[3] Having enjoyed chemistry in high school, he studied it at Henan University, where he encountered the composer Xian Xinghai.
Ma suspended his studies and became a follower of Xian, including an anti-Japanese roadshow tour of the country.
[citation needed] After 1949, he was appointed the Vice President of the China Conservatory of Music and the head of the Chinese Opera House.
[citation needed] He composed more than 200 musical works, including "Nanniwan"; We are Democratic Youth(我们是民主青年); Powerful Workers (咱们工人有力量); Lüliang Mountains Cantata (吕梁山大合唱); the yangge opera The Couple Learn to Read (夫妻识字); the opera Zhou Zishan (周子山) (co-composed with Zhang Lu (张鲁) and Liu Chi); The White Haired Girl with Ju Wei, Zhang Lu, and Xiang Yu; Xiaoerhei's Marriage (小二黑结婚); and the orchestral piece The North Shanxi Suite (陕北组曲).
[4] As a musicologist, he devoted special study to the work of Xian Xinghai and wrote a biography about the composer.