Ad Libitum - Be in a rock orchestra

Three years ago I entered in a ensemble that had one of the lineups that called out my attention the most, the union of the electric guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, voices, violins, cellos, double basses, trumpets, trombones, saxophones and other wood flutes, all of them together playing one of my favorite musical genres:

R O C K

But this was no ordinary rock group, they performed orchestral arrangements of the songs that would make every instrument stand out, that way empowering the musical appreciation

One

My arrival at the Simon Bolivar Symphonic Rock Youth Orchestra

On my first year at the city of Caracas I was attending drum lessons with one of the best in the country, the drummer Carlos "Passion" Guevara, a person that I admire, not only because of his performance in the instrument but also because of his perseverance and willpower. Carlos was born with a medical condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenital, a clinical syndrome that provokes muscular deficiency and bone malformation, nonetheless this wasn’t an obstacle for his drumming, and i can say that he is an incredible player (I’m telling you, this guy is pure metal, he even has played in Dream Theater tributes).

Carlos "Passion" Guevara Fuente

Continuing with my story (that I hope it’s a short one) Carlos was who told me about the orchestra when it was starting back in 2015, prepared to make a new generation of musicians. Since I’ve always been a rock lover, I decided to go to the auditions; I remember that there was six jurors, the director, a couple drummers, a singer that was also a drummer, the pianist and a coordinator of the System of the Symphonic Orchestras. I was pretty nervous, I played a blink-182 song, then they asked me about two different rhythms and following that they evaluated my sight reading (thank god that I can pull of some proper reading). They released the audition results and for my joy I had made the cut.

Highway To Hell

The Road to the present day

The thing about rising bands is that generally at the beginning there will be a lot, but i mean a LOT of setbacks. Our orchestra had already changed directors four times and switched rehearsal locations twice. Now, about the directors, the first was the master Daniel Hurtado (who is conducting an orchestra in Beijing nowadays) and the current director is Luis Rodrigues, a musician of only twenty one years of age, who came from of the island of Margarita to Caracas to receive lessons from Daniel and fulfill his dream of being an Orchestra Conductor.

Daniel Hurtado

Luis Rodrigues

With three years and a half already since it started, many musicians have come and go (to stay its complicated when the place where we practice its very far away from where you live, and the prices for the bus rides have grown exponentially each week, not only that but with the shortage of cash in the country. Of course, many band members would drop out for such circumstances and it is understandable, others left the country, others had work because as we say "times are tough", but others continue to make the sacrifice of going to the practices and to put their hearts and souls to this orchestra.

It’s My Life

My Experience

When I started at the band I had 2 years of drumming experience but as for my public presentations there weren’t many of them (as a drummer) reason why i was a little shy when it came to playing, I felt insecure i front of other musicians, for fear of being judged, but thanks to a lot of practice and attendance to rehearsals with the band eventually i came through. Then there was another inconvenience but this one was during concerts, playing in a robotic type of way, meaning, playing with a serious expression, my body was tense with nerves and not being able to look away from the sheet music for not even a second for fear of making a mistake, this went as far as becoming something that didn’t allow me to enjoy the concert and deliver a good show. I had a layer of fears that didn’t let me liven the moment to the fullest, only by playing and performing more often was how I got over these fears, flow and confidence.

Now, about my mates that play instruments that are not "symphonic" sort of saying, like the bass, electric guitar, and the drums; they have noticed that playing in the orchestra has helped them with their discipline, looseness accompanied by practical and theoretic knowledge, each in their particular instrument. More than a few entered the orchestra without having proper musical reading, but nowadays they can do it with great ease.

Meanwhile, the others who play symphonic instruments have learned how to improvise and perform in shows by shaking their hair by headbanging, an important factor that’s very important because it comes out of habit for musicians of academic music.

I advise to every musician that if you have the chance of participating in an symphonic ensemble don’t hesitate, Join That Orchestra! To be a part of a large group of people and to rely on a Conductor will be of great help to progress quickly, it will give you:

Benefits And Skills

• To keep time. Paying attention to the director will let you keep a pulse during the whole piece, and besides it will not only help you keep inner tempo, but also a tempo given by someone else.
• Tuning. One of the basic responsibilities of the director is to be attentive to the tuning of the whole group, that no note is neither above nor below what is due, this makes during the rehearsal the necessary corrections and will help you to refine and be aware of when it is tuned and when it's not.
• Cues and Changes. The director will cue the musicians when they have to make a change in the form of the theme. if you are a beginner, the cues of the director will be be very helpful to memorize the form of the theme
• Stop staring at the Sheets. The work of the director is extremely helpful to learn how to play without the sheet music in an effective way, without playing out of tempo and no mistakes in the changes given that the director is the one that is supposed to cue them
• Contextualizing the piece. This varies according to the composer, the year and time period it was composed in, the intent and feel of the theme. Generally at the first rehearsal, the sheet music is given to you and the theme is discussed to understand in which way it should be interpreted.
• Shading. How and where to execute these adjustments made to color and give intention and define the musical genre.
• Synchrony and sound. To play among many others enhances your synchrony greatly and your attention to what it’s happening around, you start to listen not only to your sound but that of the whole band, that’s how your ear starts to separate each instrument one by one.
• Horizontal Learning. Playing with musicians of different skill levels and ages helps you to learn not only from your teachers but as well from your bandmates

Dream On

To Play at the Simon Bolivar Concert Hall

When I started to participate at the symphonic orchestra of my hometown playing orchestral percussion, one of my dreams was being able to play at the same hall where other many great orchestras have played as well, a place where the best choir of the country and the master Dudamel performed concerts every time he was in Venezuela, a hall that has an architecture only matched by its amazing acoustics, even the seats where designed by Carlos Cruz-Diez, and it has a huge organ above the stage. I admired this hall, it came to long for this place, today i can say that I’m grateful that i had the pleasure of playing in there with a full house, twice.

Thanks to the coordination of the director Luis along with the team of the National System of Children And Youth Orchestras of Venezuela that planned the presentation in said room. The theme of the concert was Leyends of Rock and the repertoire included the following songs:

KNIGHTS OF CYDONIA – Muse

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN – Europe

THE REASON – Hoobastank

THE PRETENDER – Foo Fighters

FE – Candy 66

RADIO CAPITAL – La Vida Boheme

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA – Nightwish

NO LEAF CLOVER - Metallica

HOTEL CALIFORNIA - The Eagles

WE WILL ROCK YOU – Queen

SWEET CHILD O'MINE – Guns 'n Roses

DREAM ON – Aerosmith

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS – Queen

For me, the concert was incredible. To enter a hall with eight hundred and eighty eight seats and to stear at a full house made me feel incredibly satisfied, the lights, the colors, the energy of the crowd, people screaming at the beginning of each song gave to the musicians great excitement. We played a set full of enthusiasm, joy and energy, and at the end of the concert we got out celebrating because we all were sharing the desire of playing together as an orchestra at the Simon Bolivar Hall.

At this post there's a video of me playing the drums during this concert. If you want to see it click here.

After of these concerts the rock orchestra wills open doors to include new instruments to the band, like the oboe, the clarinet, violas, and by the end of the year our next concert will be a tribute to Nightwish of which i will also be uploading more material.

To be a part of this orchestra has allowed me to improve my performance as a drummer, with no doubt, discipline is extremely important and a characteristic of an orchestra, there will be days where the director gets angry and ends a rehearsal before the scheduled time, others where its canceled at the last minute, and others where you will have to go to play from nine to five or last hours practicing at home until you have every piece ready for the next day it’s not always easy and fun, sometimes there’s tension and stress but be aware of the following

Without any doubt, all the sacrifices made will be worth it on the day of the show, when the hall is full of energy and at the end of each song you hear the satisfying sound of applause.

I hope that this post encourages others to join this type of groups, whether a rock, latin, classical or a Jazz Big Band, so that you live the experience in the flesh.

All Photography done by Albert Cañas @thetrebla on instagram. Gifs from giphy.com.

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