Giving a concert after ten rehearsals: it is possible with the New Talent Orchestra

It’s a lot of toil at the rehearsal of the Nei Talent Orchestra. “You still sound too much like a caterpillar,” says conductor Raven Christ after the company has performed a piece. “One half is ahead of the other half, it still meanders too much.” Ultimately, the orchestra must sound like a butterfly, she encourages the musicians. “The music has to flutter.”

Indeed, the rehearsal process does not run smoothly on this Tuesday evening in the meeting house ‘t Trefpunt in Eindhoven. But that’s not what it’s about. In fact, the fact that these people even make it to the end of the piece together is a small miracle.

Only nine weeks ago they started playing in the Nei Talent Orchestra, part of the music association Fanfare Orchestra Wilhelmina Eindhoven. Most had never touched an instrument before. After ten rehearsals they go on stage together. “During that time they go from ‘how do I hold my trumpet’ to a full-fledged concert,” says board chairman and trombonist Ben ter Horst proudly.

It is a result that most adult participants hardly think possible during the first rehearsal. “Many people want to do something with music, but have the feeling that you have to be able to do a lot before you can make music with others,” says Ter Horst. “But the Nei Talent Orchestra proves that you can start making music at a later age without any experience, and still achieve a concert-worthy result in a short time.”

Guus Pieksma noticed in 2016, as conductor of a youth orchestra in Stavoren, that there was a need for this. “The parents of those children were extremely enthusiastic,” says his partner Annewiep Bloem, who runs the Mear Mei Muzyk foundation together with Pieksma. Bloem is responsible for the organization and communication surrounding the various Nei Talent Orchestras, while Pieksma is responsible for the musical interpretation.

Couldn’t the parents of those children also make music together in such a way – at an entry level? Without auditions, complicated methods or mandatory lessons? Well, why not, thought Pieksma.

Remove barriers

This is how the idea for the Nij Talint Orchestra was born in 2016 – the name often changes with the regional dialect, so at that time it was still in Frisian – a musical project that removes all barriers to picking up an instrument.

Participants do not need to be able to read music or master or own an instrument. The participant contribution varies per company, but is often around 125 euros per year, including instrument rental. Ultimately, it is up to the music association to determine the precise contribution. “The amount must feel good and fit the region,” says Bloem. Sometimes a little lower, other times a little higher.

Music associations purchase a total package with the New Talent Orchestra: recruitment material, method and online instructions included. There are play-along tracks for every part and every position in the orchestra, so participants can hear exactly what to play and practice it at home.

Pieksma wrote the repertoire especially for this target group, with relatively simple melodies and rhythms. During rehearsals, there are ‘auxiliary musicians’ in all sections of the orchestra: experienced members of the music association who can play parts and familiarize the beginners of the New Talent Orchestra with the sheet music.

Amateurorkest

The project is a success. In 2023, 57 New Talent projects took place across the country. The first 28 orchestras are already planned for 2024 in the spring.

Many of the participants continue to make music after the project, according to initiator Annewiep Bloem. “I estimate about 80 to 90 percent. Some of those people also become members of the music association that organizes the project.”

This is also the case in Eindhoven, where the members of the first and second Nei Talent Orchestra will move on this year (2024) to a completely new amateur orchestra of almost fifty people. “A golden opportunity,” says chairman of the fanfare orchestra Ter Horst. And also: a possible solution for the exodus that many amateur music associations are confronted with. The trend has been the same for years. HaFaBra associations (harmonies, fanfares and brass bands) have difficulty finding and retaining new recruits. Orchestras merge or stop. Since 2015, membership numbers have fallen at approximately 35 percent of associations.

“We do have reasons to be concerned,” says Paul Doop, director of the KNMO, an interest group for instrumental amateur music. “Subsidies are disappearing, there are associations that are struggling to keep their heads above water.”

But that does not mean that fewer people are making music, Doop emphasizes. “They just do that much less in traditional associations. Just independently, for example, or in smaller groups that are not registered as an association.”

According to the latest Amateur Art Monitor, 13 percent of the Dutch population would play an instrument in 2023. That was still 10 percent in 2017.

More accessible

Why does the New Talent Orchestra succeed in creating new recruits for music associations?

It couldn’t be more accessible, emphasizes Wilhelmina chairman Ter Horst. And it helps that you start from scratch together. “If you want to join an orchestra as an amateur, you often end up in a group with people who have been making music together for years. Then you are a bit behind in terms of level,” says Ter Horst.

And then there is the social aspect. “Normally you join an existing orchestra as an individual. Then you are the newcomer among forty people who have known each other for years.” Orchestras can also learn something from a project like the New Talent Orchestra, he believes. “Such a close-knit group is great fun, but it can also seem closed.”

With the New Talent Orchestra, associations are creating a new pond to explore, explains initiator Annewiep Bloem. “In the search for members, associations often write to former members, but this generally yields little. Or they focus strongly on youth. This often takes on different interests during puberty and is difficult to maintain.” These projects focus on a completely new target group: people who have never held an instrument before.

Most participants of New Talent Orchestras are between 30 and 70 years old. The precise composition differs per association that organizes the project, according to initiator Annewiep Bloem.

In Eindhoven, the average age is slightly higher: between 45 and 70 years, estimates chairman Ter Horst. People who can work one day less, people who have had children, people who are heading towards retirement.

The New Talent Orchestra can therefore be an answer to a social issue, says director of the association for amateur music Paul Doop. “Society is aging and becoming increasingly individualistic. Especially at a later age, people have more time to fill. By making music together you can prevent them from becoming lonely. Some may say: ‘I can’t do that’, but that is no excuse with the New Talent Orchestra.”

As chairman of the board of the Wilhelmina fanfare orchestra, Ben Ter Horst indeed sees that the music association mainly has a social function for many people. For example for Hans, who is retired and has no children. Or for Loretta, who emigrated from South Africa to the Netherlands for love, but lost her husband. “They say: this is my family.”

Boom of trombones

The roar of the trombones creeps through the skirting boards into the canteen of ‘t Trefpunt. The Nei Talent Orchestra has just started rehearsals. There is a poster with the text on the wall Rock is my life, never stop the musicwith an image of two electric guitars.

Learning to play the trumpet had been on Ronald Swinkels’ wish list for some time, he says at the bar, but corona threw a spanner in the works. In the spring he saw an advertisement for the Nei Talent Orchestra on Facebook and signed up. His role model: the horn section of disco and funk band Earth, Wind & Fire.

When Swinkels comes to rehearsal on Tuesday evenings, the stress falls away. “Have fun making music. It really is a bit of relaxation.” His enthusiasm was so great that his wife also signed up. “Now we practice together, half an hour every day.” The children are less enthusiastic. “They are usually upstairs with earplugs in.”

The power of playing together

And the conductor? How does he feel about leading such an inexperienced orchestra? “Uncomfortable,” says Raven Christ, who initially had her doubts. She lowered her expectations before the rehearsal. Could this actually become something?

But the answer is a resounding yes. “I am very surprised. I let them play things that I wouldn’t dare dream of with students who I have sometimes been teaching for years.” How is that possible? “That’s the power of playing together, I think. They drag each other along, everyone plays above the level they have when they rehearse individually.”

One of the pitfalls for the conductor is that you go too slowly, Guus Pieksma and Annewiep Bloem noticed when they set up the project. They consciously chose to do a little more in the first rehearsal than you might expect with inexperienced musicians. Not one note, but five. And in five different rhythms. “This way people get the feeling that they are really making progress if they practice seriously.”

That seems to work. In any case, the average participant of the Nei Talent Orchestra practices more fanatically than the veterans in the brass band, notes chairman Ter Horst. “What they do in ten rehearsals would take you about a year at a normal music school.”

Nerves

And then on December 9 it is time for the final concert. In the bright light of the Johanneskerk in Eindhoven, the brass is blown warm and the percussion is tuned. The nerves are not too bad, say most participants. “We’re too old for that.” Although the restless feet and serious looks suggest something else.

Percussionist Ans Dielemans, who spends the evening talking, is “very proud”, both of herself and of her fellow musicians. “Before I participated, I didn’t even know the difference between a trombone and a glockenspiel.” Now she stands in front of a hall with about a hundred people to give a concert. Flawless? No, not that. But that wasn’t the point.

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