Massachusetts, U.S. – Harvard University Residency
October 20-22, 2009
The Silk Road Project’s fifth annual residency at Harvard University drew on the experience of educational experts to explore ways to support, in the words of Yo-Yo Ma, “learning that is driven by passion as opposed to learning simply to meet requirements.”
As a living example, several of Harvard’s own undergraduates demonstrated their passion for music by gamely taking part in a performance workshop and playing in the final concert with members of the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma.
On the first evening, Yo-Yo Ma led a “Creating a Life with Music” workshop that explored aspects of performing beyond playing a piece perfectly: physicality, confidence, communication with the audience, and not least, fun. Silk Road Ensemble members Joseph Gramley, Nicholas Cords and Kojiro Umezaki were on hand to speak from their experience as professional musicians. Two very different student groups took part—an oboe quartet and a jazz duo—but the evening ended after a lively discussion in an unfamiliar situation: with everyone together on stage, drums in hand.
Roundtable sessions with Harvard Graduate School of Education faculty and students led to fascinating discussions about quality student work, the Silk Road Project’s ongoing educational program Silk Road Connect, some of Harvard’s innovative cross-disciplinary coursework, and the role of teaching artists in public schools.
The final evening’s concert featured works by Debussy and Ravel and a Silk Road Suite, in which students doubled the violin, viola and cello parts, each taking their own solo. Professor Homi Bhabha read a pantoum by Beaudelaire, and the evening nearly ended early with an irrepressibly standing ovation before the final movement of The Taranta Project, which featured Silk Road Ensemble percussionist’s extraordinary body percussion.
Dean Kathleen McCartney awarded Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project the inaugural Harvard Graduate School of Education Thelma E. Goldberg Arts in Education Award for advancing the integration of the arts in education.
The Harvard Graduate School of Education presented this residency with support from the Harvard Office for the Arts. The Silk Road Projects artists-in-residence programs at Harvard are designed to encourage multicultural and multidisciplinary artistic and intellectual collaborations, exploring the connections among art and music and academic study.
MEDIA COVERAGE:
Reaching the end of the Silk Road
October 30, 2009 – Harvard Crimson Silk Road Project residency emphasizes education and music
October 23, 2009 – Harvard Crimson
 Harvard residency press release |