By Dylan Hart
He has won international awards for his conducting. He’s premiered new orchestral compositions to audiences around the world. He continues to conduct the San Francisco Wind Ensemble four times a year. He’s even a certified Reiki master.
So why does Martin Seggelke teach at USF St. Petersburg?
A mixture of necessity and a love for the Tampa Bay area drew him to the campus.
“This particular move was actually motivated by a family situation,” Seggelke said.
“While maybe it’s not as musically involved as I would like to be, it is geographically exactly the area I’ve always wanted to be,” he said. “Of all the places on this planet, this is it. This is pretty cool.”
Seggelke has been an adjunct music professor at USF St. Petersburg since September 2016, teaching Music and Culture, the campus’ only music class. The class explores the history and academic theory of music to help students appreciate the medium as an art form.
He also serves as the academic services administrator for the College of Arts & Sciences, where his responsibilities include course scheduling and professor tenure and promotions.
Seggelke grew up in Hamburg, Germany, and fell in love with music from an early age, playing the recorder in Kindergarten.
“Growing up in Germany, every kid gets a recorder. You play the recorder and you learn how to read music,” Seggelke said. “I just stuck with it and around grade five, I asked my mom, ‘Hey, can I learn a real instrument?’”
While Seggelke considered piano and trumpet, the small space of his family’s townhouse necessitated a smaller, quieter instrument. His parents suggested clarinet, and Seggelke accepted, soon joining a community band in the Hamburg suburb of Norderstedt as a clarinet player.
“It was probably in grade eight, grade nine that I knew I would really love to spend my life doing music, and I’ve pursued it ever since,” he said.
One night, while playing with the community band, the conductor wasn’t able to make it to rehearsal. A member of the band offered to let the 14-year-old Seggelke conduct, an opportunity he was eager to take.
While he admitted he didn’t know what he was doing, Seggelke was immediately hooked.
“The next day, I started taking lessons with our conductor and the rest is history,” he said.
That history involved three master’s degrees, a doctorate of musical arts in conducting from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and plenty of professional conducting experience.
In 1996, Seggelke toured the United States with a symphony orchestra from Germany. The orchestra played across the east coast of the U.S. and Seggelke “fell in love” with the Tampa Bay area.
He continued conducting in Germany after the tour, but soon found himself drawn back to the United States, utilizing his music education degree from the University of Bremen.
“In the early 2000s, the unemployment rate was high,” Seggelke said. “So in 2003, the State University of New York gave me an opportunity to teach.”
After teaching for three years in New York, Seggelke moved across the United States several times to take up various teaching and conducting jobs.
He still considers himself a freelance musician, bringing his conducting skills to studios and new orchestras when the opportunity arises.
“Nobody in front of you sits down with the intention that they’re going to sound terrible. Everybody sits down trying to do their very best,” Seggelke said.
“Groups that might be community groups, middle school groups, college groups — everyone wants to do their very best no matter the level, and it’s inspiring,” he said. “To see that passion and morph it into something new in the middle of the creative process is something that is unparalleled.”
Seggelke’s interest in music doesn’t stop at conducting orchestra. In his Music and Culture class, he wants to help students expand their appreciation of music.
“When I was in college, one of my many jobs was actually as a techno DJ, and I still have ties to that genre,” Seggelke said. “I’m also a big fan of salsa music. If a new Broadway song comes out, I’ll probably enjoy it. If I sit at a jazz club and someone says, ‘Hey, I just came up with this new composition here,’ that’s a different style.
“That’s something I hope that students can gather when they come in — I’m not trying to beat favorites out of people, but I’m trying to broaden their horizons — I’m not asking everyone to love all music, but I want to help people appreciate it in context.”
Alongside his position at USF St. Petersburg, Seggelke conducts for the San Francisco Wind Ensemble four times a year and assists the Pinellas Park Orchestra locally.
“Every ensemble has something to offer and it’s unique,” Seggelke said.
“In February, we’re playing a piece in San Francisco that we played in our very first concert in 2012, and the experience is going to be completely different — we are all completely different people. We have matured as musicians, as human beings, as everything, and it’s going to be different. That’s the beauty of live music.”
Last night was the first time I observed Dr. Martin Seggelke conduct an orchestra, as the Assistant Conductor of The Pinellas Park Civic Orchestra! I was spell-bound! It was such a wonderful opportunity to get to meet him after the concert!
I also have great admiration for Dr. Arthur Hansuld, the Music Director and Conductor of The Pinellas Park Civic Orchestra! I am so grateful for a community that loves the arts!