Music for Life: Sameer Patel Is Bridging Generations with the San Diego Youth Symphony

By Cliff Hall | From the September-October issue of Strings Magazine

As a public school music teacher, I share feedback about a child’s innate abilities with their parents, and the conversation often turns to their own experiences with lessons as a student. “I used to play violin until high school but…” They will trail off as their eyes look off into the distance, as if transported to a time long ago. “Life just got in the way.” This is a hard truth that music educators encounter recurrently as they feel a sense of powerlessness to address this issue with any effective tools.

But Sameer Patel, artistic director of the San Diego Youth Symphony (SDYS) and music director and orchestra conductor of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus (LJS&C), is in a rare position, bridging the seemingly impassable gap between playing as a student and then as a (nonprofessional but musical) adult. Having seen firsthand the scope of the problem, Patel is determined to make a difference, creating an initiative wherein the goal is to make connections between the members of the youth symphony and the amateur adult players in the LJS&C. “My mission is to lift people up,” says Patel in a phone interview. “The challenge becomes this: How do we keep our young people engaged in the joy of making music after they graduate from high school and start their individual journeys into college and careers, oftentimes away from music entirely?”

From Youth Orchestra to Adult Musician

More than 70 years ago, maestro Paul Hindemith reflected on the urgency of the same question in his 1952 book A Composer’s World: Horizons and Limitations. “Though you may be the worst fiddle player in the world, there will always be a seat for you in the second violin section, where you can play your few scratching tones with full enthusiasm, can improve from session to session, and will not be looked at with scorn and contempt,” wrote Hindemith. “[When] you join an amateur group, you are a member of a great fraternity, whose purpose is the most dignified one you can imagine: to inspire one another and unite in building up a creation that is greater than one individual’s deeds.”

Clara Oberle, an associate professor of history at the University of San Diego (USD), joined the LCS&C as a violist two years ago with a similar spirit. “I believe strongly in the value of live orchestral music for any community, so it fills me with joy to be able to contribute,” she writes. “I even bring my USD students to concerts (and have so, even before I joined). Historic sources, after all, include music. Interpreting this music allows us to connect to that past and let it speak and sing to us! So why not take a fin de siècle Vienna history class to a Webern performance, an Intro to Modern Europe class to our performance of Stravinsky’s Firebird? 

“But most of all, I have joined for the pure love of music and orchestra playing and the wonderful musicians in this group!”

For students, Patel thinks raising the bar is one key to fostering a lifelong devotion to making music. “One of my challenges with students is to show them the high standard of excellence that I’ve learned from working with many professional orchestras. But I do this knowing that the pursuit of excellence in music will benefit them in whatever career path they choose,” says Patel. “I want my students to know what excellence is and that they fully have the ability within themselves to achieve it.”

Though the intention is noble, its execution is not without its challenges, and one way Patel is helping students successfully continue making music into adulthood is by taking it beyond the more common side-by-side approach that many professional orchestras use. Imbedding youth orchestra members into the LJS&C (or vice versa) isn’t enough. “Past side-by-sides often felt impersonal or rushed, lacking intentionality,” says Patel. “I wanted the experience to have intentionality behind it and for it to be about personal, human engagement more than just playing music together. My goal for this initiative is to create a truly engaging human experience, far beyond a simple performance.”

One of Patel’s innovations is to get the members talking at a gathering called a play-in.

“Following introductions between the La Jolla Symphony musicians and my SDYS students, we enjoyed an hour of social time, with both groups mingling and sharing pizza and conversation,” says Patel. “As the leader of both ensembles, I found it truly beautiful to see that this was working. The students confidently engaged with the adults, and the conversations that unfolded were both insightful and inspiring.”

SDYS violinist William Guo reflected upon the experience enthusiastically as well. “I was able “to meet new friends who shared similar interests with me outside of playing music. And I think that ties in well with a general lesson I took away: If you want to make good music, you can’t just play with others during a rehearsal or concert. You have to know others outside of a concert hall; that way, real connections and music will come to life,” writes Guo in an email.

Oberle echoes the importance of these relationships. “Connecting and showing that playing with adults can be enjoyable, serious, but also fun may be important to convey,” she writes. “The play-ins foster such connections across ages. This includes the love of music first and foremost, perhaps also our professional or intellectual interests, the places in which we have lived, or where some of the graduating students are headed.”

Putting in the Work

But after this social hour, the work is just beginning. Though some universal hurdles, such as accurate intonation, are lifetime endeavors for both kids and adults alike, Patel frequently focuses on other related aspects of music making that tend to vex both groups, especially the younger. “Two of the challenges I often have to deal with are pulse and rhythm. I often encounter young musicians who have a developed ear, for instance, but their rhythmic integrity is sometimes underdeveloped,” says Patel.

He also has some strategies to get his students to really listen to each other. “We played Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 1 very early in the fall, and after they performed it, I said I wanted to raise the bar. Our next step was to perform the piece at the following concert from memory and without a conductor. This wasn’t about showing off to our audience but rather about getting the musicians to play as if it were chamber music, with them breathing together, feeling the pulse together, and, as I often tell them, engaging with each other in performance by ‘listening with your eyes,’” says Patel.

This approach has made an impact on the youth symphony members. “He was really big about listening to other sections. I think that has not just made me more attentive to the cellos or the flutes in a symphony, but also when I play with an accompanist outside of SDYS and when I play with others in general,” writes Guo.

Of course, underlying this progress is the expectation that all members of both of Patel’s orchestras have a plan for practice, even with other work, athletic, and academic commitments.

“I try to have fairly set times for practice. When I can, I practice before work. Some weeks though, like when I have conference travel, practice gets pushed to the weekend—just in time for Monday’s rehearsal!” writes Oberle.

Guo also has a well-established routine. “Violin has always been a high priority for me, so I do my best to dedicate a block of time every day for practicing. When that isn’t possible (which happens a few times a year), I find little chunks of time when I pick up the violin and play some scales to keep my fingers sharp,” writes Guo. “I do my best to always have classical music in my life every day.”

In the beginning of a musician’s life, learning an instrument is like a three-legged stool: the student, teacher, and parent must all be supporting the process in order for continual progress to be made. “The component of educating a young musician is not the sole responsibility of the student. It involves a great teacher, and it involves opportunities to learn and grow outside of the lesson. But it also requires the parent to help and nurture the child,” says Patel. “My six-year-old son just started piano, and my wife and I are very much on the same page about short, daily practice sessions being key. Even five minutes a day keeps him engaged and builds a consistent routine.”

Central to this approach is Patel’s open and jovial nature. Gone are the days of domineering conductors like Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, and the fictional Lydia Tár. Though he has high expectations, Patel achieves them through mutual respect. “These days, you have to work well with others. It’s not always an easy task to lead a group of 100 musicians, but as a conductor, I have a responsibility to do just that,” says Patel about his way of interacting with both orchestras. “Regardless of the age, size, or level of the group, my responsibility is to the music and to the possibility of our own potential. And it’s exhilarating when the potential is unleashed.”