Kira at Tanglewood
Copyright© 2026 by Gina Marie Wylie
Chapter 6
Kira saw Jan waiting for her outside the offices, and she stopped and smiled at him.
“Are you staying?” he asked right out.
Kira shrugged. “Sure.”
“Once upon a time, I heard a cello in a music store, and I fell head over heels in love with the sound that it made. All I thought about was learning to make those magnificent sounds; everything else was driven out of my mind. Then I heard music in my head, and I wanted to make those sounds in particular. Somewhere in there, I came to the realization that I was making some really good music. I saw that it was stirring people’s emotions and imagination.
“Rachael told me once that applause was a gateway drug; once you get it, you’re hooked for life. It’s true. A reviewer said I was a national treasure, and all I could think was that he was mistaken. All I am is a thirteen-year-old who loves music, cello music, more than I will love anything else on Earth. You don’t tell a national treasure to go home because she pulls an all-nighter.”
Yo Yo Ma came out of the office, much after everyone else. “Ah, young man! This saves me a trip to find you.
“Your instrument is markedly inferior. I hope you have a thick skin.”
“Sir? I don’t understand.”
“I have a cello that is decidedly not inferior, but not as good as my Strad. I don’t play it enough, and I would be willing to loan it to you to play. I ask about the thick skin because it is Domenico Montagnana’s ‘Petunia.’”
“And Kira’s offer to let me use hers for my recital piece?” he asked.
“Stands,” Kira said.
“Thank you, Kira. Thank you, Mr. Ma. Mom is going to have such a cow!”
“You have some serious talent, Mr. Clarke. Not up to Kira’s standard, but then I don’t play as well as she does either. One of her greatest features is making the rest of us play better. I know I’ve gotten a little off of late; not taking the risks which I did when I was younger. Kira pushes us musicians to improve to match her level of playing; no bad thing that.”
Yo Yo paused and smiled. “I called home, and they are couriering ‘Petunia’ as we speak. It’s in New York City, so it should be here by this evening. Now, Kira and I need to get with Anner and practice, practice, practice.”
Kira walked in silence to their rehearsal room, and it wasn’t until they were tuning that she stopped and looked at Yo Yo Ma. “I don’t really play better than you do; I know how many mistakes I make.”
Anner Bylsma laughed. “The human ear coupled with the human brain is a wonder. We’ve heard the notes musicians play thousands to millions of times. Get even close, and your ear hears the right note.”
“That,” and Yo Yo Ma continued, “and it is given to few of us to hear the mistakes of others, but we are all too aware of our own. Conductors are better than average at hearing mistakes, but mostly they add nuance, timing, and emphasis because the musicians are mostly pretty good, and in large venues, close is enough to get the message across.
“Kira, you are relatively young, and unless I miss my guess, your concert with the Arizona Symphony was the first time you played in front of a large audience of people who are musically sophisticated — that is, they do hear mistakes. I watched your concert, Anner did too. Gosh! We both wish we’d been there, cheering you on.”
“Rachael told me that applause is a gateway drug. Once you hear it, you’re hooked on it for life,” Kira told the two much older cellists.
“I’ve heard it described like that before. It’s true that sometimes it twists people who hunger for it. But mostly, at least at first, a musician absorbs it through every pore in their body and then tries to give it back to their audience by doing better. As we get older, it can get taken for granted, and then it’s just another thing we expect; the absence is subject to great woe. And that’s what you get for taking an audience for granted.
“Have you played yet in a studio?” Ma asked.
“No,” Kira said, shaking her head.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.