Yumi Kendall: Music and Play

Kelly connects with Yumi Kendall, Assistant Principal cellist for the Philadelphia Orchestra to talk about the power of the arts and her experiences as a student in the Waldorf educational system. 

 

People often use orchestras as a metaphor for society – the idea of how much personal agency you might have versus that of the whole group. 

“They’re different sorts of musical versions of what agency means and how much say you actually have. And you still give your whole soul to the music, even if you didn’t make all of these decisions. So, it can be very complex the way we imagine a society can be. It’s also, in my case, in the Philadelphia Orchestra, it’s also greater than the sum of its parts. It’s so humbling to be part of something and contributing to something that transforms lives. We come to this concert hall, and for those folks who are there to receive an experience, it changes us. And that awareness in society of working together towards something that is hopefully for the better.” 

 

You studied positive psychology, and you became a mom. How does all that integrate for you on a day-to-day level? 

“A lot of positive psychology has manifested in self-compassion, and in the deep hope that any mistakes I’m making right now will not be permanent. Each day is a new day and it’s kind of turning over a new leaf. And in some ways, it’s really just the day to day that I’m using the tips and tricks from positive psychology and those database interventions on myself, because I need that in order to be a a good mom.” 

 

One of the things that connects us is that I’m a Waldorf School dad and you both went to Waldorf and your Mom was a Waldorf teacher. I suppose you did Eurythmy? 

“I was in a subgroup in my class that opted into a special eurythmy group like once or twice a week, in addition to our regular class outside of PE. My PE coach really didn’t like this because he wanted me to be doing track and field. Why was I doing music when I was the fastest, and I was super agile and petite. I was just like a lightning bolt. But I couldn’t stand marathons. But eurythmy opened doors for me. There was something in there that I couldn’t put my finger on, but the school allowed me to open those doors. I wouldn’t know it until years later, like 6 years later, senior year of high school – I wouldn’t know that a few years later I’d be at the front of the Philadelphia Orchestra section. All those blossoming seeds I got from Waldorf and Suzuki. I think just they’ve not stopped growing.”