Musician finds composure

When Ma Weijia went to buy breakfast at a restaurant near his home in Beijing, the violinist didn't expect that it would lead to the start of a quarantine.

At 5 pm, April 30, he was informed that a patient, who had tested positive for COVID-19, was in the same restaurant on April 25, the same day as Ma, so the violinist was a secondary close contact.

After Ma was informed of the quarantine, it was announced that all restaurants had been requested to suspend dine-in services starting May 1, and only offer takeouts instead, as the city fights the latest COVID-19 resurgence.

It raised a pressing question: What supplies should Ma have on hand to carry him through the quarantine?

Not knowing what to expect, Ma packed everything he could think of. The first things he added to his list was his violin, music scores, tea, teapot, and books.

"Frankly, I was very nervous. I never expected that I would experience a quarantine, but I was not afraid because I tested three times after April 25, and all were negative," recalls Ma, who, at 2 am on May 2, went on a bus to the quarantine hotel along with others, who had also had indirect contact with infected patients.

The hotel Ma was in is located in downtown Beijing. The hotel is old with simple decor, and his room was about 10 square meters. Ma spent two hours cleaning his room as well as making it as comfortable as possible.

Three meals were provided daily in plastic bags (in the morning, afternoon and evening) and were left on a chair outside the door for Ma to collect. Through that same door, medical staff members swabbed his nose and throat as part of the daily nucleic acid testing requirements, as well as checking his body temperature twice a day.

"It was much better than I thought. Everything was fine, except I was not allowed to leave the room," says Ma, adding that people quarantined in the same hotel had WeChat groups in which staff members helped them solve various problems and offer necessary supplies, such as face masks, water and garbage bags.

In the morning, after his breakfast, temperature check and daily nucleic acid test, Ma would make contact with family and friends. After lunch, he would read books, have his tea, and start to play the violin. After dinner, he would continue to play the violin for two more hours.

Carl Flesch's Scale System, the principal scale study for violinists, is a must for Ma's everyday practice. Bach's sonatas for unaccompanied violin and music pieces by Chopin and Niccolo Paganini were also among the music scores Ma took to his hotel room.

Since the violinist is a member of Amber Quartet, he took the music score for String Quartet No 6 in F Minor, Op 80, by Felix Mendelssohn, with him.

Amber Quartet plans to release a new album featuring Mendelssohn's music pieces for string quartets and String Quartet No 6 in F Minor, Op 80 is the next piece it is going to record, the process of which has been postponed due to the pandemic.

As one of the most famous string quartets in the country, Amber Quartet is scheduled to give a concert at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing on June 19, in support of the upcoming album.

"We've not started doing rehearsals yet because of the pandemic. I wanted to make better use of my quarantine days, preparing for the recording," says Ma, adding that all the music scores he took with him to the hotel were his favorites, which he wanted to play but couldn't due to his tight schedule.

"It's definitely a difficult and stressful time for all of us because our regular lives are affected heavily by the virus. However, looking on the brighter side, being stuck in isolation in a small hotel room for days was not all that bad," says Ma. "I could use the time to do things I like and concentrate on them without any distraction. It was like a meditation, a process of transition."

Violin has become Ma's lifelong friend ever since his father, a music lover, bought him one as a 6th birthday gift. In 2004, he left his hometown, Nanyang, Henan province, to study violin at the middle school affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music, where he met cellist Yang Yichen and violinist Ning Fangliang. They founded Amber Quartet in 2005.

Ma joined the China NCPA Orchestra, the resident orchestra of the National Center for the Performing Arts, in 2011. From 2013-15, he pursued his study at Hochschule fur Musik Dresden Carl Maria von Weber in Germany.

Before the pandemic, Ma had a hectic schedule with the orchestra, doing rehearsals, giving performances and touring home and abroad, as well as performing with Amber Quartet.

Since musicians everywhere have found themselves with extra time on their hands since the pandemic hit in late 2019, Ma, as one of them, decided it was the perfect time to pursue his passion and combine two of his favorite hobbies: classical music and tea.

In 2020, he launched his own channel on social media, telling stories and sharing his knowledge about them. He has released a series, which combines China's 24 solar terms with 24 kinds of tea and 24 classical music works. As each of the 24 solar terms arrives, Ma selects one kind of tea and one classical music piece.

"I've been intrigued by Chinese tea culture since 2008. When I take a break from playing the violin, I like drinking tea, which is a great joy for me. While drinking tea, it is a very personal time, during which I think about the music pieces I play and wonder about other ways of playing them," says Ma.

He took 17 kinds of tea with him into his quarantine and spent about two hours each day making and drinking tea. Most of the tea Ma has collected is Chinese Pu'er tea, which, the violinist says, smells better over time like wine.

"It tastes mild and subtle just like the feelings which classical music works bring to me," the violinist says.

Ma finished his quarantine and returned home on Wednesday.