Q&A: Sarah Alexander

What makes classical music relevant for young people today?

Young people love music. This is something that is common to every teenager. Teenagers find identity and a sense of themselves and their emotions matched by it.

There is emotional depth, texture and nuance in orchestral music. We find that with a lot of the young people we work with, their immersion in all that richness, depth, technical challenge and emotional challenge is great escapism from how difficult they find the world. It's good for their mental health.

It's a genre that transcends trends.

It is, but it's also one that so many people are frightened of. It's a genre that became blinded by its own jargon. Sometimes it can feel that it's not accessible, but really it's the opposite, it's extremely accessible. There aren't any language barriers. It's just about listening and immersing yourself in a sound landscape – that's the only starting point that you need. That's why our model when we go into schools isn't about, ‘Let's teach you about this composer and when the work was written.’ It's more like, ‘Let's make friends and listen to music together.’

What is so valuable about peer-to-peer learning?

When we leave National Youth Orchestra (NYO) musicians in a peer-to-peer session on their own, what often happens is that they admit what they don't know. They'll say, ‘I find that bit tricky, I can't really do that, I'm stuck on this.’ They work out how to take ownership of it. In the NYO we want everyone to know that although we have experts come in whose advice is extraordinary, when members leave the orchestra they are not simply hoping that adults approve of their performance. They're moving forward with all their knowledge and skills.

In terms of peer-to-peer with NYO Inspire [the NYO's inclusion and access programme] musicians, lots of young people can feel they haven't had as many lessons as they need or enough experience. They might think, ‘They're so accomplished, they're above me, NYO is for people like them, not people like me.’ But in asking teenagers to work together in a peer-to-peer way, they quickly discover that everyone has struggled with the same self-doubts.

We just played Romeo and Juliet in some secondary schools a few weeks or so ago, and the young people in the orchestra took the lead and presented the experience, playing the music and speaking to the audience. There was no adult involvement. It was just this fantastic shared experience where young people were being so emotionally and musically committed to something. The audience was completely astonished.

But we try to go beyond just watching them play. It's about connecting and engaging with each other. We try to be jargon free when taking young people into secondary schools. It's not like ‘We're the classical musicians over here and we know stuff that you don't know.’ It's like, ‘This is what my violin can sound like, it's great isn't it?’ It's much more direct, and then when they sit to watch a concert, they say, ‘There's that guy Johnny who told me what he loved about his trombone and there he is playing. I met him; I know he's an ordinary guy who loves music.’

What can a young musician gain from being a part of the NYO?

Incredible musical experience in terms of nuance and depth and detail, as well as incredible ensemble playing – what is it to be playing with other musicians? That's a huge central value in the NYO: what is an ensemble? How do you live together as musicians? What is it to be a musician with friends who are musicians? With a sense of ‘the future is ours!’ We emphasise not only the masterworks of the past but celebrate and explore new work – to create something that can be inspirational today.

To find out more about the various CPD experiences offered by NYO and discounted ticket prices for under 25s at NYO performances, visit www.nyo.org.uk