JAVS Summer 2026

Every year for the past two decades, Projeto Serioso has produced astonishing results. As Young points out,

For Young, Projeto Serioso represents a natural extension of the values embodied in The Deal. Learning carries with it an obligation to help others learn; success carries with it a responsibility to help others succeed. Brazil thus became more than another teaching destination. It provided Young with an opportunity to refine a philosophy that combined chamber music, mentorship, peer learning, and service—principles that would shape the next stage of his work as a teacher and educational innovator. Young’s work in Brazil took a significant step forward after the Vermeer Quartet disbanded in 2007. He was invited to teach at NEOJIBA (Núcleos Estaduais de Orquestras Juvenis e Infantis da Bahia), a youth orchestra program based in the central coastal city of Salvador, Brazil. Like El Sistema, NEOJIBA sought to use music education as a vehicle for personal and social development, emphasizing responsibility, teamwork, discipline, and service. When Young first arrived in 2009, he found talented and highly motivated students, but also a lack of consistency in technical instruction. Because visiting teachers came from a variety of backgrounds and traditions, students often received conflicting approaches to fundamental aspects of string playing: “[t]hough the students were playing lots of pieces,” Young recalled, “their schooling in technical fundamentals was virtually non-existent.” Young saw an opportunity to address this challenge by developing a unified pedagogical approach which he called Metodo Neojiba. It combined the Franco-Belgian tradition he inherited through Rosand and Gingold with the collaborative and service-oriented principles of El Sistema. At the center of the method was a simple idea: “in large settings where both the teachers and students come from very different backgrounds and play at very different levels, it is essential for there to be specific guidelines that contribute to an approach that is as unified as possible,” Young explained. “If the desired result is consistency and uniformity, the teaching itself should be consistent and uniform.” Metodo NEOJIBA: Building Better Musicians and Better People

Much of that is a consequence of applying what I’ve learned from El Sistema’s José Antonio Abreu about harnessing the power of the group. When talented and highly motivated young musicians feel they’re part of a team whose success depends on each person doing his or her absolute best, regardless of one’s age or level, there’s a special motivation that produces results that can transcend what they’re able to do on their own, so long as I’m careful to ensure that their natural competitiveness is always channeled in positive ways. Criticism is an essential aspect of the preparation process. But some teachers are critical of their students in ways that make them afraid to play. Other teachers avoid being too critical because they worry that their students may lose confidence. “Confidence is a powerful force—for better and for worse!” Young said. “The football great Mike Ditka got it right when he said: ‘Whether you believe that you can, or believe that you can’t, you’re right.’ No matter how talented or experienced you are, you cannot play your very best unless you›re confident.” Particularly in Projeto Serioso, I give very frank and detailed criticism. And I do it in front of the entire group. This might be intimidating to some emotionally vulnerable young people if it’s not done in ways that build their confidence instead of diminishing it. So I share what my mom would tell me when she was practicing with me when I was seven or eight. She’d say: ‘Richard, if you’re going to make a mistake, make a BIG one. That’s because big mistakes are easier to fix than little ones. In fact, the biggest mistake you can ever make is to play in a way where you’re afraid to make mistakes.’ So whenever any Serioso student messes up, one of the others is likely to say: ‘Richard’s mom loves you.’ And then we’ll fix it, without judgment or drama. And by the time these kids walk onstage to perform, they are fearless. Explaining this further, Young said,

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 42, Summer 2026 Online Issue