She Signed My Program

"When I play, I see ghosts. I am only aware of undiluted emotions manifesting; those that arise from the tribulations of life and of death, of the most beautiful love and the most heart wrenching grief. The same purity of feeling that has inspired every creator of art, of music; every human being that has ever dreamed of an ideal, lives in the flowing melodies. Expression through an abstract is blessed in its form to be free from the stains of reality." -Tina Guo

Tina Guo is an amazing cellist. She's only 21 (yeah that's five years older than me) but she has already played with people like Yo-Yo Ma and Josh Groban, who happen to be two of my favorite performers. I find it amusing that she has performed at the Playboy mansion, too. Everything she played was fresh, at every rehearsal, and even though it has been played by countless cellists for centuries. When I first read her claim about the 'ghosts' I was skeptical...but then I saw her perform. It is like she is conjuring up the spirits of the composer and all those who have played the piece before her. "Playing" seems like too weak a word to describe what she does..it's like a romantic affair between herself and something else out there, thorough the beautiful 220-year old cello. I scratched my first teacher's cello with an odd shape that resembled a capital "L", and I was afraid that I was going to do something like that to her cello when I played for her at the masterclass she gave on Thursday. On Thursday I thought about it and came up with the conclusion that the only major difference between her and most cellists is that she is young and accomplished for her age. Seeing her play, not just give me feedback and address my multiple faults, gave me a new idea. She feels what is going on with the music. She is so attached to what is going on right at that moment, what sounds are coming from the instrument. The world could be exploding, yet it would not affect her playing. At my lesson on Friday my teacher asked me to get more "into" the piece we were working on. I told her that I tried, but something was missing. Something has been missing for quite awhile - a few years. I saw in Tina a something, and I want it.