Trumpet blows wind of change into Eric Awuy's life

By Debra H. Yatim

JAKARTA (JP): Why would a 14-year old boy, very much into playing jazz and heavy metal rock with his own band, gradually turn into a classical trumpet player?

In Eric Awuy's case it was a purely lucky coincidence. Lucky for Indonesia, that is, because Eric is currently the only trumpet player of international caliber that this nation has.

Tomorrow afternoon (Sunday Nov. 13) Eric and his sister, Heidi, are holding a musical workshop for very small children, members of the Chiki Fun Club, at the Stage, in the basement of Ratu Plaza, Jln. Jendral Sudirman, South Jakarta.

The Stage, in fact, was the venue of Eric's very first recital in Indonesia on Oct. 16. That was when The Circle, a loose organization aimed at promoting the arts, presented a free afternoon recital featuring Eric on the trumpet, accompanied by an equally accomplished young musician, pianist Ary Sutedja.

Young Eric was in Bangkok in l978, where his father was then stationed. In his first year of high school, he played "the guitar, the keyboard, anything," and rock was his passion. One afternoon during recess, he and a friend were loafing around and heard the notes of a trumpet over the sound system. The friend, Iwan Sibarani, commented that Eric should take up the instrument to round out the band's capabilities. So off went Eric to his to tell his mother that he wanted to take up the trumpet.

His mother, a music teacher, was pleasantly surprised. So far she had tried without much success to convince her son to take up an instrument seriously. Eric had tried the flute and stopped. He wasn't interested in the piano, and the guitar was good for his rock music, but that was all.

The next day mother and son went shopping for a trumpet -- "All of fifty dollars worth," recalls Eric -- and found a teacher, an American jazz trumpet player by the name of Mr. Boehn.

"But he could only begin teaching two weeks later," said Eric. And thus began "two weeks of torture. I started to try playing, but no sound came out."

The trumpet came with a booklet titled Trumpet made Easy or the like. Young Eric didn't find it easy at all. "I was so disappointed. In fact, my sister (harpist Heidi Awuy) succeeded in playing the first note on the instrument long before I had figured it out," he said.

The two weeks finally expired, and Mr. Boehn took him on -- for three lessons. "And then began the years of torture for everybody else," quipped Eric.

After only three lessons under his belt, Eric was hooked on the trumpet for life. And as everybody knows, one cannot make music without sound, and one cannot be adept at an instrument without years of trial and error.

And the lucky coincidence? Eric discovered that the music he and friend Iwan had heard over the sound system was a saxophone, not the trumpet at all. "No wonder I never succeeded in repeating that sound," he laughingly recalls.

After a year of practicing the trumpet by himself, Eric went with his mother to her homeland, Canada, for a month-long holiday. His mother met up with an old friend, French horn player Aime Lainesse, who also happened to be the director of the Music Conservatory in Hull. Lainesse immediately offered Eric a place in his institution. And there he stayed on for the next five years.

The first week in his new school, Eric heard an orchestra rehearsing. "That was it. I decided that this was what I wanted to do with my life." Make no mistake. For the next two or three years, teenager Eric was still into playing with bands, "but slowly I found classical music to be different, much more interesting."

He completed his musical education at the Montreal Conservatoire, which took up another four years of his life.

Career

Eric began his career as a professional musician with the Quebec Youth Orchestra, "a sort of training orchestra for the Montreal Symphony." He began his apprenticeship in earnest, enjoying a regular salary and training under a Montreal Symphony player.

Not long after, he was offered a job with the World Orchestra. They toured South America and later on continued to other continents. Meanwhile, the Youth Orchestra, with which Eric was under contract, went bankrupt, "leaving me out on the street all of a sudden."

Eric had no recourse but to freelance. He discovered that as a freelancer, he worked more than ever, doing up to five to six concerts a week. "Different orchestras, different styles: I gained a lot of experience, because I ended up playing anything that they asked me to do -- jazz, classical, pop, movie soundtracks, accompaniment, even playing with Dave Brubeck." In short, the works.

Eric's experience now covers solo recitals, ensemble work, orchestra participation, recordings, teaching, tours -- all aspects of modern music making. He is currently under various types of contracts to a number of orchestras in Canada: the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the National Arts Center Orchestra. Other ensembles include the Mount Royal Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal and the Philharmonie des Vents du Quebec. The latter, a wind orchestra, is the foremost ensemble of its kind on the North American continent.

The young (30 years) musician is currently on a sabbatical in his home country. In the short time he's been back he has played almost constantly, among others with the Jakarta Symphony Orchestra, accompanying jazz singer Ruth Sahanaya, appearing with the Twilite Orchestra and so on. He's been so much in demand, he is seriously considering extending his leave.

Any plans in particular? "Yes. I think musicians should conduct workshops for school children, to sow the seeds of musical appreciation." Thus, the workshop tomorrow at The Stage.