Yale Work: an interview

Well ladies and gentlemen, I guess my version of a week has turned into a month. I do apologize for my great delay in typing up this recorded interview. But I guess that gives you some sort of idea how my life has been this December--crazy! I took my last final exam today and I am very ready to go home tomorrow and then to Russia next week (more on that later)!

In the meantime, please enjoy learning about my colleague and good friend, Yale Work. Yale, 19, is a second-year piano performance major at Juilliard, studying with Matti Raekallio. He began studying piano in 1997. He is also proficient in cello!

Anyways, I can't do him justice with my words. Yale is one of a kind and I hope you will want to get to know him after reading his interview!

[The interview took place on a Friday night in the lounge of our lovely residence hall. Yale was at first hesitant about me recording him, but decided "I guess a recorder is better than having someone interview you and then, totally, totally screw up your answers"]

Marie: So Yale, now that we know the basics of why you are here at Juilliard, describe your family.

Yale: I’ve got two siblings: one older brother and one older sister. And they are the awesomest people you can ever meet in your entire life. And so are my parents.

Marie: So you say on the recorder… [winks]

Yale: Yes, they are. They are amazing.

Marie: Have any pets?

Yale: Yes, we have one cat and two dogs. One is a Jack Russell terrier and the other we don’t really know. She is a mix of a lot of different breeds and her name is Loki, after the Greek god of mischief. She looks like a fox a little bit, at least in her paws. She was a stray and she followed my mom home one day when she was biking home from school….It was the cutest little thing- it wasn’t that small, but her ears were floppy and she was sooo adorable. She had apparently escaped from all the pounds she had been put into. She was a little messed up but…we fixed her. And she loves us now. J Our other dog, the Jack Russell terror—excuse me, terrier--is what his name sounds like. There’s no controlling that dog. (His name is Tin Tin by the way). He’s the most obnoxious creature you can imagine, [sighs], but what can you do right?”

Marie: What’s your favorite thing to do besides music?

Yale: How can I answer that question? There are so many things I love to do. [pauses to think] Well, let me name a few…Tetris! Just kidding, that should not be the first one…ok, it’s not the first one, just the first one that came to mind. Um, bowling, tennis…

Marie: Well, I heard that you recently won the Juilliard ping pong tournament.

Yale: Yeah, but I’m not the greatest by any means, but I can kind of play…I love shooting pool, and skiing and biking, oh! And I love doing wheelies on bikes. I once went all the way around the block. It was 665 pedals! I was soooo annoyed that I couldn’t get ONE more in and it could be 666. I was so disappointed. The only reason I had to quit my wheelie was because a car was coming. That’s the funnest thing ever. What other things do I like to do? I also love to play chess, but I haven’t done that in a longgg time. Oh and ultimate Frisbee and soccer. Yeah, so if I think of other things I like to do, I’ll let you know [winks and smiles].

Marie: Where would you like to be in your career 10 years from now?

Yale: Oh, that’s another really hard question; but it shouldn’t be…Well, I don’t think concert musician (soloist) is very feasible, but I’ll try for that, regardless. I’ll probably be a teacher.

Marie: I think you would make a great teacher.

Yale: Well, I’ll probably be a little bit too nice. I wouldn’t ever say negative things about their playing.

Marie: Well, you could tell your students that you will keep telling bad jokes until they practice.

Yale: [laughing] Oh, there’s punishment right there.

Marie: Ok, so give me some.

Yale: Ok—a bear walks into a bar and says to the bartender, “I’d like a water……..and some peanuts.” And the bartender replies, “Why the big pause?”…(*say it out-loud to yourself and it will make sense).

I told you the one about the peanuts right? Two peanuts walk into a bar—one was ‘a-salted’.

That’s my favorite joke..and my other favorite: Two fish are swimming along and one runs into a concrete wall and says to the other, “Dam!” [laughs]

Oh, ok, and last one. I know I’m getting carried away…There are two muffins in an oven…

Marie: OH no! Not the muffin joke…

Yale: Aw, well one muffin says to the other, “Geeze, it’s getting a little hot in here, don’t ya think?” and the second muffin replies, “Oh my God, a talking muffin!”

Marie: [laughing] That is such a weird joke.

Yale: But it’s amazing! I mean, whoever came up with that is pure genius.

Marie: If you could have one superhero power, what would it be?

Yale: Infinite wishes--the power to grant myself infinite wishes. So then I can have any superhero power. See what I’m saying?

Marie: Yep, that’s pretty smart. Any final remarks?

Yale: Nope! [as he folds his hands, puts them on his lap, crosses his legs]

Marie: Ok, let’s play pool!