silk ror that you put togethercan you explain what that was about and why you did that, and why its so important th you . Yoyo well, i think it is a response to thkinds of questions you are asking me about Classical Music. Sort of, you know, wait a minute, how come. Its like i was asking those same questions owas self, and what i discovered in, you know, beginning to find some answers that first oal ofreion through sound that have beensome are traditions that are thousands of years old, and there are in itself should acally be able to because thats pent of its traditiontmpass one thing that music does, it connects peoples conscious and subconscious. People respond to music, you know, both emotionally, but also analytically, and so if you can combine both of those things er one form, you can godeep into communicating content. David ou are seen as a symbol of the imrtance of culture, and is this an important part of your life and your legacy . What you want to do convince people that music and other kinds ofrertistic performancesery valuable society . Yoyo well, its back to the old question, who are people . Why do people do what they do . How do people learn . What is the meaning of. Why we live . You know, i think thats something i have to actually its not a theoretical thing for me, cause if i have to play perform, and i have to leave my family 2 3rds of the time that weve had children growing up2 3rds and i know you travel like crazy, man. Youre not crazy, but just a figure of speech that you better have a good reason why you are doing that. Get to that existential level. You have to care. So you have to have the r of why its important. And as i get older and as i observe what youre doing, you get more and more involved in societal issues. You think about patriotism. You think about civilization. You thint civicnesscivitas. I thinglso, too, but from my from, you know, playing little notes, saying, why should that matter when other things are going on . I have to prove it to myself, let alone to the rest of society, that something is worthwhile, that my humanity or my playing 3 notes on the cello means ayinthing. David so i want to thank you for what youve done for the cound thank you for what youve done for the world in bringing people to know much more out the kind of music you perform, and i want to thank you for the Kennedy Centers involvement that youve had. You have been an advisor to the kennedy center. Youve been very helpful in many other ways. Well, thank you. Are you ready for your cello lesn . I am. Ok. Le[playing twinkle, twi, little star] yoyo thats it. Wow. You did it. David great. Ok, im ready. Thank you very much. That was great. Man bravo. David ok, thank you. Thank you ve much. That was great. Announcer support for the pbs presentation of this ogram was provided by general motors. I sefuture. I see a good future. I see a future filled with roads and no rage. Both we see a future. With zero crashes. Woman i see a future ere fossil fuels. Man are a thing of the past. All we see a future with zero emissions. E a future where traffic. Keeps perfect time. Where intelligence is alws by design. Man we see a future with zero congestion. Zero congestion. We are. We are. Both we are. All general motor be more pbs hes the funny guy in a bow tie taking on a very serious subjt, this week on firing line. Bill, bill, bill, bill bill nye the science guy he introduced a generation of children to the wonders of science. Some of the electro ele jump off. His message and hie. Is changing what im saying is, the planets on [bleep] fire. Hes taking on climate change. And hes taking on the climate skeptics directly. Im just sayingdo yot actually know because its unknowable. This is how long it takes you to interrupt me. With young people demanding action. If you choose to fail us, i say weill never forgive you. And politicians taking sides. Small, incremental policy solutions are not enough. Global warming and the a lot of its a hoax. What does bill the science guy say now . Firing linega with marret hoover m