As a child, you respond physically, tactically. You're delighted by sound, you're delighted by recognizing something. It's like hide and seek. Is it there? Is it not there? Is it this note? Is it not this note? It's one fantastic game.
Yo-Yo MaRead
Once something is memorable, it's living and you're using it. That to me is the foundation of a creative society.
Interpretation
Memorable experiences fuel creativity and contribute to a vibrant society.
Yo-Yo Ma emphasizes that the essence of creativity lies in memorable experiences, as they invigorate our lives and interactions. In a creative society, the ability to remember and be inspired by these moments is foundational, allowing individuals to draw from rich experiences to innovate and express themselves artistically.
In practice
During a speech about arts education, you could use this quote to highlight the importance of fostering creativity.
As a child, you respond physically, tactically. You're delighted by sound, you're delighted by recognizing something. It's like hide and seek. Is it there? Is it not there? Is it this note? Is it not this note? It's one fantastic game.
There's a part of me that's always charging ahead. I'm the curious kid, always going to the edge.
I think that peace is, in many ways, a precondition of joy.
I think anybody who goes away finds you appreciate home more when you return.
When we enlarge our view of the world, we deepen our understanding of our own lives.
I learn something not because I have to, but because I really want to. That's the same view I have for performing. I'm performing because I really want to, not because I have to bring bread back home.
I love being onstage. I love the relationship with the audience. I love the letting go, the sense of discovery, the improvising.
The act of creation is a kind of ritual. The origins of art and human existence lie hidden in this mystery of creation. Human creativity reaffirms and mystifies the power of 'life.
The first time I started choreographing was in the dark, in my living room, with the lights completely out, to some popular music on the radio. I put the radio on full blast and I started moving. I didn't know what it looked like. I didn't want to see it... I had to start in the dark.
I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.
Great music is its own movie, already. And the challenge, as a music fan, is to keep the song as powerful as it wants to be, to not tamper with it and to somehow give it a home.
A song has to take on character, shape, body and influence people to an extent that they use it for their own devices. It must affect them not just as a song, but as a lifestyle.
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