Okay I'm cheating, Yo-yo Ma is not really the topic of this post, but Yo-yo Ma starts with the letter Y and he is a famous cellists. And I also play the cello, and this post is sort of about that. (I thought of replacing each mention of the word "cello" with the phrase "Yo-yo ma's instrument but that went too far and sounded a little dirty) If you imagine a cello player, you normally might think of a goody-two-shoes, you know the well-behaved kid who never did anything naughty, and certainly never skipped class.
Overall I was a good kid in school. I did my homework, I didn't talk back, I was never rowdy in class (maybe it was just because I was shy). Orchestras was offered at my school starting in fourth grade. I talked one of my best friends into playing the cello with me, I already been playing for a couple years and she played piano so she picked it up pretty fast. One part of doing music in elementary school was getting to miss class to go to orchestra. There was legitimate time spent outside of class practicing our instruments, having sectionals (practice where only people who played the same instrument would attend), and full orchestra practice. And this gave me an odd opportunity to be naughty.
When I didn't want to be in my normal classroom I would tell the teacher I had orchestra sectionals, then I would head off to the classroom down the hall, look at my friend in the classroom window, and she would know exactly what was going on. She'd tell her teacher that we had orchestra sectionals, and then we'd be free. We would go down to the cafeteria, into the little orchestra room that was cornered off by one of those accordion wall/door things (we could get into it even though it was locked because we could climb right under the accordion door). We spent hours in that little room, playing cello, playing piano, playing with other instruments, or just chatting. I may have gotten caught once, but I don't really remember. What I do remember is spending blissful time away from all the horrible parts of school that I hated: being stuck in class when the subject matter was too boring to me, with other kids who would tease me for being shy. Much of the time, if I was in class, I would hide a book under my desk and just read through the class period. Ironically, reading under my desk got me in trouble more often than skipping class ever did.
So did Yo-yo Ma ever skip class to go to the orchestra room? I bet if he did he was actually playing the cello the whole time instead of playing with every other instrument or just giggling with his friend. I don't know what I'd do if my kids got caught skipping class for imaginary sectionals. But I will cherish the memories of my tiny elementary school rebellion.