The next arrangement for Grupo Super Nova and the Holland Symphony Orchestra was “Escucha.” This song, too, is in an upbeat Cumbia dance style, but the lyrics are poignant: “Listen! I want you to pay attention, just in case today is our last day together: I love you like I have never loved before.”
This arrangement is further outside the box than the others. I ask the violins to strum their instruments like ukeleles and play a melody on one string with one finger (to match the portamento of the synth line). Later is a duet between electric guitar and electric violin. Then I ask the orchestra to sing background vocals. All of these stretch the musicians out of their comfort zones, but since we had worked together previously, I decided there was enough trust for them to try these unusual effects with a minimum of grumbling.
One of my favorite sections is when all the motion stops and Hector sings a quiet refrain in English. I didn’t want the English-speaking audience to miss the poignant message of the lyrics. Too, a short silence makes what follows sound even more energetic.
I should make a note about how I created these demos. I use Dorico for my notation software. To make a demo of the arrangement, I play Dorico through orchestral playback software called NotePerformer. NP is unique in that it interprets the score as orchestral musicians would play it, with articulations, blend, and reverb as they would happen in an actual performance. (Who says AI is bad?) From there, I load my orchestral arrangement and Grupo’s original recording into Logic Pro. After a bit of tempo matching and splicing I can produce a decent demo of how the final performance might sound. This is really important when trying to get buy in from both note-readers and ear-performers. It allowed everyone walk into rehearsal with a very good idea of how it would sound.
Below are a few snippets of video from the concert. There aren’t a lot of composers who can say people dance to their orchestrations!
