WRHS Chamber Orchestra tuning up for tour

Tonia Sarracino, left, and Olivia Trujillo work on Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at practice for the Window Rock High School Chamber Orchestra Tuesday. The orchestra's concert debut will be March 3 in the Window Rock High School lecture hall at 7 p.m. (Photo by John A. Bowersmith/Independent)

By Pamela G. Dempsey
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Ronald Ryan Hernandez hummed a few bars for the kids in front of him, their hands wrapped around violins, trumpets, and drum sticks.

He snapped out the count and played a few notes on an electric keyboard as the first Window Rock High School Chamber Orchestra prepared to begin again.

"Look good, sound good," Hernandez told them. "It goes together."

The sounds of an after-school basketball game next door became dim while the group made its way through a piece Hernandez composed for the upcoming debut concert.

"Louder Levi," the musical director told a kid with an electric guitar.

Then, after a pause, "Just your chord, please."

The 49-piece orchestra, made up of top students from Hernandez's six music classes, is preparing to introduce themselves to Window Rock and Gallup in the upcoming months with a small concert of short pieces.

"The kids are tremendous," Hernandez said. "They're very respectful. They are great students."

A chamber orchestra is different from a high-school band in that it has a string section in addition to the woodwinds, brass, and percussion sections a high-school band typically has.

This orchestra includes an electric guitar, although its use depends on the arrangement. While most pieces the orchestra plays are considered light classical, Hernandez worked in a role for the guitar in the piece he composed. This, he said, is called fusion and is commonly seen in other orchestras.

The San Francisco Symphony, for example, practied this fusion when it worked with the heavy-metal band Metallica on a project a few years ago.

Adam Parker, a senior who plays the violin, said he wanted to join the Chamber Orchestra because it was "something fun" to do.

"And, I thought I'd learn something," Parker said.

Emmanuel Lalunio, an elementary-school band teacher, is teaching the string section how to play. Until last November, the students shared one violin, Hernandez's, until they received their own instruments.

Like Hernandez, Lalunio, is from the Philippines and taught music after college.

According to Hernandez, there are currently five Filipino music instructors on the Navajo Nation as part of a placement program.

Based on their experiences back home, the dynamic duo Hernandez jokingly referred to their partnership as Batman and Robin hope to expand the after-school orchestra from a 49-piece group to 120-piece.

"Scientific research tells that musically-inclined students tend to be good also in academic subjects," Hernandez said. "It teaches them discipline and hard work."

Olivia Trujillo, another violinist in the orchestra and a sophomore, knew some music before she joined up, having tried her hand at the flute and piano.

"It's different," she said of the violin.

The group is currently fund-raising to attend the Forum Music Festival in Anaheim, California in May.

A few students said they were a little nervous about their upcoming performances, which include a couple of violin solos and music by Bach.

"It's a form of art," Hernandez said. "Without art, there's no color, there's no expression."