College student aims to establish local music program

Christopher Yick had a dream of someday coming home, “Like LeBron going back to the Cavs,” he said, but instead of hoops, it’s strings.

The dream has changed a bit since he left Hawaii for college. Now, the focus is more on the team and the town.

Yick is in his second year at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. After graduating from ‘Iolani School in 2016, Yick, a bassist, entered Mercer’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings.

The McDuffie Center accepts just 24 students, and each gets a full-tuition scholarship. Yick excitedly describes the experiences he’s had in just his first year-and-a-half of college.

“I got to play at Carnegie. We play in the ICU (intensive care unit) and at homeless shelters. I got to record on a CD with Robert McDuffie and the guy from (the rock band) R.E.M. We play free concerts in an historic mansion in Macon that has been turned into a performance hall. We give monthly student concerts and they’re free and there’s always a full house. We do so much outreach.”

All these things build up in his mind to a tremendous idea: “What if there was something like this in Hawaii?”

He spoke to his mentor, violinist Robert McDuffie, about how one goes about starting a music program.

“He told me, ‘First, you have to be a good player. Second you have to start within your community.’”

So Yick, 19 and home for Christmas break, started working on his big idea.

He started by replicating the outreach he and his fellow McDuffie classmates are known for in Macon, playing a small concert at the Palolo Chinese Home.

Then he started working on plans for a free concert and master classes for young musicians. He also filed papers to establish a nonprofit, Hawaii Chamber Music Festival.

Yick didn’t pick up a bow until the sixth grade. Before that, he took piano lessons.

“I didn’t give two rips about piano,” he says. “I swear I worked on the same piece for three years.”

He found he loved the bass, though, and because he loved it, he excelled. Very quickly, he was winning attention and awards, and a full college scholarship.

He wants to establish a summer program for strings taught by musicians from the Honolulu Symphony and visiting musicians from other symphonies. The festival would be for violin, viola, cello, bass, piano and, eventually, ukulele.

“But that’s a way off,” Yick said. “I’m not going to run before I walk. I’m still crawling.”

Later this month, McDuffie will be in Hawaii to perform with the Honolulu Symphony. Yick arranged for McDuffie to perform a free recital at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Orvis Auditorium on Jan. 31. Afterward, McDuffie will be joined in discussion by Hawaii Symphony concertmaster Ignace Jang to take questions from the audience.

McDuffie will also present a master class for violin students at ‘Iolani School. In March, Yick is planning a three-day bass workshop in Honolulu taught by visiting musicians.

“When I got to college, my studio-mate told me two things that really stuck with me,” Yick said. “He said that music is not a selfish thing, and if you treat it as something just for yourself, then you won’t get far. The second thing he said was that as an artist, you should be inspiring both on and off the stage.”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.